ESL graduates smile… in English
Some 55 adults representing 21 countries and 14 languages graduated from their English as a second language ESL classes on Thursday at the YMCA Adult Learning Center on Plympton Street. Many held back tears as they walked to the front of a cheering classroom to accept certificates of achievement from program coordinator Elaine Dougherty and the four ESL teachers who had instructed them.
Read full story via Woburn Advocate.
TEA gets no help in suit from lawmakers
Lawyers for the Texas Education Agency will step before the federal appeals court in New Orleans today armed with arguments against a ruling that says the state is failing 140,000 students with limited English-speaking skills.
They will not, however, have an armload of bills passed by the 81st Legislature to show that the state is addressing the problems that were highlighted by U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice in July.
Read full articel TEA gets no help in suit from lawmakers.
Immgrant Gunman Angry Over English Skills
Binghamton’s mayor and police chief say a man who killed 13 people inside an immigrant community center was depressed after recently losing a job and angry that he couldn’t speak English well.
Police Chief Joseph Zikuski tells NBC’s “Today” show that people “degraded and disrespected” the gunman over his poor English. Mayor Matthew Ryan tells ABC’s “Good Morning America” he was angry about his language issues and his lack of employment.
Read full story via tv3winchester.com.
Md. schools forbid illegals head count
The Maryland State Board of Education on Tuesday said Frederick County officials are prohibited by federal law from seeking a count of how many illegal immigrants are in the county school system.
In its seven-page unanimous decision, the state board said county officials haven’t shown sufficient reason to look into the legal status of all of the students in the school system and that asking immigration status might discourage some parents from enrolling their children in schools.
“As the head of the public education system in Maryland, we cannot risk nor abide such a request,” the board said in its ruling.
Read full article via Washington Times
Parents claim board bias , Halton group files claim, saying French schools have too many girls, few special needs students
The handful of Oakville schools that only offer French immersion are driving students out of their neighbourhood in search of an English program and are also leading to “segregation” based on gender and ability, a group of parents charge.
Despite voicing their concerns and making many presentations to the Halton District School Board, the parents say their worries have not been addressed, and earlier this month filed a claim of discrimination.
The French immersion schools typically have a higher population of girls and fewer special needs students.
“The French immersion program in (the board), as currently structured and housed, is having a significant and detrimental, discriminatory effect on students based on sex, ability and place of origin,” says the March 10 letter of complaint to the Halton board’s executive officer of human resources, signed by 20 parents and community members, most of them on school councils in Ward 4, north of the QEW around Third Line.
Read full article via ParentCentral.ca
Officials at odds over English case
Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Terry Goddard are at odds over how involved Goddard’s office should be in a divisive education case currently pending in the U.S. Supreme Court.
The long-running case, known as Flores vs. Arizona, could help determine how much money Arizona public schools must spend on students who enter the classroom without a strong understanding of the English language.
On one side of the dispute is state schools Superintendent Tom Horne and Republican legislative leaders, who say that Arizona’s Legislature has already passed a law giving students sufficient money to help children learn English, and that any further demands by a federal court would constitute meddling in state business.
Their opponent is Tim Hogan of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest.
A year ago, Hogan convinced the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that the state had failed to comply with a 2000 federal district court order requiring it to adequately fund a language program.
The decision meant the state faced the threat of fines up to $2 million a day.
Read full article here Officials at odds over English case.
Bilingual reading program mutual learning experience
Teaching also becomes a learning experience when Spanish Honor Society students at Glasgow High School volunteer to read in Spanish and English to young children during Bilingual Story Time at the Newark Free Library.
Library specialist Adriana Camacho-Church, who started the program at the library three years ago so young children could become bilingual, said she sees the older children benefiting with them, because it gives them an outlet to practice.
“They actually have to perform in front of these kids and read in both Spanish and English,” Camacho-Church said. “So these students are learning how to present themselves in front of an audience. It’s a good learning experience for them as well.”
Glasgow High’s Sierra Stevenson, who is in her third year of Spanish at the school, agrees
Read full article via The News Journal.
Conversational Café offers relaxed place to practice English
People for whom English is a second language now have a relaxed place where they can speak the language — the Conversational Café offered for three hours every Sunday in the Daily Grind at 166 Costello Drive by Literacy Volunteers-Winchester Area.
The café convened for the first time Sunday, with five participants. “We actually sat and talked for three hours,” said Literacy Volunteers Program/Volunteer Coordinator Peg Crompton.
The participants hailed from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. One man, enrolled in an adult English as a Second Language course, has been in the United States for two months, and speaks little English, she said.
While people can receive formal language instruction through Northern Shenandoah Valley Adult Education four nights and two days a week, the café provides a more relaxed environment to practice English, Crompton said.
The café is open to any English-language learner, Crompton said. “It doesn’t matter what language you speak, because we’re speaking English only.”
And while the café is held between 1 and 4 p.m., people do not have to come for the entire time, Crompton said. “You can come in anytime during that time” and stay as long as you want.
The café at the Costello Drive Daily Grind may be the first of many, said Crompton, who hopes to see them one day at other Daily Grind locations in the area.
Read full story via Winchester Star.
Progress, one step at a time
Mijanielle Achille says that the Genesis Center, an adult education program, is like a second home to her.
The 40-year-old Haitian immigrant received job training, spruced up her English language skills and got help landing an internship at Rhode Island Hospital, ultimately turning that into a full-time job. Genesis also provided Achille, a mother of three, with child-care support so she could focus on her training.
Achille, who is now studying at the Community College of Rhode Island to become a certified nursing assistant, yesterday morning shared her success with Governor Carcieri, educators and roughly three dozen others who attended a conference about adult literacy strides in Rhode Island.
The program was held yesterday at Network RI, a one-stop career center, and was co-hosted by Adult Career and Technical Education Director Johan Uvin.
“I don’t think I would have finished without their support. This center is like a big family,” Achille told the audience.
Progress, one step at a time | Rhode Island news | projo.com | The Providence Journal.
ESL teacher won’t have visa renewed; might leave for Mexico
Touches of Cecilia Flores can be found all over Oakley Elementary School. Whether it’s the mural she helped design, the tissue box she painted or the 36 English as a Second Language students she works with every day, her presence can be felt throughout the school.
In June, Oakley Elementary may lose that presence.
Flores is a citizen of Mexico, and Buncombe County Schools has decided to no longer sponsor her work visa. If she doesn’t find another employer before June, she may have to return to Mexico.
Read full article here: Asheville Citizen-Times.