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Teaching Spanish-Speaking Students an Education for School Systems

Posted on: Tuesday, 17 January 2006, 18:00 CST

By LOLA ALAPO, alapol@knews.com

Six years ago, when Barry White was appointed director of the English as a Second Language curriculum for Lenoir City Schools, the position occupied about 10 percent of his duties, which included overseeing the program's sole teacher.

Today, the program has grown to include three ESL teachers and two full-time interpreters who serve 245 English Language Learner students -- the majority of whom are Hispanic -- in the system's three schools.

"Our basic goal is to teach them English and teach them some basic skills so they can survive," White said.

The Lenoir City school district has the highest percentage of Hispanic students -- 12.5 percent of the 2,200-student body -- in East Tennessee.

Teachers are undergoing professional development training, and educators are adapting curriculums and programs to meet the needs of Hispanic students.

About two-thirds of the state's 20,000 ESL pupils are Spanish speakers, said Carol Irwin, ESL coordinator for the Tennessee Department of Education. The next largest language groups are Arabic, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Korean and Japanese.

There has been a 300 percent increase in the program in just five years, she said, with the biggest numbers in Davidson County.

The most popular languages in the program were Asian-based until Spanish speakers overtook them about three years ago, Irwin said.

"It used to be only the largest urban areas affected. Now ESL is in almost every district," she said.

Only 18 of the 136 Tennessee school districts reported no ESL programs in their districts, Irwin said.

But "all districts have plans for services for ELL students so they can be ready when the first kid comes in," she said.

The department in spring implemented the Comprehensive English Language Learning Assessment test. It decreases the number of tests ESL students have to take by combining two: academic and language proficiency.

"We were testing these kids to death," Irwin said.

There also are professional development initiatives for regular classroom teachers, such as differentiated instruction that shows how to modify lessons to meet the level of all students, Irwin said.

"Most of the teachers have been in school a long time and didn't have training in college about how to deal with students who didn't speak English," she said.

The influx of Hispanics has changed the dynamics of the student population, Irwin said.

When Asian pupils were the majority of ESL students, their parents were educators whose businesses provided tutors, she said. The students are now from South and Central America, where the emphasis has been more on work than education.

"When they enter kindergarten, they have a long time to be proficient," she said. "But we get a lot of students in middle and high school, and that's when you start running into issues with meeting and dealing with the graduation rate."

The state is improving its outreach to help students succeed. One way is lowering staffing ratios to give students more time with teachers, Irwin said.

Tennessee certifies 5,500 migrants, 1,700 of which receive educational and advocacy services through the state's Migrant Education Program, said director Veronica Stronach.

A migrant worker is defined as a person of any nationality who moves into an area with the purpose of temporary or seasonal work in agriculture or fishing.

Those eligible for the program -- administered through the school system, nonprofit organizations and universities -- must be between 3 and 21, not have a diploma or GED, and must have moved into an area within the past 36 months, Stronach said.

School districts also are meeting the challenge in unique ways.

The Hamblen County Department of Education secured almost $500,000 in private funding, matching grants and a bequest for the County Commission to create an International Center that would help youngsters with English proficiency.

Hispanic pupils in Hamblen County make up 9.4 percent of the 10,000 students in the school system, according to the Tennessee Department of Education School Report Cards. That's up from 3 percent in 2000.

Hamblen County is "ahead of the curve" with this initiative, said Dale Lynch, Hamblen County director of schools.

"School systems are always called upon in the community to be a model for change, and (the center) is going to be a model program other systems across the state would look to," he said.

The school system also operates a migrant education program that caters to the needs of migrant children whose educations often are interrupted as they travel with parents who follow agriculture.

In Knox County, Hispanic students account for 2.4 percent of the 53,000 students.

Programs like Project GRAD try to be the "first connects" for Hispanic families when they bring their children to schools, said director Jerry Hodges.

Campus Family Support provides social service professionals -- campus managers -- who help make the family feel comfortable. They also take basic conversational Spanish classes that "help break the ice."

The program has formed a partnership with the University of Tennessee foreign language department. Students in a service learning class help campus managers with interpretation in schools or during home visits.

At Lonsdale Elementary School, Hispanic students make up about 19 percent of the school's 206-student population. Most of the Hispanic students are Guatemalan, said Principal Lisa Light.

One-third of first-graders are Spanish-speaking, she said.

Bilingual students have taken initiative and sometimes help administrators communicate with parents.

"The children have been wonderful and I think they like to do that," Light said. "Now we have kids who will approach us when they see somebody and say, 'Do you need any help?'"It's a neat thing to watch, even though it makes me feel really inadequate."The challenge of meeting the students' needs, she said, is also an asset.

"They're stretching us in what it is we have chosen to do, which is to help kids grow," Light said. "It's allowing us to grow."

Lola Alapo may be reached at 865-342-6376.

Source: News Sentinel

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