This week I found an article on the great need of ESL training in the Rhode Island area. There has been a large shift in the population of people, and 2 out of every 3 students are of Latino heritage. Rhode Island's public education foundation realized their teachers were not equipped to handle these changes and decided to do something about it. They are sending over 60 teachers back to school to becomes certified in ESL or become bilingual teachers, and setting aside $500,000 to train teachers in the highest needs districts.
I found this article saddening in a way, but also very inspiring. It saddens me that there are so many students in many districts, counties, and states in our country that are not getting the services or education they need because we as educators are not equipped to handle them. It is just not fair for the student. For example, I have two hearing support students in my classroom this year. Although they are not "ESL" per say and are technically labeling "hearing support" they are basically ESL. English is their second language, as one of my student's is completely deaf and signs American Sign Language, while the other can partially hear and signs Pigeon Sign Language. We are lacking in interpreters in our district for students who are deaf, and it has been extremely difficult on my students. They understand and sign different sign languages so having one interpreter is extremely difficult, for them and the interpreter. There is no one truly qualified to take the second role. My students are constantly falling through the cracks, and I am the only one there to pick them up but, I have a hard time communicating with them. Everything is also slowed down because of the lack of communication between signing. I imagine this would be the same with having an ESL student in your classroom, or in the case of Rhode Island, having half of your class being ESL students. I get so frustrated sometimes with the lack in signing, I want to learn sign language to just being able to shorten the communication time and do it myself.
I can only imagine how grateful those teachers in Rhode Island are that the state is giving them the opportunity to go back to school and do just that! For this very reason, this article brings me great inspiration! I think it is wonderful the state is offering a chance for teachers to better themselves, their classrooms, their students, and their all around education system in one foul swoop, and they find it important enough to foot the bill!
Source: http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20160929/500000-for-esl-training-aimed-at-easing-tidal-wave-of-need
ReplyDeleteYou express what so many teachers deal with on a daily basis, having students fall through the cracks because of limited resources. I applaud Rhode Island state leaders in trying to address the issue proactively rather than reactively, I wish PA would follow suit.
Wow! It is incredible how quickly a population can evolve and suddenly have vastly different needs. Pennsylvania doesn't seem to be very far behind Rhode Island in their increase in Latino population. The area where I'm currently teaching is very non-diverse right now, but it would not surprise me to see an increase of Spanish-speaking students over the next ten years or so. If such a population change would occur, my school would not be ready to meet the needs of those students. There are three of us who are either certified or becoming certified to teach ESL, but we haven't had to use that training very much, and the non-ESL teachers have zero training in adapting their teaching to students of other languages. We should learn something from your article and start preparing now.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post. Thank you for sharing your personal experience with this!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post. Thank you for sharing your personal experience with this!
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