Posted on 02/03/2012 8:58:28 PM PST by moonshinner_09
Cesar Fuentes, a math instructor at Sylmar High School, teaches Algebra I to Spanish-speaking students using Project SOL (Secondary Online Learning), a collaboration between the Mexican government and the UC system. Teachers are using the rigorous Spanish-language curriculum in an attempt to get more Latino students to take and pass the courses they need to go to college. (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times / December 9, 2011)
Four high schools in Southern California are offering math and science courses using online curriculum from Mexico to get more Latino students to meet requirements to go to college.Four high schools in Southern California are offering math and science courses using online curriculum from Mexico to get more Latino students to meet requirements to go to college.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
HISD's Grier pledges to improve bilingual education Only 30% of limited-English students graduate with their class, data show Ericka Mello, Houston Chronicle Copyright 2012 Houston Chronicle. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. By Ericka Mellon Updated 11:29 p.m., Wednesday, February 1, 2012 Houston and Texas 0 inShare.Comments (182) Larger | Smaller Printable Version Email This Georgia (default) Verdana Times New Roman Arial
Font (Page 1 of 2) The statistic was so troubling that Houston schools Superintendent Terry Grier said he asked his data guru three times to check it.
Only 30 percent of the district's students with limited English skills graduate high school with their class - a rate that places HISD at the bottom of the state's largest districts.
Grier pledged this week to improve how the district educates students whose native language is not English, responding to a critical outside review that suggested increasing the amount of English instruction in elementary school and ensuring that the teachers themselves speak the language well.
The subject can be a touchy one, as some parents would prefer that their children maintain their native tongue - mostly Spanish - while others want them to become immersed in English immediately.
"Our staff has had a lot of debate," Grier said. "How much English should be taught? How much Spanish should be taught? We need to figure that out, and we need to figure out why our results are not any better than they are."
Roughly 62,000 students, or 30 percent of the children in the Houston Independent School District, were designated as limited-English proficient last year.
HISD, in most of its elementary schools, offers a traditional bilingual program for native Spanish speakers, where teachers decrease the amount of Spanish used each year. Students transition into English-only classes by fifth grade, if not sooner.
An increasing number of districts - including Dallas ISD, Spring Branch and Klein - have moved to dual-language programs, which strive to produce students proficient in both English and Spanish.
Parents resist change
HISD's own research has found that dual-language programs are the most effective, but the district uses the approach at only a handful of campuses, in part because of a resistance from some parents.
Sam Sarabia, HISD's chief of elementary schools, said the district is looking to start more dual-language programs, particularly at campuses with large concentrations of native English speakers who could join the classes to learn Spanish while their classmates learn English.
"In very large Hispanic schools, you'll have Hispanics whose parents really don't want them to continue learning Spanish," said Sarabia.
HISD mom Diana Pena, however, said she would prefer a dual-language model. She removed her second-grade daughter from the bilingual program at Sinclair Elementary because there was a joint class with first-graders and she thought it was too crowded, Pena said.
"The kids who are in ESL, I feel like they're not given the same tools, and they're falling behind the English students," she said. "Regardless of the language they speak, they should have access to the same quality of education."
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/HISD-s-Grier-pledges-to-improve-bilingual-2931341.php?plckFindCommentKey=CommentKey:36d52233-e298-4b46-9759-ba2b613adb5f
The world needs ditchdiggers, too.
Just wait for it...
SAT en espanol
“”In very large Hispanic schools, you’ll have Hispanics whose parents really don’t want them to continue learning Spanish,” said Sarabia.”
Based on experience: should be true. When I was working for an anti-virus software company in downtown L.A. just within 4 years, our CSR team comprised of young hispanics. The 20-year olds didn’t know Spanish and passed the Spanish-speaking customers to the older hispanics on the staff. And I literally asked one of them point-blank why is that and he told me his grandmother didn’t want him speaking in Spanish. And regarding the schools...my bud is enrolled at LA Tech College and it’s mostly hispanic so the writer is clueless. LACC which I pass by almost everyday is in the same boat.
Well, this is insulting. Math is math, whether in spanish or english. If these libs can’t teach it in english, what makes them think they can do so in spanish. These kids need to learn it by themselves. Life is hard, and they need to learn that sooner rather than later. Although, if the teachers do this, they might loose a voting base.
The 40 million dollars of tax payer set-a-sides once meant for all college kids. But thanks to AB130, illegal aliens are the new beneficiaries. This is how sick California is— Perry did something similar for Texas with the in-state tuition for illegals knee-bend. I hear Rosanne Barr is running for president, if Obama can do it , being an unknown junior senator, a famous liberal jew surely has a shot; I guess it isn’t just California we have to be concerned about anymore, the 47% who pay no tax,if they get out of bed, or remember what day election day is, we will be in a world of hurt.
This is such crap. My youngest son started 1st grade here not speaking a word of English. He had a bit of help in the first grade, and by the third grade I had to tell his teacher that English was not his first language.
He’s in the sixth grade now, and doing very well.
I have three other children who went to school in Japan—one through high school, one through 9th grade, and one through 8th grade, who are now in college here.
The only “bilingual” phrases we need are, “Where’s your green card?” and “Mexico is that way. Start walking, and don’t stop until you get to Patagonia.”
Who ever said I, as a new user would see my post in eight seconds, is a little off; it has been 10 minutes, and I have yet to see my post! Could be because I’m new, and the moderator screens newbies more?
Your anecdotal story is a very small majority. Most hispanics I know that have come here illegally couldn’t care less if they learn English.
Refresh your screen, the post is there.
When I taught, most of the kids spoke equally bad Spanish and English. The parents who care will have kids who speak both well, or speak English well. The parents who don’t care have future fry cooks.
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