Korean teachers turn an eye to Kennett’s ESL program
Agroup of English teachers from South Korea has spent the last few weeks in some of Kennett’s schools, exploring the ins and outs of the English as a Second Language program.The five teachers - three at the high school and two at Kennett Middle School - were here as part of a program sponsored by the English Language Institute from the University of Delaware and the board of education in Seoul, Korea.
During their visit, the teachers took classes at the ELI by day and took graduate courses in English as a Second Language at night. The university also provided workshops for teaching methodology.
According to Shinja You, the South Koran government recently initiated a reform in the English language program, with an emphasis on “teaching English in English,” forcing the teachers to adapt to a language immersion program to teach English to all students in the education system.
Read full article via : PA8NewsGroup.com.
Early Launch for Language
Can kids learn anything if they are exposed to a subject for only half an hour a week, with no homework?
When it comes to learning another language, educators say yes.
“The kids getting it for 30 minutes won’t become fluent, but that’s not the point of those programs,” said Julie Sugarman, research associate at the nonprofit Center for Applied Linguistics in the District. “It’s to give them exposure to the language. Just because kids aren’t able to do calculus in sixth grade doesn’t mean we shouldn’t teach math in elementary school.”
Foreign language instruction is considered more important than ever as the nation’s demographics and national security issues change and the world’s economies become intertwined.
Read full article via washingtonpost.com.
Schools chief: Slash English-learner funds
The state schools chief has recommended that the Legislature slash more than $30 million in funding to teach English to students who aren’t fluent, a move that critics warned would further cripple schools that have been forced to shrink their budgets.
In his annual State of Education speech at the Capitol on Thursday, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said $8.8 million for language instruction is adequate for the upcoming budget year. He added that so far, he believes the state’s new standards to help students become fluent in English are succeeding.
And Horne said students in Grades 3 and 8 should have to pass the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards test before moving up a level. He also wants to expand AIMS to test students on history, which he acknowledged would require more funding.
Read Full Article here…Schools chief: Slash English-learner funds.
Tackling the three R’s in a second or third language
Stolen shopping carts collect behind Indian Creek Apartment Homes. In good weather, Nyo Nyo spends hours pushing her 2-year-old around the parking lot in one, her skirt flapping, his head high, like a prince surveying his realm. His mother is less at home in the country that took her family in four years ago, when they arrived in the Atlanta suburbs from Burma Myanmar by way of a Thai refugee camp.
“The problem, she says, is language. “No English,” she apologizes, and calls to the oldest of her three kids, on the playground outside their apartment.
Reluctantly, daughter Thayoomoo Ywin untangles herself from a swing and comes running. Thayoomoo is 8 going on 30. After 2-1/2 years at the International Community School ICS in nearby Decatur, Ga., her English is close to fluent, she’s on track doing math at a second-grade level, she’s in the top half of her class in reading, and she is her parents’ lifeline to the English-speaking world.
Read full article ..csmonitor.com.
Immigrant Parents Push to Protect English Classes
Each year, Fairfax County classrooms serve more than 20,000 students who are learning English as a second language. They also serve many of their parents.
More than 8,000 foreign-born adults enroll in classes annually through the county’s adult and community education program. They study English grammar and are taught about getting ahead in a new country. The courses are offered in public schools, and the fee, which works out to about $2 an hour, is subsidized by the school system.
Read full article…Immigrant Parents Push to Protect English Classes - washingtonpost.com.
Helping English Language Learners in the Classroom
Merit Software has just released a new report “ESL Reading: Strategies for Classroom Teaching.” The report addresses the challenges facing teachers when working with students from non-English-speaking homes.
The key problem is that English language learners, who are taught the basics of reading in the early grades, are faltering as they progress in school.
Teachers need help teaching higher-order thinking skills and comprehension. Students need help mastering strategies that will help them understand ideas and nuances of English texts.
The report features Book Punch, a tool that can be used in the classroom to go beyond basic instruction. Book Punch provides interactive, step-by-step writing prompts about books commonly read in schools today.
Book Punch draws on each student’s prior knowledge. Students with a wide range of English language abilities can participate in class.
Read Full Press Release…Helping English Language Learners in the Classroom, New Report.
A new era of good feeling and good looks
Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, is teaching ESL at NVCC. I wonder which campus. Hopefully, this will shine some light on the importance of ESL teaching in the overall curriculum. All too often, ESL programs are the first to undergo budget cuts. I am happy to see NVCC isn’t headed down that path yet.
…That’s another great thing about both men: They’re married to (”drop-dead gorgeous”) women with multiple degrees and important careers, and both men are enormously proud of their wives. As a feminist, I confess that I regret that both women resigned their full-time back-home jobs to dedicate the next four (or more?!) years to their husbands’ career paths. But their unique positions as Mmes. Number One and Number Two give them an opportunity to do even more good than they could in their previous gigs. Besides, Jill Biden is now teaching ESL part-time at Northern Virginia Community College, so she’s still professoring, at least for now.
Read Full article…Phoenix Progressive Examiner: A new era of good feeling and good looks.
TEA gets stay on court-ordered bilingual ed plan
A court-ordered plan for how the Texas Education Agency would remedy constitutional problems with the state’s bilingual education programs was not released this week as anticipated.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week granted TEA a stay pending oral arguments in June. U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice last summer mandated the plan and set a due date of Jan. 31. TEA appealed the ruling.
Read Full Article…TEA gets stay on court-ordered bilingual ed plan.
New provincial mandate makes literacy ‘cradle to grave’
Clear and plain language training helps make communication more usable for more people. We had relied on one trainer (who has since moved on to another job), but last summer we were able to train 12 trainers in Williams Lake (and another 10 in 100 Mile House). Training at some local businesses will be starting next month.
Partner Assisted Learning, English as a Second Language (ESL) and Books for Babies have been the main activities of CCPL for the last 10 years. The participation in PAL and ESL continue to grow, with more and more truly life-changing success stories.
June Striegler and Shirley-Pat Gale, with all their volunteer tutors and now some past learners as well, are doing a great job. So great CCPL now needs more tutors!
Read Full Article…Williams Lake Tribune
ACT teachers’ average age drops
The ACT Education Department says the workforce has changed dramatically over the last few years.
“With Government announcements, including reduced class sizes from next year, extra help in literacy and numeracy and ESL [English Second Language] we expect that we’ll have to increase our recruitment over the next 12 months or so to meet those needs,” he said.
Read Full Article…
ACT teachers’ average age drops - ABC News