Teacher Discussion Forums

I think this can be a difficult challenge but can be achieved. I am co-teaching my first college ESL course and I can see where it may have some challenges but constant communication between the teachers and making sure you remain on the same page no matter what your "differences" might be personall...

As educators - How are we able to effectively recreate language policies in the classroom to better our students education by bridging the divide between policy and practice and gaining the support of our administration in the process? Any ideas.... The book Negotiating Language Policies in Schools ...

I luckily work in a school district that is supportive of ELL's but I have experienced (and this at the high school level also) an environment where some teachers have not wanted to take responsibility nor do they seem to care about the ELL's - it is a very discouraging situation for these students....

We discussed this last week in my graduate class and I was wondering is anyone has had any experience with this question - Is there a point where you think a child in a Bilingual program should just be in an ESL program - has anyone ever experienced this? The point when you feel ESL would benefit th...

Although there are arguments for both sides - I agree with tcollura. "The City of San Francisco must spend $350,000 for each language that a document is translated into under the city's bilingual government ordinance. "(Source: Janet Ng, Asian Week.com, June 2001) It would be ridiculous for us not t...

According to the "Forbidden Language" book we are reading in our Bilingual Education graduate class important changes are occurring in the educational experiences of EL's at a time when restrictive language policies are being implemented in certain states - for instance - EL special education enroll...

I think this is a sticky situation that seems to come up more and more in education. I think the ESL teacher and Special Education teacher should meet with the Child Study team to share their "knowledge" and previous experiences in this area. Again this will all depend on the school district and how...

Laws being passed (in Arizona especially) that reduce or eliminate Bilingual Education in some States. Some of these laws - as stated in the book I am reading for my graduate class (Forbidden Language) - after being passed show evidence of "teacher preparation being significantly reduced for EL clas...

It has been recommended for adult ESL's to watch The History Channel or a television show in English where they speak slower (most children's shows do speak slower) when they are first learning. It helps them to learn English easier and mimic the words.

We had a program at the school where I was a teacher last year. It was through the "work study" program that was implemented at the high school. One period a day the student (who had interest in becoming a teacher - this was usually the case but not always) came in to an ESL classroom and sat with o...

To educate content teachers. Does any school use this and if so can you tell me about how it has developed for your school? Are content teachers open or interested in this?

Thanks,

Kerri

Hi,

I would love to hear from a Bilingual teacher that feels Bilingual Education is effective and what method of teaching they are using that they find is most productive and efficient for their students. An example would be sufficient.

Thank you!

Kerri

Sally - I love the idea about giving them research and statistics on classes that have learned with he English only policy and how much faster the students have learned!! Did you just google this or is there a great site where I can find these statistics?

Thank you,

Kerri

In the classroom......I only teach them for 4 hours a week and I have tried to implement an ONLY speak English rule for several reasons... 1. The director of the program requested that they only speak English because of limited time in the class. 2. It is only 4 hours a week and basically the ONLY t...

Thuy, This is a topic that remains a crisis all over the United States (and I am sure other countries as well). Unless your school has a Bilingual Program I am not sure how you can remain or begin teaching in their first language. I completely agree with continuing to have international subjects and...