Integrating Into The Education System: A Case Study

In this short film titled IMMERSION, Moises, an immigrant child with less than proficient English language skills, is seen in a real world context as he struggles with academics, specifically math, in a public school setting in the U. S. The “structured English Immersion” program, which is in place to assist children like Moises falls short of providing the supprts necessary for immigrant students to master a second language while they are also expected to build on academic skills. In this film, school leadership has failed to recognize and back one teacher’s pursuit of providing supports to ascertain whether the student is able to complete the assignment in his naïve language or does he not understand the concepts. Even after advocating for himself and asking for the test in Spanish the young boy is told not to worry as the test is not important. Unfortunately, Moises knows the test is significant and is then faced with a no win situation at school.

Many of their learning needs are similar to those of other children and young people learning in our schools. However, these learners also have distinct and different needs from other learners by virtue of the fact that they are learning in and through another language, and that they come from cultural backgrounds and communities with different understandings and expectations of education, language and learning”. (NALDIC, 1999).

The reason immigrant children have such far-reaching success is in large part due to our awareness. There is not a day that passes that I don’t see the effects of cultural poverty and lack of women’s education. My passion for success stems from my 1st generation immigrant upbringing.

When an educator walks into her classroom for the first time, she needs to be prepared to encounter students that come from a variety of backgrounds. The children will be in different stages of language development, and the educator must accommodate for each of these students. Magruder, Hayslip, Espinosa, and Matera (2013) state, “The US Census Bureau projects that by the 2030s, children whose home language is other than English will increase from roughly 22 percent to 40 percent of the school-age population” (p. 9). This increase in second language learners will cause the educator to accommodate for those needs. Second language learners “need teachers who welcome them and recognize their unique abilities, what they know, and what they need to learn” (Magruder, Hayslip, Espinosa, and Matera, 2013, p. 10).

The fact that ELL student’s are given the exact same educational services provided to native English speaker, seem to be very unfair for the ELL student’s and instead of helping the ELL students to succeed academically we are preventing them from succeeding in their classes. When I was reading this section I couldn’t stop thinking about the video that we saw in class, the student was very smart but the fact that he couldn’t understand the material being taught, this was preventing him from showing how brilliant and smart he is. Just imagine how many brilliant ELL students can’t succeed in class because they don’t understand the language of the instruction.

According to Gleason and Ratner (2013), “In the United States, the proportion of children who are raised learning more than one language is estimated to be about 20 percent, with Spanish becoming the most common second language (Gleason & Ratner, 2013, p. 75). My interview this week was with a teacher, Mrs. T, who teaches young English learners. Mrs. T teaches children who are in the first grade. Because the school has a growing Hispanic population, the native language of the children she teaches is Spanish. The interview took place in her classroom during the last hour of the school day. I observed as she worked with one of her students in particular who seems to

Furthermore, Vonderlack-Navarro suggest another beneficial way to support English language learners is to involve parents in the students’ education. Because of the language barriers, education levels, and culture, this goal will not be a stress-free assignment; however, once the parents have “buy-in” and trust the school systems, the goal would be accomplished (Stover,

In recent studies, the United States has seen an increase in numbers in immigration and has affected both adolescent education and the work environment. These families are forced to learn a new language and blend into a new society. In the article Obstacles to Getting Ahead by Martica L. Bacallao and Paul R. Smokowski “Monolingualism and discrimination in interpersonal interactions and social policies directed Mexican adolescents and their parents to learn English and to conform to host culture norms, appearance, and behaviors to advance in school and in their work.” (1). Lately, education has been a struggle for immigrants due to the language barrier and the effects that it has on them such as depression, anxiety, and even feel abandonment.

In what ways might I help migrant education students? Give parents a goal in mind for their children; graduating from high school and/or college.

The author, Melinda D. Anderson, sheds light on a growing problem in America. Today, thousands of students are experiencing difficulties when trying to earn an education because of the language barriers that prohibit them. Additionally, educators are ignoring this dilemma and making matters worse by enforcing English-only policies. The author believes that educators should discover a way to intertwine languages in order to help struggling students to overcome their language barriers.

While immigrant youth may gain useful knowledge and skills, they miss out significantly on culture resources because they become Americanized. Subtracting schooling occurs in a variety of ways. Classifying ESL (English as a second language) are labeled “limited English proficient rather than as Spanish dominant” (p. 173), faculty and staff linguistically butcher names through mispronunciations, materials such as the school handbook that does not even mention the ELS program are not provided in English, and information is withheld from capable youth which can result in failure. This chapter also addresses the divisions among youth such as Latina female friends, religious immigrant males, immigrant females in trouble, ESL students, mixed generation groups, and U.S. born

In this paper, I want to focus on Immigrant Students in Secondary Schools. As a previous high school immigrant when I first arrived in United States, I have experience numerous difficulties in school that I would never forget. In addition, I believe immigrant students of secondary school can face major difficulties in learning English and succeeding in school. Since these students do not have a lot of time than elementary students to learn English, and they have to pass several test that require English skill such as the ACT and SAT. Above all, most secondary school texts and materials require a sufficient English reading ability to understand, which will even make learning experience becoming even tougher for high school immigrant.

“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.”

In my original personal narrative, I mentioned that I grew up in a mostly white middle class town with a 15% Latino population. In some ways, I grew up in a town that is in the forefront of a national discussion about increasing multiculturalism and acceptance of Latino Americans. We have come to realize that not all illegal immigrants are criminals here to do us harm. Some are people who have been here many years, raised families and contributed to our society. During my childhood, I had friends that were Korean and Latino descent, and I am grateful to have experience with those diverse cultures. In this class and in a previous teaching class, I worked with and got to know students of different ethnicities. We learned in class about legislation that would provide English learners with more support while they are assimilating and learning English (Buenrostro,2017). This can only benefit everyone as we raise the level of proficiency for the newest students. We Americans may have different cultures and traditions, but we all have value that can add to our society. I hope to continue my ethnic studies to further my understanding of other cultures. With the power of knowledge, we can break down barriers and stereotypes.

During the 1990s the immigrant population expanded quickly and by a large amount. According to Eggen and Kauchak (2007) “experts estimate that by the year 2020 two thirds of the school population will be African American, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American. This means there will be great cultural diversity in our society and in our schools.” Educators will need to be educated on how to teach in a diverse classroom. Teachers will need to have an understanding for English-language learning children and the way they learn. All educators must be able to teach ELL students while encouraging them to continue to use their native language while learning to speak English. Teachers must also remember to try to keep all families