As I waited to board my flight, I heard a voice behind me say, “Mrs. West?” It was one of my former English as a second language students. She was flying back to England where she would graduate from Oxford with a master’s degree.
This young woman had arrived in my ESL classroom as a 5th grader who spoke no English. Here she was 14 years later — a Rhodes Scholar with a personal goal of working for the United Nations.
I am awed by the ability of our students and their families to make adjustments and negotiate the complexities of a new culture and language. They bring hope and determination in their search for something better for themselves and their children. Education is a central focus in creating that “something better,” and courage is a word that comes to mind as I think about what it takes to succeed in this daunting task.
Refugee Resettlement
Lincoln Public Schools in Nebraska took up the cause of the first non-English speaking students as they arrived in Lincoln around 1975.
No official program was in place at that time, and the new students were assigned to their neighborhood schools with ESL mentors being hired to work with the students on a daily basis. I joined this team of mentors 27 years ago.
Through the years, the city of Lincoln served as one of the largest refugee resettlement centers in the nation. Therefore, the changes in our population of English language learners have come about largely as a result of crises around the world. It has brought families to eastern Nebraska from such places as Vietnam, Cambodia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Mexico and Sudan, to name a few.
As the countries of origin have changed, so have the student and family needs and, in turn, the need to continually tweak and expand our services for these students. We now have approximately 2,100 English language learners (in a school system of approximately 34,000 students), representing more than 57 countries and speaking more than 48 different languages. The dominant language spoken by our present ELL population is Spanish, but there are also large numbers of students speaking Arabic, Vietnamese, Kurdish and Russian. Walking the school hallways is a world adventure as you see the great diversity and hear multiple languages being spoken.
Program Adjustments
The key to maintaining an excellent program for non-English speakers over the years has been a willingness on the part of administrators and teachers to stay visionary as we change our services to meet the changing needs of students. The most significant of the program changes over the years include:
• ESL to ELL. English language learners was a better descriptor of our student population than English as a second language, since English was not the second language for many students but rather their third or fourth language.
• Mentors to centers. As the ESL/ELL population grew, we implemented a center approach as a better way to meet students’ needs. Students could be grouped with peers at their same language-proficiency level while receiving more focused instruction in speaking, listening, reading and writing. Our district currently has 11 elementary schools, four middle schools and two high schools with ELL centers.
• Student enrollment practices. We have purchased as well as developed our own assessments to measure English language proficiency and academic skills of the non-English speakers we enroll.
• Goals, standards and assessment.The development of working documents that direct instruction and provide assessment tools has been essential. Goals and standards, based on the standards of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, were developed along with rubric checklists to evaluate student proficiency in speaking, listening, reading and writing. The rubrics are also key in determining level movement.
• Bilingual liaisons. To bridge the cultural and language barriers between families and the school district, bilingual liaisons have been added to the staff. Our district has 11 bilingual liaisons — five speaking Spanish, three Arabic (one of whom also speaks Kurdish, Farsi, Urdu and Pashto), two Vietnamese and one Russian. These are supported, in part, by federal funds.
• Interpreters. The district further supports the home-to-school contact by maintaining an approved list of interpreters. These individuals may be contacted by school personnel to assist with parent-teacher conferences and other parent communication. There are 33 languages represented among the 151 approved interpreters.
• Trauma therapy. Many ELL families come as refugees or immigrants who have suffered some form of trauma; this may affect their ability to function successfully in the school environment and adjust to the new culture. Our district has a process for identification and referral of these students and their families for therapy services. Refugee grant funds provide financial support for these services.
Changes Ahead
Because we understand the necessity of our English language learners gaining full access to the general education curriculum as quickly as possible, we have encouraged our most proficient students — levels 5 and 6 — to attend their neighborhood schools this year.
Newly hired ELL coaches provide support to these students and their general education teachers by having regular contact with the students and working with the general education teachers on the use of effective instructional strategies for English language learners.
The daunting task remains, as we continue our commitment to change with the changing needs of our students and provide the best environment for their learning. Cindy West is secondary coordinator for the English language learners program in the Lincoln Public Schools in Lincoln, Neb. E-mail: cwest@lps.org