Non-English Speaking Students

[Anonymous]

Forgive my naïveté, but can the teacher give the kids the same texts in Spanish or whatever dominant language there is? Or just easier assignments in English? Heck, just keep them on their phones and their mouths zapped?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Forgive my naïveté, but can the teacher give the kids the same texts in Spanish or whatever dominant language there is? Or just easier assignments in English? Heck, just keep them on their phones and their mouths zapped?

That completely voids the fact that it’s an ENGLISH class. English is more than just reading…

Also are you going to give me more time to plan these easier lessons?

Contrary to popular belief, not all ESOL teachers know Spanish. How do we know the translations we’re making is accurate?

And how is this servicing the ESOL students who need to learn English?? Isn’t that what trump wants anyway???

And don’t even get me started on your last comment. Insensitive. And actually against the MCPS no phone policy this year

[Anonymous]

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.

Thank you for clarifying. So all MCPS schools are doing this? Can we not go to the news or somebody about this? I am leaving crying every day because I feel these kids are not being set up for success

I care more about all of the other kids whose classrooms are slowed to try to "set up these kids for success."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forgive my naïveté, but can the teacher give the kids the same texts in Spanish or whatever dominant language there is? Or just easier assignments in English? Heck, just keep them on their phones and their mouths zapped?

That completely voids the fact that it’s an ENGLISH class. English is more than just reading…

Also are you going to give me more time to plan these easier lessons?

Contrary to popular belief, not all ESOL teachers know Spanish. How do we know the translations we’re making is accurate?

And how is this servicing the ESOL students who need to learn English?? Isn’t that what trump wants anyway???

And don’t even get me started on your last comment. Insensitive. And actually against the MCPS no phone policy this year

Okay okay can you give them easier work in ENGLISH or is it verboten?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I attended DCPS elementary school in the 1980s and the kids who could not speak English seemed to spend most of the day in class with us and maybe an hour or two with the ESL teacher.

We did not have a special ESL section.

Special ESL section and today’s is an hour in another class designed for kids who are learning English. So yes, you did have that in the 80s… But even if you didn’t, that’s the most stupid argument I’ve ever heard… Things were like this back in my day…

Um, OP posted how unusual this was and acting like it was a "new" thing. It's not new at the elementary level, is my point.

But then she posted this was high school. THAT seems unusual and it's a problem because Wheaton is putting English language learners in the same English class as everyone else with their idiotic "Honors for all" bullshit.

[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!!

YES, this is the situation my Wheaton kid had. He wanted a reasonably challenging English class, but already had four other APs and AP lit plus the four other APs was just too much. There should be a middle ground class. Honestly, there should probably be four levels. AP, Honors, Grade Level, and English Language Learners who aren't ready for the other English classes. But instead we have these honors for all classes because the schools don't want to deal with making sure the kids are differentiated into the right tracks and don't want to deal with racial imbalances in the classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

No, you Asian parents don’t get a pass. Your kid is sitting next to my kid and doesn’t understand a single word! So the teacher has to wait for these kids to catch up and it slows everything down. So, no, it is not “vastly different.” We have FOUR students in my kid’s class like this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

No, you Asian parents don’t get a pass. Your kid is sitting next to my kid and doesn’t understand a single word! So the teacher has to wait for these kids to catch up and it slows everything down. So, no, it is not “vastly different.” We have FOUR students in my kid’s class like this.

I am not Asian and my kid is a native speaker.
You can ask your kid not to be paired with the non English speaking students.
I am neither progressive nor liberal but I don’t see it as a big deal at lower elementary level.

[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

This is the typical bullying behavior that public school parents already exhibit on the Homeschooling forum. Don’t worry, you’ve already ruined it for homeschoolers, which may be why people feel compelled to comment here.

[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.

It’s a state of Maryland mandate. MD did an audit a few years ago that determined that ESOL 1 and 2 students were not receiving instruction in core subjects. Districts were required to address this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Forgive my naïveté, but can the teacher give the kids the same texts in Spanish or whatever dominant language there is? Or just easier assignments in English? Heck, just keep them on their phones and their mouths zapped?

You might think that providing native language texts can be a bridge to learning content of a text, but we have students with several native languages in one classroom and their levels of literacy in home languages can vary. Literacy in home language predicts the ability to learn a second language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

It is not just Wheaton. Many other MCPS highschools have the same issue - Einstein, Northwood, Blair (non-magnet), Gaithersburg, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Forgive my naïveté, but can the teacher give the kids the same texts in Spanish or whatever dominant language there is? Or just easier assignments in English? Heck, just keep them on their phones and their mouths zapped?

That completely voids the fact that it’s an ENGLISH class. English is more than just reading…

Also are you going to give me more time to plan these easier lessons?

Contrary to popular belief, not all ESOL teachers know Spanish. How do we know the translations we’re making is accurate?

And how is this servicing the ESOL students who need to learn English?? Isn’t that what trump wants anyway???

And don’t even get me started on your last comment. Insensitive. And actually against the MCPS no phone policy this year

This. I’m a teacher who doesn’t speak Spanish. It would be irresponsible to give kids long texts in Spanish if I can’t check how good the translations are. MCPS Central doesn’t provide us with these resources. And why would I give kids texts in Spanish in an English class? And as for giving them easier stuff - at some point you are running two separate classes. We also have iep kids who all need different things. There is just no way for a teacher to teach effectively in this situation. And good luck if you are a new teacher with less than 3 years of experience

[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).

The problem is that MD education office staff are so far removed from what happens in actual schools and classrooms, that they come up with all sorts of rules and regulations that make it harder to teach. The SLOs are another state mandate that all teachers are required to do and that achieve nothing except take some teacher time away from grading and planning. They are never interested in feedback either

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.

It’s a state of Maryland mandate. MD did an audit a few years ago that determined that ESOL 1 and 2 students were not receiving instruction in core subjects. Districts were required to address this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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).

The problem is that MD education office staff are so far removed from what happens in actual schools and classrooms, that they come up with all sorts of rules and regulations that make it harder to teach. The SLOs are another state mandate that all teachers are required to do and that achieve nothing except take some teacher time away from grading and planning. They are never interested in feedback either

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.

It’s a state of Maryland mandate. MD did an audit a few years ago that determined that ESOL 1 and 2 students were not receiving instruction in core subjects. Districts were required to address this.

The problem is that MD education office staff are so far removed from what happens in actual schools and classrooms, that they come up with all sorts of rules and regulations that make it harder to teach. The SLOs are another state mandate that all teachers are required to do and that achieve nothing except take some teacher time away from grading and planning. They are never interested in feedback either