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 ESL: English as a Second Language 
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Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 7:02 pm
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ESL is a great program for our student who speak little or no English. But I would like to hear what you guys think about some of the problems I think this program has. I have heard that it takes a child around two years to get down English well enough to have a conversation but I take the same child around five to six years to convert what they hear into something they learn. The problem I see hear is that a student can only be in an ESL class for two may be three years.

Another problem I feel this program has is that a teacher can't hold back a student do to language. I feel if the child can't understand what is being said in class they will just fall farther and farther behind. Does any one see these things as being problems too? What can we do?

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Tracy Benfield


Sun Jul 25, 2004 3:34 pm
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Tracy,
At my school we have a very large minority percentage of ESL students. They receive different levels of assistance based on their different needs. Few students spend a majority of their time in the ESL rooms. Most are part of the pull-out program, spending the majority of their time with a regular class with an occasional supplementary ESL class for assistance.

I understand your concerns, but from my perspective the program seems to be working and working well. The children do learn conversational English quickly which helps tremendously on a social level. They do struggle at first in making the connection between verbal and written, but with the help of the ESL instructors and caring classroom teachers, many do make the connection. Some of my favorite pupils have been ESL. Generally they are highly motivated. They and their parents see pubic school in the United States as an opportunity. That attitude overcomes a lot of obstacles.

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Jerry Long


Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:06 pm
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Tracy,
At my school we have a very large minority percentage of ESL students. They receive different levels of assistance based on their different needs. Few students spend a majority of their time in the ESL rooms. Most are part of the pull-out program, spending the majority of their time with a regular class with an occasional supplementary ESL class for assistance.

I understand your concerns, but from my perspective the program seems to be working and working well. The children do learn conversational English quickly which helps tremendously on a social level. They do struggle at first in making the connection between verbal and written, but with the help of the ESL instructors and caring classroom teachers, many do make the connection. Some of my favorite pupils have been ESL. Generally they are highly motivated. They and their parents see pubic school in the United States as an opportunity. That attitude overcomes a lot of obstacles.

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Jerry Long


Mon Jul 26, 2004 2:06 pm
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Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2004 7:03 pm
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Location: charter.net
When I first saw this I didn't think much about it. Today (Friday) in my second period Algebra 1 class I found out that one student speaks no English at all. He is enrolled in an ESL class at school. I was able to find one of the booklets that came with the teacher edition is a Spanish speaking version. I had one of the bilingual students explain to him that I will allow him to use the Spanish version when we have classwork problems to solve to help him understand what the lecture was about. I guess he will have a problem when we get to test dates.

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Andy


Fri Aug 06, 2004 8:06 pm
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