English Language Learners Aren't All Spanish
There's other languages to you know....
When we hear about English Language Learners, the image that
often created in our heads are Spanish-speaking students. And, being that the
majority of ELL students in America do speak Spanish as their first dialect, this
stereotypical image does make sense. However, we cannot forget what the term
ELL actually means. It is a general term used for any person who is learning
the English language, regardless of their native language. From my own
observations, students of the Asian descent, specifically China, are the second
most prevalent ELL students. But, the Chinese ELL students tend to be less accommodated
for, being that they are less prevalent than the population of Spanish speakers
in American public schools. The popular media proves this idea of forgetting
the Chinese Americans very clearly. When researching ELL or even learning about
non-native speakers in educational classes, hundreds of results come up. And in
each article, the main, or only, focus is on Spanish speakers. How could this
be?
In Huffington
Post’s blog, “New Model for English
Language Learners Needed in U.S. Schools” a general statement was made about
the lack of programs created for ELL students. To make readers better
understand the position that ELL students are in, The Huffington Post stated, “Imagine if you… moved to Spain and attended a school where
all of the curriculum was taught in Spanish” The slightly alarming aspect of
this example is that the entire article compares what it is to have your native
language be English, versus having Spanish as your native language. It may not
seem like much of a deal, but when it comes down to it, Chinese Americans are
often forgotten about.
Photo Courtesy of Acacia Center of Ohio
Service for English Language Learners
In
recent years, there is often an emphasis on the need for teachers to be
bilingual, specifically in Spanish. The Huffington Post created an
article specifically dedicated to this idea, in “Why Demand For Spanish-Speaking Teachers Is Increasing.” In the article, Danielle
Restuccia argues that ELL students would benefit directly if they had a
Spanish-Speaking teacher, in order to better communicate and assist them in
core subjects. Yet again, are these Spanish-speaking teachers going to benefit the
Chinese American students? Probably not. Restuccia expresses the struggle in
finding Spanish-Speaking potential teachers. “We
lack language-learning opportunities…Decreasing opportunities to study Spanish
may help to explain why the search for bilingual employees is so difficult.” Spanish. Not any other language is even
mentioned let alone a thought of struggle. Ultimately, if the popular media isn’t
expressing concern for Chinese American students, how are populations going to
see that a change must be done?
