Diversity Of Our Nation 's English Language Learners

The fastest growing subgroup in the nation are English Language Learners (ELLs). Over a period of 10 years, from 1995 to 2005, ELL students grew over 60% (Wolf, Herman, Bachman, Bailey, & Griffin, 2008). Since 1980, the number of residents aged five years and older that speak a language other than English at home has more than doubled. Fewer than half of these residents are proficient in English. Utah is showing similar trends in population as it is growing more ethnically and racially diverse. Families coming into Utah are immigrants that do not speak English at home. While the majority of Utahan’s are White, Utah Quick Facts from the U.S. Census Bureau (2014) show that Hispanic/Latinos represents 13.3% of Utah’s largest ethnic group. Asians represent 2.2%, American Indians/Alaskan Natives 1.5%, Blacks/African American 1.3%, and Pacific Islanders 0.9%.

Classrooms are becoming more diverse than they were several decades ago because so many people are migrating from their country of origin to seek for better living opportunities, in search of a safe place and because the United States of America is a super power. Therefore political, economic, and social-cultural reasons are the causes of migration which results in families remaining in the country causing classrooms today to be more diverse than they were decades ago thereby rapidly changing the demography of the United States and its classroom (Vacca et al, 2014, p. 62). To confirm this point for instance, at my school, there are a total of 354 students and the percentage of Hispanics: 41.5%, Blacks: 40.1%, Whites: 13.6%, Multicultural: 3.7%, other: 1.2%, Asians: 0.9%. Students from these different cultural backgrounds have different values, attitudes and experiences.

The population of the United States continues to change as reflected by the students at

For the past two years I have worked as a teachers’ aide for special education classrooms. I have had the privilege of working in over fifteen different schools and over thirty different classrooms ranging from kinder garden to the adult transition program. For the past three months I have been working in an adult transition classroom with five students. Four out of our five students are non-verbal and have severe behaviors. The school is located in the small city of Corona, CA with Hispanic students being the majority group. In the classroom I am the only aide who can fluently speak and write Spanish. Being bilingual has helped me in my job because all of our student’s parents are Spanish speaking and are originally from Mexico.

The impact of schools has been ever changing. From their New England traditions, to civilizing of western settlers, and finally the requirement of educated individuals what schools and education have to do in society is constantly being molded and remolded. New models, ideas, ideals, and requirements for schools are constantly being established and have come a long way from the colonial period to the modern era.

Over the years the white males dominate role in society has been diminishing. Between 2000 and 2010 the number of white children in the United States of America was down by about one million four hundred thousand. In 2013, there were approximately 41.1 million immigrants living in the United States and the number is only rising (Jie Zong). Racial and ethnic minorities now surpass non-Hispanic whites as the largest group of American children under 5 years old (U.S. Census

According to (),“English language learners face many obstacles when reading literature in English. Most literature is culture bound. We expect students to have prior knowledge of literary genres such as fairy tales, myths, legends, and tall tales. If the teacher has not activated prior knowledge or built background information, knowing the vocabulary will not solve the problem. ELLs may be able to read the words but it doesn 't mean they will understand the text. They are not aware of information that the author left unsaid; the information that "everyone knows."

“As the demographics of schools shift, the need for multistranded partnerships is underscored by issues of poverty, transience, an aging population, and cultural diversity ” (Cocker, 2009, p.333).

Changing demographics might impact children and the way they will learn. Children learn and start to develop a sense of the world at an early age. How does a center meet the needs of these new families when they come from a demographic where those households were the norm at their center. Children and families rely on the facilities to create and welcome their diversity. Centers and Schools are realizing that demographic trends are changing and that working together with families in creating a welcoming environment in order to embrace their diversity to protect the children’s well-being.

In the article “America’s Foreign Language Deficit” by David Skorton explains how learning another language can have many effects. The author, David Skorton, claims that by having the next American generation learning a foreign language, it will prepare them for success in the future. This is a logical claim. First, as the author points out, “[America] need[s] diplomats, intelligence and foreign policy experts, politicians… who are proficient in languages other than English” (Skorton). For example, the military often needs people who can speak a different language for many different reasons, such as having an important meeting with another country. In addition, American businesses need to know how to communicate with other businesses outside

Within the United States, the demographics continually show that the nation is become more racially and culturally

My data analysis of racial demographics in the school district shows that the area is uniquely isolated – surrounded by communities that don’t look similar. At Palos Verdes Peninsula High, there are two primary ethnic groups that attend school – white students and Asian students. Combined, they make up over 75% of the high school population, while white students represent the largest overall at just over 40%. The third largest ethnic group represented is Hispanic or Latino students, of which there are only 262. This equals about one-tenth of the high school. The district overall has even higher percentages of white students, totaling almost 48%. Only 12% of the district’s students identify as either Hispanic or

Ethnic patterns are changing every year. It seems that the minority groups are rising and are getting stronger as every new school year starts. There are many minority groups in the school setting now. " Nearly half (46 percent) of school-age youths in the United States will be people of color by 2020 (Pallas, Natriello, and McDill 1989)". A minority group is "a group typically numerically inferior to the rest of the population state... (A.J. Jongman and A.P. Schmid)". There used to be two major groups in the school setting, the blacks and the whites. Now there are whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, etc. And even to go along with that (they are not truly minority groups), there are the "freaks",

“We have a high diversity of ethnicities within our school which is seen by the fact that we have more than 30 languages spoken within our ESL department. We are also a Title school so we have many transient students, Atlas students, and economically disadvantaged students many of which need extra services such as RTI interventions, weekend backpack meals, and ESL services.”

Teaching is a very rewarding career if you learn and understand how to work with the diversity of the classrooms we teach in. As teachers, we need to be more vigilant of where are students come from. Before we can teach we need to know who we are teaching and what background, knowledge, and customs they bring with them to the classroom. We must also be aware of the factors that are relevant to the academic achievement of the students we currently teach. There are many of these factors, but I want to focus on two; teacher quality and low teacher expectations.