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Ellie's Use Of English As A Second Language

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Within the library, all the students are given a new reading assignment; however, there is one girl, Ellie, who is set apart from the rest. Ellie is a recent immigrant from Israel whose English is not adequate enough to comprehend anything the librarian has told her and must struggle to keep up with her classmates. This is the plot of the movie Foreign Letters, which details the childhood of a young immigrant girl during the early 1980’s. The movie also sheds light on the entrance of ESL programs into the public education system , which have recently faced opposition. However, ESL programs, which include two-language transition programs to English, are extremely important and give many benefits to children especially those from immigrant backgrounds. …show more content…

Many instructors were offset by this because many of their foreign students were behind their English speaking students. This issue led to the invention of two-language ESL (English as a Second Language) programs. ESL had been designed to assist students in learning English alongside their native tongue in school ,with hopes of greater academic achievement. However, there are still people who would prefer the use of English Immersion instead of utilizing ESL programs. ESL is typically used with students who do not speak English in their home environment, including the growing number of United States citizens who do not have or do not speak English within their homes. The amount of people who speak more than one language at home (excluding English) “has soared by 140 percent” (Myers). In addition, “the school-aged population has grown… 10 percent” (Myers).With this increase of young students and multilingualism in homes, the need for ESL programs has become an increasingly significant issue if America wants to progress globally with an ever growing diverse population. If this issue is ignored, leaving the children without English assistance, the academic performance of these multilingual students will suffer as …show more content…

Sean Reardon, a Stanford scholar who worked along with SFUSD found,” growth [in test scores] by fifth grade…[surpassed] those in English only” (Myers). This is not to say that this development happened instantly, instead it took place over a few years. A non-native speaker whose only exposure to English is in an approximately forty minute session five times a week,should not be expected to reach fluency within a year. Despite this, the results of this study should not be ignored. From the training these children receive, they will be more vastly wanted in the job market. How so? It is widely known that being bilingual , the chance of getting a job will be higher opposed to a monolingual

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In the essay, "Aria: Memoir of a Bilingual Childhood", Richard Rodriguez explains his opinion on bilingual education based on his own childhood experience. He provides reasons why it would be retrogressive to permit the non-English speaking children use their family language as the language in school. In defending his positions, he provides three ideas to support his position: • The use of family language impedes child’s social growth. Insistence on using Spanish language at home made Rodriguez and his older sister and brother to be socially disadvantaged at school.

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However, immigrant students are required to have sufficient mastery of the language to do well in high school. All of their classes, besides language learning classes, are taught wholly in English in the majority of high schools across America. As Dr. Olsen points out, “a student cannot learn social studies, math, and science if they cannot understand the language of the teacher or … the textbook” (Olsen, 1997, pg. 94). She goes on to state that learning English can take up to seven years, and that for students to truly master the language, they need “instruction and support in their home language” (Olsen, 1997, pg. 94).

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When Reyna arrived to the US she couldn’t wait to begin school, however it was not what she expected since she didn’t speak English. When Reyna arrived to class the first day she was frightened, and when she spoke Spanish her teacher shrugged and smiled and told her “No entender mucho” meaning that the teacher didn’t understand Reyna or what she was going through  (Grande p.171). This made Rayna feel anxious, as would have anyone in her situation, and to make matters worse the teacher “pointed to a table in the corner” making the ESL students feel more excluded than what they already were (Grande p.171). Mago, Rayna’s older sister also experienced troubles because she didn’t speak English, she liked a boy but “he didn’t notice her because she was an ESL student” (Grande p.208). A time when language became a barrier for Reyna’s success was when the teacher didn’t read her work to consider her for a competition because it was in Spanish.

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By referencing “the legal duties to educate…children,” the author establishes a sense of responsibility into the reader to help these kids, further promoting bilingual education (Carsen). This message calls out to everyone to make a difference in kids’ lives, and acting otherwise questions one’s morality. The author also includes a message of Baltazar speaking about her dream of graduating high school. This heartwarming bit of the article persuades readers to advocate for bilingual education. Further reading about other children’s struggle in academics due to language barriers underlines the need for that program.

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In summary, as Latino’s English language learner students lag in communication skills and in science vocabulary, it is vital that educators are knowledgeable on how to prepare the students to compete in the 21st century economy. Poplin and Phillips (1993) argued that often students are wrongfully labeled as “learning disabled” due to what some educators thought as a language difference in Latino English language learners, and inadequately recognizing the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and comprehension of text. On the contrary, Campos, Delgado and Huerta (2013) suggested that educators need to recognize the misconception about English language learners and provide accommodations to support their teaching and learning in the classroom,

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Why are not Colombian students fully proficient in the English language? According to the last standardized national test pruebas saber pro, only 5% of Colombian students expected to reach the B2 level (CEFR). Even though this country has had a bilingual policy for over 15 years, the results have not been evidenced since the English teaching classes in public schools are mainly based on traditional methods. For this reason, Colombian students must be required to strengthen autonomy and raise awareness to push them out from their comfort zone. The 21st century requires certain skills that students need to foster such as self-empowerment and initiative taking in order to embrace the goal of being bilingual.

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The parent’s perspective towards bilingual education was like the student’s opinions because both individuals felt immersion classrooms benefit the students and the parents. The father of Jason was proud his son was the first in his family to read, write, and speak in English. Jason’s father knew his son would have many career opportunities by learning English at school. Learning the English academic language was not the only proud language Jason’s father encouraged for Jason to learn but also the Spanish language as well. Jason’s father only speaks Spanish so if his son was to lose his home language, a language barrier would form between father and son.

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Having a second language in your background is so impactful on one’s life, providing them with more skills. This is the 21st century and having this skill helps an individual be

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The more language knowledge significantly helps towards your career as you know. Bilinguals have the privilege of get their information from a wider variety of resources. Also, it has great educational benefit to kids. Many studies suggest that bilingual children tend to have a higher concentration and are better at working through distraction while doing their school work. Research has shown that bilinguals score higher on average on tests involving creative thinking or problem solving.

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Frank Smith, a famous author from the Cold War era, stated, “one language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way” (Smith 110). Several school districts across the nation have implemented dual language immersion programs in their elementary schools. With a fast-growing immigrant rate in the United States, being multilingual has become extremely useful to many U.S. citizens. Dual language immersion programs should be implemented into every elementary school curriculum because children in these programs acquire a second language, which helps them develop useful skills, become more aware of cultures around the world, and, contrary to the opposition’s claim, it does help students learn better in school.

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