Measure 58: English-only instruction?
Jack Bog just reminded me that there are ballot measures out there, waiting to be voted on in November! I’m most concerned about the Oregon measures, of course, but I encourage you to look into your local and state ballot measures, wherever you are. Don’t forget to get the facts! Don’t rely on TV and radio ads for information. Ever.
As an educator, one that I’m interested in is Measure 58, which “prohibits teaching public school students in language other than English for more than two years.” I actually became aware of this measure in July, and wrote about it here.
I’m thinking about it today because of a student who was just in my classroom. She’s a second grader, and I happen to know that this is her third year here, so she’s already been immersed in the English-speaking environment of school for two years. At our school, the kids get 30-45 minutes of specific ESL instruction daily. The rest of the time, they’re in their regular classes. And even in the ESL classroom, they’re most likely to be speaking English, because students from all different language backgrounds are instructed in groups together, and ESL staff don’t necessarily speak all of the different languages.
This girl, however, is still barely speaking English. She managed to string 3 words together for me: “I go here?”. The rest of the time she was silent. She also had a great deal of trouble double-clicking a mouse, although that’s not necessarily related. She did manage to navigate the educational website the class was exploring today. She’s definitely not English-proficient after two years of school, though.
That’s just anecdotal, of course, but it does demonstrate that different students have different needs. Some students learn English quickly, and others do not. Schools and teachers should be able to decide on an individual basis what a student needs, rather than being told by state law.
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September 17th, 2008
Of course, that’s exactly the kind of situation that those people think the ballot measure will change–oh, if ONLY that dear little girl had been going to ENGLISH-ONLY classes, she’s be able to speak English!–etc.
What really annoys me about that kind of ballot measure–I can’t remember if I mentioned this the last time you wrote about it–is that I think we should do everything we can to keep those kids’ Spanish (or whatever) skills up. We spend years in high school and college trying to develop the language skills these kids already HAVE.
September 17th, 2008
I’ve seen many different models for bilingual education and many different results. Not any one model will work for every student. Far too often, a child begins with one model and a year later another model is introduced and the child has to, basically, begin almost at the beginning. This cycle repeats over and over again. The child loses their native language and doesn’t advance in the second language. They get caught between the cracks.
It’s also important to note that even with the same model for bilingual ed, each teacher is different and implements the program differently, unless it is a scripted program (such as is being used in the Los Angeles Unified School District with much debate about its benefit and success or lack thereof).
I’ve taught bilingual kids in different programs within the same school district (in Glendale Unified School District in southern California). One problem is the number of students. My first ever class had 41 sixth graders all of whom were non-English speakers, except one. I was a first year teacher on an Emergency Teaching Credential (no credential, just working on one due to the need for teachers). The main reason this worked as well as it did is because I am a native Spanish speaker. Had they had a non Spanish speaking teacher, it would not have worked.
I’m not familiar with Oregon’s bilingual ed programs. It’s a very fascinating and frustrating situation.