Blind Republicans

Mary Ann over at Learning the Language has a couple posts that should be generating some conversation.  First was "Republicans See English as the 'Official Language'"  They do know that is just like the Tom Tomorrow cartoon that shows then designating the Sun as our source of heat and light, don't they?  They get Orwellian with this, "...we support the English First approach and oppose divisive programs that limit students' future potential."  Even Mary Ann, an expert on these matters, has no idea where this "English First" nonsense came from.  It sure sounds like they mean bilingualism is bad, doesn't it?

Today she has "What's the Proper Role for English in the USA?"  Turns out some nitwit unfortunately named John Lillpop thinks "...Hispanics and other advocates of bilingual mumbo-jumbo are so blinded to reality?"  They're not blinded John, you are.  I was going to sum this up, but as usual Stephen Krashen already has:

Mr. Lillpot is badly misinformed. Everybody agrees that acquisition of English is essential. That's why we need bilingual education. Study after study shows that children in bilingual programs do better on tests of English reading than children in all-English immersion programs.  Bilingual education works because it uses the child's first language in a way that accelerates second language acquisition.

Of course, maybe I have this "English First" idea from the Republicans all wrong.  Perhaps they mean they're pushing some new financial incentive and providing more funds for English Language Learning, hiring more teachers and providing the curriculum and meeting space for adults as well as school children.  If they want our new citizens to learn English, that certainly makes sense.

Science for English Language Learners

Subtitled K-12 Classroom Strategies this excellent professional
resource is put out by the NSTA Press. Edited by Ann Fathman ans David Crowther, it's actually written by many top educators. It's short and easy to read with just the right combination of theory and nitty-gritty classroom techniques.


They get right to the point in Chapter One and this goes for more than just ELLs: "The science process skills--including observing, predicting, communicating, classifying, and analyzing--are almost the same as language learning skills--seeking information,
comparing, ordering, synthesizing, and evaluating."


ELLs are often denied content area instruction and there should be no real reason for this. If
you use an inquiry-based style of science teaching with a lot of hands on experiences and problem solving, then students at every level should be engaged and have something to contribute.

The book is packed with great references and links. If you teach science at all to any grade this book will be helpful, even if you don't have ELLs. I mean, be honest, aren't they all English Language Learners? Just for the methods on differentiating instruction in a content area with a lot of content are language, this book would be valuable for any teacher's professional library.
Highly recommended.

The Good, The Bad, The Bureaucracy...

The Good: I signed my little girl up for Kindergarten yesterday! What a weird feeling. She is made of awesome. They had these laundry baskets full of Legos for the kids to play with while the parents filled out paperwork. She came over to me with another little girl. "Daddy, I made a new friend. This is Elly." So far, so good. But I promise I hadn't taught her what she did next: "Elly, this is my Daddy, Jim." So polite! So observant! Can you tell I'm a proud Poppa?

The Bad: I had to go back to my school and sit through our Kindergarten Registration until six. Sigh.

The Bureaucracy: A new family came in from Mexico and registered this week. Three kids. Turns out the "window" is still open for our State standardized test. If the family had registered Monday, I wouldn't have had to administer the Reading section of the test to the third grader this morning. Since he just got here and there has been no screenings or meetings on him, he had to take the test with no accommodations. I obviously thought it was ridiculous. The Assistant Principal thought it was ridiculous. Yet, here we were. I got an interpreter to explain it to him and he was a great sport. He happily "christmas treed" the test and I told him I'd start working with him for real on Monday.

Sigh.

Spanish Speakers Do Well In English

"Some folks think that Hispanics have "no spur to learn English," in contrast to other immigrants. This accusation is unfounded. Spanish speakers do well in learning English. According to the recent census, the percentage of Spanish and Asian language speakers who speak English very well is nearly identical, for children, 73.4% of Spanish speakers and 72.7% of Asian language speakers. For adults, the percentages are 47.5% and 50.8% respectively. Studies confirm that those in Spanish-speaking families who came to the US before school age or were born here generally speak English better than they do Spanish by the time they are in high school or even earlier, and 70% of third and later generation Hispanics speak only English. Polls show that Spanish speakers support the acquisition of English. According to a recent Pew study, Hispanics feel more strongly about the importance of children acquiring English than other groups do. The impression that Spanish speakers do not speak English well is due to the presence of new immigrants, who have not yet had time (and often the opportunity) to acquire English to high levels. "
--Stephen Krashen

It's Not That Hard!

"The provision of a rich supply of high-interest story books is a much more feasible policy for improving English learning than any pious pronouncements about the urgent need to raise teacher quality. Many suggestions always ignore the most obvious, the most economical, the easiest to implement, one that students enjoy doing, and the one best supported by research: Study after study shows that increasing the amount of self-selected reading done by students has a profound impact on first and second language proficiency. Those who read more do better on tests of reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary, and do better on the TOEFL. We also know from the research that when young people have access to genuinely interesting and comprehensible reading material, they usually read it. Before investing in untested and expensive adventures such as restructuring and testing teachers, a crucial first step is to improve the collection of interesting and comprehensible English books available to students, and begin to include some reading time in class."

--Stephen Krashen, Ph.D.