ESL Article

High School is about searching for a place to call home. Freshmen search for a group of friends. Sophomores and juniors seek solace in sports teams and clubs. Seniors strain towards a new home in the uncharted territory of dorms and quads. In the midst of this constant search for community, a Cedar Shoals High School teacher has settled into her abode.

Carla Horne finds respite in the close-knit bonds of her ESOL (English to Speakers of other Languages) classes.

“In the sheltered method we’re all a family,” she said. “They all need help writing so no one feels embarrassed or uncomfortable.”

Rather than the physical shelter commonly associated with home, the method Horne refers to involves a class catered toward ESOL students. This is one of three primary methods used in the Athens-Clarke County ESOL program to meet the needs of students from non-English speaking homes.

Elementary schools typically focus on the “Push In” and “Pull Out” approaches. In the former, regular teachers and ESOL instructors deliver content to children during their normal class. The latter method involves tutors pulling kids out of class for intense English instruction.

“I personally like the sheltered method better,” Horne said, “because there’s too much commotion and distraction involved with going into a classroom.”

The sheltered method is the one most commonly employed in middle and high schools. Sheltered classes teach a specific subject, like tenth grade English, to a group of only non- native speakers.

ESOL programs in Athens cater to the 1191 students who have showed need. These students account for 10% of the entire district school population, and 90% of them are of Hispanic descent.

Although some students merely come from homes that speak a language other than English, many fall into the 13.2% of Athens residence who moved to the U.S. within the past year.

Brittany Mackay, an ESOL tutor at Winterville Elementary, taught a number of newly settled immigrants via the “Push In” method and found that their inexperience with English crippled, or at least hindered, their capacity to learn.

“You have to constantly ask them if they understand the material,” Mackay said. “And even when they say they do they usually don’t. They’re just too embarrassed to admit that they don’t get it.”

Although an easy solution to this seems to be translating material into students’ native language, Mackay found even that to be insufficient.

“When I translated worksheets into Spanish they understood the words,” she said. “But they hadn’t comprehended enough of the lecture to do the material.”

The extent of language set backs in non-native speakers shows the advantage of starting ESOL programs early.

“They younger they start,” Horne said. “The less time they will spend in ESOL.”

A typical ESOL student spends four to five years in the ESOL program. This is the minimum time frame for accomplishing the primary goal of the ESOL instruction, success four language domains – listening, speaking, reading and writing.

“When a child first comes to the United States they have a year of silence,” Horne said. “They start speaking during year two, and start reading and writing during years four and five.”

“So if a student comes to us at age 15 or 16 they’ll remain in ESOL throughout high school.”

In accordance with the Title IV Act stating that schools must provide some sort of service to help English learners fully participate, all Athens-Clarke County schools offer ESOL instruction. The specifics of each program are left for individual schools to decide.

“Right now our courses are mainly taught in English,” Horne said. “But there’s been talk of adding classes in student’s native language.”

SOURCES
Vicki Krugman, Director of Athens ESOL Programs: 706-546-7721
(Corresponded via email and rescheduled interview from last Friday to this Friday)
Carla Horne, ESOL Teacher: 706-546-5375
Brittany Mackay, ESOL Tutor: 678-787-4270
factfinder.census.com
clarke.k12.ga.us