City Schools Increasingly Must Teach Non-English Speakers

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

May 16, 2008

Karen Mazzotta wasted no time on a recent morning, quizzing a dozen students at Pittsburgh Minadeo PreK-5 in Squirrel Hill about the calendar, the weather, and the letter of the day. She had the children scour the room for words beginning with "Q," then count and pronounce them. "Who always hangs out with the letter 'Q'?" she asked, hinting, "It's a vowel." Ms. Mazzotta is one of 14 Pittsburgh Public Schools teachers who work exclusively with students learning English as a second language (ESL), a small if quickly growing group of students here.

English-Arabic Public School Faces Harsh Critics

National Public Radio

May 16, 2008

The Khalil Gibran International Academy in Brooklyn, New York — an English-Arabic public school — provoked controversy before it even opened. Critics described it as a madrassa headed by a radical Islamist hoping to proselytize to her students. Supporters saw the project as an educational environment for children of diverse backgrounds to learn Arabic language and culture, and say that the school should be viewed no differently than schools that specialize in Spanish or Chinese.

Narrowing the Culture Gap

St. Cloud State University News

May 16, 2008

It's easy to understand why Valeria Silva and Armando Camacho have been rapidly rising stars in the highly diverse constellation of St. Paul's public school district. They’re smart, passionate role models for a multicultural student population they connect with very well. Neither Silva nor Camacho knew English when they arrived in Minnesota in the early 1980s. Each has vivid memories of flying into America on a frigid December day, she from Chile at age 24 and he from Puerto Rico at age 6. Both ended up at St. Cloud State University, graduated summa cum laude and quickly found their niche in Twin Cities education circles, effectively teaching, leading, and reforming achievement rates for immigrant and special needs students.

School District Heads to Mexico to Hire Bilingual Teachers

The Plainfield Sun (IL)

May 15, 2008

Illinois' Plainfield School District 202 will take advantage of a special state program to recruit and hire bilingual teachers: a small group of district administrators will travel this month to Mexico City, along with officials from other nearby districts, in search of bilingual educators. The district plans to hire about 20 English Language Learner teachers this year, but even after doing so, it is anticipated that several positions will remain unfilled because of the district's rapid growth, officials said.

Third-Graders Urged to Help One Another Learn

Ventura County Star (CA)

May 15, 2008

Rather than have the students sit at their desks and compose and read stories alone, Angela Werth, a teacher in California's Ventura County, was using "think, pair, share" — a group teaching method that allows students to help one another through the reading and writing lesson. To the children it was a simple reading lesson, but by letting them share before asking them to write independently, their teacher said she was employing a "collective" approach to teaching, a counterbalance to the "individualistic" approach most common in U.S. schools.

Consistent ELL Guides Proposed

Education Week

May 14, 2008

In a move that could prompt major changes in the way states measure the achievement of English-language learners, the U.S. Department of Education is planning to tell states they must each use a consistent yardstick in determining when a child is fluent in English and when that child no longer needs special ELL services. A proposed "interpretation" of the No Child Left Behind Act's Title III — the conduit for most federal funding for ELL programs — says that states must further standardize the criteria they use to report how well such students are learning English.

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Predicted ESOL Savings Debated

The Washington Post

May 14, 2008

Top elected official in Virginia's Prince William County asserted last month that an exodus of immigrant families after the county's crackdown on illegal immigration is saving the school system millions of dollars because it has to educate fewer students who are learning English as a second language. But Prince William school officials say that the departure of nearly 760 students this school year from the English for Speakers of Other Languages program has not brought a financial windfall to the school system, contrary to an estimate of $6 million in savings cited by Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large).

Grant Brings iPods to ESL Classes

Caller-Times (TX)

May 14, 2008

High School students Jamira Baniqued and Danae Uria, both 15, appeared to breeze through their first language lesson using an iPod. Texas' Corpus Christi Independent School District officials want to tap into the younger generation's grasp of technology with 50 iPods, made possible with an AT&T $25,000 grant to the Corpus Christi Education Foundation. The iPods, devices that download video and audio from computers, will be used in the district's English as a Second Language classrooms.

Asian-American Students Struggling Under NCLB, Group Says

Education Week

May 12, 2008

Schools are failing to identify struggling Asian-American students under the No Child Left Behind Act and to get them the academic interventions they need, a report says . "Contrary to stereotypes that cast Asian-Americans as model students of academic achievement, many Asian-American students are struggling, failing, and dropping out of schools that ignore their needs," says the report, released last week by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund.

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Hispanic Students Pull Together to Graduate

The Seattle Times

May 12, 2008

As Osbaldo Hernandez looked around Washington state's Interlake High School, he saw Hispanic students growing discouraged, starting to skip class and then not going at all. So last fall Hernandez, 17, organized his fellow Hispanic students to raise academic achievement, graduate from high school and go on to college. They did it by encouraging each other to show up for class and turn in homework, by meeting twice a month to research college options and financial aid, and by seeking support from parents, school counselors, and volunteers to navigate the application process. As a result, a number of students on the verge of dropping out are now preparing to graduate and move on to college in the fall.

Success in Soccer Sparks Latino Students' Dedication to School

Omaha World Herald (NE)

May 12, 2008

As the Omaha South High School soccer time prepared to play in the state championship playoffs last week for the first time in the school's history, Latino team members reveled in their chance to contribute to their school's athletic legacy. The increased participation by a number of Latino students (both boys and girls) on soccer teams throughout Nebraska is not only revitalizing statewide high school soccer programs — it's keeping many Latino students in school who were previously at a high risk for dropping out, and has opened the door to numerous college athletic scholarships for students across the state.

Award Honors Determined ELL Student

Post-Bulletin (MN)

May 09, 2008

Ali Gombo, a fifth-grader at Minnesota's Riverside Central Elementary, was born in Sudan. At a young age, his family fled to Egypt and arrived in Rochester, MN halfway through his fourth-grade year, after a journey marked by war. Based on his experience in the Newcomers program, an all-day program for English-language learners, Gombo wrote a play, entitled "Kindness Wins," depicting the prejudice he's seen and reflecting the ways he has learned to help stop prejudice.

Celebrating 60 Years of Hosting Cornell's International Community

Cornell Chronicle (NY)

May 09, 2008

International students, English-language teachers, and Cornell University Campus Club members celebrated the 60th anniversary of the club's International Hospitality Committee with a birthday bash in April. The idea of forming hospitality groups for international students began in 1948, and activities over the years have included suppers for foreign students and friendship groups for international wives, clothing exchanges, and providing temporary housing for emergency arrivals. A program of English language classes began in 1964-65, and the classes have helped international visitors make friends, feel at home, and learn more about Cornell and the surrounding region.

Arizona ELL-Funding Plan Draws Scattered Backlash

Education Week

May 08, 2008

Some Arizona school administrators are unhappy about the formula being used to distribute an extra $40.6 million for English-language learners in the state for next school year to satisfy a court order. They argue that the formula shortchanges some districts that have many ELLs while giving a windfall to others with few such students.

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Bay Area Immigration Raids on Homes Panic Schools, Politicians

San Francisco Chronicle

May 08, 2008

Immigration arrests at homes in Berkeley and Oakland on Tuesday sent a wave of panic among parents in both cities, as authorities mistakenly believed immigration agents were raiding schools. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were in both cities Tuesday, performing routine fugitive operations, spokeswoman Virginia Kice said. Teams go out virtually every day looking for specific "immigration fugitives," she said.Officers arrested four family members at a Berkeley home and a woman at an Oakland residence. They were not at schools. Yet, within the next few hours, rumors of raids circulated throughout the communities, and in Berkeley, school district officials sent out an automated phone message to all parents notifying them that a Latino family had been picked up and assuring them that the district would "not allow any child to be taken away from the school."

Latino Children's Book Conference Draws Educators to South Carolina

WLTX-TV

May 08, 2008

Seeing Latino children's books in schools and on library bookshelves is particularly important to the organizers of a recent conference on Latino Children's Books in South Carolina. "As a Latino growing up in Boston, I never saw myself in a book," says Julia Lopez-Robertson, Assistant Professor at the USC College of Education. Lopez-Robertson teamed up with USC School of Library and Information Science Assistant Professor Jamie Naidoo to organize the upcoming conference, which would include children's authors and illustrators, teachers, and librarians.

Experts Discuss Myths about Latino Kids

National Public Radio

May 06, 2008

Pew census data shows that about a quarter of children younger than five in the U.S. are of Hispanic decent. Pedro Noguera, professor of education at New York University; and Jeffrey Passel, from the Pew Hispanic Center, discuss the rising number of Latino children and what it means for America.

When You Barely Speak English, Even a Math Test Is Baffling

The Idaho Statesman

May 06, 2008

Maryam Rahmatillayeva, a usually cheerful fifth-grader from Uzbekistan, knows how to use a computer mouse and can read some English. But the question she faced recently on a practice Idaho Standards Achievement Test in math stumped her nonetheless. "Which is the best estimate of how long a basketball game lasts?" was the query. The possible answers: one minute, one hour, 10 minutes, 10 hours. Maryam didn't know. "I not play basketball," she said. She frowned at the screen for a while and then made a guess so she could move on to the next question. She picked 10 minutes.

Proposed ELL Interpretation Would Require More Standardization

Education Week

May 06, 2008

Friday's Federal Register contains a proposed "interpretation" of the No Child Left Behind Act that, if put into effect, will require states to make some big changes in their policies regarding English-language learners. One of the biggest changes that I see is that states will have to use the same criteria for deciding when English-language learners exit from programs as they use to determine if students have attained proficiency in English for reporting purposes under accountability provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.

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In Tuition Aid Rules, Immigration Debate Meets Reality

NewsHour (PBS)

May 05, 2008

As the immigration debate continues to evolve, some states are denying children of undocumented immigrants government grants and tuition loans offered to low-income students to help pay for college. Lee Hochberg reports on how undocumented students are coping.