Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Multicultural Education





                                  



What is the Best ELL Program?
Today there are many students with a home language other then English.  Numerous students will not be English dominant speaking as they enter school.   The term limited English Proficient (LEP) is used for children whose first language is not English.  If a child is born to at least one immigrant parent then they are known as English Language Learners. (ELL) 
Schools use different program models in which students are placed to learn English. The programs I will discuss focus basically on the English and Spanish programs but could really be implemented with any languages. One type of program is known as the English-language monolingual program.  In this program, the student receives no instruction other then English. To me, it is like a sink or swim situation, so the child must learn English.  The English-monolingual-plus ESL program is when the child is in a regular program but does receive English instruction.  The third type of program is known as the transitional bilingual education program.  The student receives both English and Spanish instruction.  Eventually most of the language in the classroom is English and eventually the student is put in a regular classroom.  The maintenance bilingual education program is when the child is in a bilingual classroom and receives some English instruction.  This program attempts to have the student gain proficiency in both languages.  It can be taught by English speaking as well as a foreign language speaking teacher.  The final ELL Program I will discuss is the structured immersion program.  The overall lessons are taught in English with vocabulary explained in detail.  The teacher knows the native language but usually instructs in English.  The student can, however, ask questions in their native language.
Different schools systems use different approaches for their non-English speaking students.  As one article suggests “Not One Size Fits All” is the solution.  Numerous questions need to be addressed by the schools in order to determine which program fits the needs of most of their students.  For success to occur with any of these programs, teachers must work together.   An article written by Andrea Honigsfeld in Kappa Delta Pi Record (Summer 2009)   suggests some of the following strategies for any ELL Program to be effective.  Bilingual and mainstream teachers should plan the curriculum and work on instruction strategies together.  Another plan is that teachers should invite and hold conferences for both English and non-English speaking parents together.  This will allow parents the opportuinty to bond and communicate.  Peer tutoring projects should be implemented to pair English speaking and non-English speaking students the opportunity to work together.   Another suggestion is multicultural concepts should be infused within all lessons.  There are numerous things teachers can do to try to form an effective ELL Program in their schools. The suggestions mentioned above are only a small sampling of ideas.  All teachers must be willing to work together and provide students the opportunity to realize different students need different programs at different times.


http://www.kdp.org/publications/pdf/record/summer09/Record_Sm09_Honigsfeld.pdf

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