Oct. 4 English Learners
I earned my degree and credential out of state. When I returned to California I began working as substitute teacher in the LAUSD. I was shocked when I walked into my first assignment. It was first grade, minutes from my home. When I walked in the door I learned that I would be teaching in English AND Spanish! I was not fluent in Spanish, I had taken 2 years of high school Spanish six year prior! In this particular model, I was supposed to teach everything twice, English, then Spanish. On the board when I walked in was written Mi nombre es ________ and below it was My name is _________ . As I walked around the classroom I saw many papers with Mi name es Jimmy. This was my introduction for teaching EL students. I continued to substitute in the Northeast San Fernando for 10 more years. I became familiar with about ten different models of instruction for addressing the needs of English Learners as I worked in various schools. This has been a source of questions for me over the years. Many of the schools had Spanish speaking aides and/or programs addressing students with Spanish as their first language. However, the students with other languages, Korean, Armenian, Tagalog, Persian, etc., did not get the same support. Some of the schools had high concentrations of these languages, and yet no services. I wondered why. In another school district I worked in we had 11 different languages represented. Spanish was the largest subgroup and garnered most of the attention. I was grateful that Kagan Strategies, SDAIE strategies, etc. attracted more attention because these could be used across the schools regardless of the language.
Currently, my class of 28 first graders is 100% English Learners with Spanish and Mixteco being their primary language. My instruction all day long incorporates specific strategies to help students learn rich content more easily. Even with all students being EL we incorporate leveled groups for learning English, and students have many pull-out programs for assistance. All are intended for support, yet can be disruptive to the continuity of our students’ learning. This is where I believe the teacher’s attitude and school wide attitudes are so important. There are pros and cons for for various models. Dual immersion sounds ideal, but are we offering dual immersion for students with primary languages other than Spanish? Or do they participate and then have their home language ignored as they learn 2 other languages? Is there a certain concentration percentage necessary to make a program viable?
This chapter simplifies a complicated issue. The important take away for me is a self-evaluation on my own attitude. Am I valuing the primary language aspect of my students, or am I viewing it as a problem? What is the attitude school-wide? Am I a positive influence in this regard? Am I a advocate for inclusion and/or inclusion attitudes?
