Non-English Speaking Students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t there far fewer new students this year who speak zero English? I assume Trump has scared off immigrants trying to cross the border.

If you believe this, you are delusional. There is just as many kids as ever who don’t know English.

How is that possible when border crossings have dropped significantly? I’m not making a comment on whether that is good or bad - just stating our present reality.

Bc that doesn’t have a direct correlation with where those kids go. Not like everyone who immigrates to America spreads evenly aMing each school.

Also shame on you for assuming all kids who don’t know English are illegal. I have many students who are immigrants from other non-Spanish speaking countries. And many Spanish speakers have come here legally as well.

Don’t make this an immigration issue please

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No OP is right. Level I ESOL students used to have their own English class, often double period. This year that is gone and they are in General Ed English Classes and it is INSANE.

I do not agree with it either. Where are the basics, what are they supposed to be doing, learning to say Hello and simultaneously reading novels?

Dumbest thing Maryland has done. It is state led btw OP, not an MCPS thing from what I understand.

This is at the high school and middle school levels? Are the schools having a second teacher that is ESOL certified circulate? Is that the system?

High school level. And yes, there is a second teacher circulating. But in a school like Wheaton with a very high ESOL population you have like 15 kids who don’t know English in one class. That’s impossible

All the ESOL teacher can do in this situation is help keep behavior in check. The curriculum is ELA at a far higher level than beginning English Learners can even attempt to understand. Doesn't equity-warrior-in-chief Thomas Taylor care about these students?

[Anonymous]

Yeah and then I have a kid who actually goes to Wheaton and is very loaded up on other AP classes so doesn't want to take AP Lang (or Lit, whatever it is in 11th grade). So 11th grade honors English is basically a non-class for my kid, but I also feel sorry for the teachers and those EML students.

I actually get frustrated with my kid complaining about being bored and sometimes not turning in work (another topic) because I understand the teacher's dilemma. However, it is a bad situation, hard to really service anyone well in the current model. There should be regular English, honors English, and an AP choice.

Not the teacher's fault though!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No OP is right. Level I ESOL students used to have their own English class, often double period. This year that is gone and they are in General Ed English Classes and it is INSANE.

I do not agree with it either. Where are the basics, what are they supposed to be doing, learning to say Hello and simultaneously reading novels?

Dumbest thing Maryland has done. It is state led btw OP, not an MCPS thing from what I understand.

This is at the high school and middle school levels? Are the schools having a second teacher that is ESOL certified circulate? Is that the system?

High school level. And yes, there is a second teacher circulating. But in a school like Wheaton with a very high ESOL population you have like 15 kids who don’t know English in one class. That’s impossible

All the ESOL teacher can do in this situation is help keep behavior in check. The curriculum is ELA at a far higher level than beginning English Learners can even attempt to understand. Doesn't equity-warrior-in-chief Thomas Taylor care about these students?

I’m guessing MD lost some federal funding that used to help support these students. Supporting students in high school who speak no English and often have also missed 2-4 years of schooling requires intensive resources that cost money. It sucks but being a sanctuary county is expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any other schools having Level 1 and Level 2 WIDA students in the general education classroom? For context, these students have little to no English skills (cannot carry on a basic conversation in English).

In years prior, these students were in sheltered English classes that were designed to help them learn English. Now, they are being lumped into the general ed. classroom (or at least at my school).

Is this a school directed thing or a mandate from MCPS? As a teacher, what we are being asked to do is impossible and is setting these students up for failure.

Thanks for asking this. We have a shitload of Asian kids in our cluster (‘W’ schools) who don’t speak English - they come in Kindergarten through 2nd. I asked my kid how do they do their work and he said the other kids have to help them. It slows everyone down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t there far fewer new students this year who speak zero English? I assume Trump has scared off immigrants trying to cross the border.

If you believe this, you are delusional. There is just as many kids as ever who don’t know English.

How is that possible when border crossings have dropped significantly? I’m not making a comment on whether that is good or bad - just stating our present reality.

Bc that doesn’t have a direct correlation with where those kids go. Not like everyone who immigrates to America spreads evenly aMing each school.

Also shame on you for assuming all kids who don’t know English are illegal. I have many students who are immigrants from other non-Spanish speaking countries. And many Spanish speakers have come here legally as well.

Don’t make this an immigration issue please

On the contrary, I’m not assuming that everyone that crosses the border does so illegally. Aren’t there both legal and illegal crossings. Immigrants, both legal and illegal, have been discouraged from coming to the US. And numbers have gone down

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No OP is right. Level I ESOL students used to have their own English class, often double period. This year that is gone and they are in General Ed English Classes and it is INSANE.

I do not agree with it either. Where are the basics, what are they supposed to be doing, learning to say Hello and simultaneously reading novels?

Dumbest thing Maryland has done. It is state led btw OP, not an MCPS thing from what I understand.

This is at the high school and middle school levels? Are the schools having a second teacher that is ESOL certified circulate? Is that the system?

High school level. And yes, there is a second teacher circulating. But in a school like Wheaton with a very high ESOL population you have like 15 kids who don’t know English in one class. That’s impossible

All the ESOL teacher can do in this situation is help keep behavior in check. The curriculum is ELA at a far higher level than beginning English Learners can even attempt to understand. Doesn't equity-warrior-in-chief Thomas Taylor care about these students?

I’m guessing MD lost some federal funding that used to help support these students. Supporting students in high school who speak no English and often have also missed 2-4 years of schooling requires intensive resources that cost money. It sucks but being a sanctuary county is expensive.

Trump released all the Title III funding (ESOL funding) to states - I guess red states were begging. It's not that much money for MCPS - the funding amount for the entire country is $890 million. What is more important is that Trump cancelled all regulations that required states to make any provisions for teaching English to English Learners at the school district level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No OP is right. Level I ESOL students used to have their own English class, often double period. This year that is gone and they are in General Ed English Classes and it is INSANE.

I do not agree with it either. Where are the basics, what are they supposed to be doing, learning to say Hello and simultaneously reading novels?

Dumbest thing Maryland has done. It is state led btw OP, not an MCPS thing from what I understand.

Is this at MS or HS level? Or elementary as well? I’d imagine it’s different ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t there far fewer new students this year who speak zero English? I assume Trump has scared off immigrants trying to cross the border.

Not op but I’d imagine the ones who got in last year still haven’t mastered it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is why we homeschool.

Sometimes I really want to go into the homeschooling section of dcum and every time someone complains about homeschooling is really hard I should brag about why I go to public school. I swear homeschooling parents are like the most insecure social awkward twits

As long as they don’t abuse their kids I don’t care
-DP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t there far fewer new students this year who speak zero English? I assume Trump has scared off immigrants trying to cross the border.

If you believe this, you are delusional. There is just as many kids as ever who don’t know English.

Dp. Are they new arrivals (this year) or are they the ones who got in earlier but just didn’t learn much yet? I am not judging, it’s impossible to learn that fast in HS, to get to on level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Not a troll post. The school is Wheaton HS. I need to clarify:

1. This is a HIGH school. We do not have pull outs. Not for language learning services. This is not a post for ES or MS.

2. Yes, EML (English Multilingual Learners) have always been in Gen Ed. BUT, up until this year, it has been Level 3s and Level 4s (kids who have at least some English proficiency.

3. I am talking about a change from Level 1s and 2s (new arrivals or kids with little to no English language) having used to have the option for a slower/sheltered English class to now being pushed into the “Honors for all” classes (Wheaton no longer has “on-level”).

While I understand this is DC “moms and dads” this is more of a post asking other teachers what is happening at their schools.

This was my DD’s situation in Honors-for-all Chemistry at Einstein. Some days there was an aide, some days there wasn’t. My daughter spoke very good Spanish and tried to help the best she could. Year was 2019.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t there far fewer new students this year who speak zero English? I assume Trump has scared off immigrants trying to cross the border.

If you believe this, you are delusional. There is just as many kids as ever who don’t know English.

How is that possible when border crossings have dropped significantly? I’m not making a comment on whether that is good or bad - just stating our present reality.

Bc that doesn’t have a direct correlation with where those kids go. Not like everyone who immigrates to America spreads evenly aMing each school.

Also shame on you for assuming all kids who don’t know English are illegal. I have many students who are immigrants from other non-Spanish speaking countries. And many Spanish speakers have come here legally as well.

Don’t make this an immigration issue please

DP. Just like honors for all, almost no one is illegal now, as they all come in “seeking asylum”. But yes most kids who know zero English and go to Wheaton are border crossers, illegal or not. They are no all Spanish speakers.
You need to understand that UN or WB kids who arrive at HS age usually know quite some English and they don’t usually go to Wheaton.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah and then I have a kid who actually goes to Wheaton and is very loaded up on other AP classes so doesn't want to take AP Lang (or Lit, whatever it is in 11th grade). So 11th grade honors English is basically a non-class for my kid, but I also feel sorry for the teachers and those EML students.

I actually get frustrated with my kid complaining about being bored and sometimes not turning in work (another topic) because I understand the teacher's dilemma. However, it is a bad situation, hard to really service anyone well in the current model. There should be regular English, honors English, and an AP choice.

Not the teacher's fault though!!

At this point I just feel bad for “regular” kids who go to Wheaton. It’s impossible or hard to have all APs and anything below is an abomination.
It happens a lot to kids who are decently smart and educated but are not at an advanced level program at a low ranked school. That’s why it’s not a good idea to have your kid at such school unless they can handle all the highest level classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there any other schools having Level 1 and Level 2 WIDA students in the general education classroom? For context, these students have little to no English skills (cannot carry on a basic conversation in English).

In years prior, these students were in sheltered English classes that were designed to help them learn English. Now, they are being lumped into the general ed. classroom (or at least at my school).

Is this a school directed thing or a mandate from MCPS? As a teacher, what we are being asked to do is impossible and is setting these students up for failure.

Thanks for asking this. We have a shitload of Asian kids in our cluster (‘W’ schools) who don’t speak English - they come in Kindergarten through 2nd. I asked my kid how do they do their work and he said the other kids have to help them. It slows everyone down.

At this level (K-2) and with kids from educated household it’ll be a non issue about 6-12 months after they start.
Slowing kids down in kindergarten is a non issue too.

This is vastly different.