Strengths And Weaknesses Of Latino English Language Learners

How are Hispanics getting help with English and what obstacles or barriers are they facing? That is an extremely good question. Everyday, more and more Hispanics are making a move to the United States in hopes of a better life. The only problem is that many of them can not speak any English at all. Since the United States is basically an English speaking nation, it is important that Hispanics learn English to be able to adjust to life within the United States. But, that is easier said than done because it is not easy to get Hispanics the help that they need in learning English. There have to be people who are willing to tutor and fund programs. Of course, there are always obstacles or barriers that stands in the way of progress.

Challenges Faced by Hispanic Students in American Schools and How Schools Can Address Identified Needs

As our nation shifts towards a more culturally diverse population both educators and families have to find a common ground to ensure that English Language Learners are academically successful. All stakeholders must carefully consider the social cultural impact on an ELL education. The process of raising bilingual learners take more than a language a school and a language learned at home. The transition must have a purpose and a goal.

The curriculum for English-Spanish Learners (ESL) or English-Language Learners, was created to assist students who do not speak any or little English. Angela Valenzuela describes in her article, “Subtractive Schooling, Caring Relations, and Social Capital in the Schooling of U.S.~Mexican Youth,” that

Good, M. E., Masewicz, S., & Vogel, L. (2010). Latino English language learners: Bridging achievement and cultural gaps between schools and families. Journal of Latinos & Education, 9(4), 321-39. doi: 10.1080/15348431.2010.491048

Education is the key to individual opportunity, the strength of our economy, and the vitality of our democracy. In the 21st century, this nation cannot afford to leave anyone behind. While the academic achievement and educational attainment of Hispanic Americans has been moving in the right direction, untenable gaps still exist between Hispanic students and their counterparts in the areas of early childhood education, learning English, academic achievement, and high school and college completion.

The most pervasive issue in my community is Latinos going downhill in pride and education. The reason for this is that upper classes such as Asians are above Latinos while Hispanics and African Americans are at the bottom. What addresses this are poverty and lack of education from family status. Hispanic students need to be more up there on top where Asian students are, which I mean doctors and lawyers that are high paying jobs. In order for Latinos to do well in school then there needs to be change in America and we need to be more recognized to succeed. There needs to be more awareness of the Hispanic populations to see their own issues and know what can be changed. I will educate Latinos to stay in school and then they will see how much progress they have made for themselves. A bachelor’s degree looks a lot better than having a high school diploma or no diploma at all.

Jose Rodriguez is the Director of Parent and Community Engagement at UnidosUS, and oversees UnidosUS’s Padres Comprometidos parent engagement program that is implemented across twenty-four states. The goal of Padres Comprometidos is to ensure that the Latino families can navigate the US public school system to support their children's academic success. With over thirty years of experience as a K -12 teacher, coordinator, and consultant, Jose has assisted school districts in the areas of English language acquisition and parent engagement. A fifth generation American, Jose grew up in a rural community in South Texas, where the home language and culture were nurtured and maintained. Upon entering school Jose was immersed in an English only environment

Family life is important to Latino family interests are valued over individual well-being (Latinos, 2014). The structure of the Latino family tends to be patriarchal with great power and responsibility vested in the male head of household. The family is viewed as the focal point of mutual aid in the Latino community, based on the cultural norm of personalismo and the non-familial organizations are not generally trusted. Latinos depend more on the family for services, emotional support and advice than they do professionals. In the Latino culture, la familia (the family) and interdependence among its members are highly valued (Appleby, G.A., Colon, E., & Hamilton, J., 2011).

Hispanic-American learning style is limited because it mainly focused on Mexican-American only. Hispanic-American have 21 elements of learning style grouped into 5 categories they are as follows: 1. Environmental learning style elements include sound, temperature, design, and light., 2. Emotional learning style elements include responsibility, structure, persistence, and motivation., 3. Sociological learning style elements are concerned with the social patterns in which one learns., 4. Physiological learning style elements relate to time of day, food and drink intake, perception, and mobility., 5. Psychological learning style elements relate to global versus analytical processing. The construct of field dependence/ independence is a component

The Latinos education crisis is a prevalent issue in the United States. More and more research has uncovered magnanimous evidence that our education system is failing the students and thus creating a pipeline away from success and higher education and into gangs, prison and poverty. From 2011-12 alone Latinos made up almost a quarter of the enrolled students in public schools, Hispanic status dropout rate was 13% (higher than both African Americans at 8% and Whites at 4%), and 5% of all doctoral degrees conferred were earned by Latinos. (NCES, Digest of Education Statistics 2013). The crisis is a result of compounding failures and the perpetuation of stigmas within the educational, governmental and societal systems. As each of these systems are complex and composed of countless factors, addressing the issues the Latino population face, specifically within schools, is often overlooked and underaddressed. In light of the problems Latinos must compete against, this paper will address the potential for change and how it can be wrought, beginning on the microlevel of the educational system, by mandating and introducing culturally responsive teaching (CRT) into classrooms and school districts nationwide in an effort to counteract the lack of educational support and to decrease tracking of students onto the school to prison pipeline.. This paper will strive to answer the question of how culturally responsive teaching can address the educational deficits of the Latino/a

“... heavy English ‘accents’ in Spanish are perfectly acceptable for Whites, even when Spanish speakers experience them as ‘like a fingernail on the blackboard’”. Reading this sentence draws heavy attention to the degree by which White privilege is tolerated in the Spanish speaking community. Spanish speakers face discrimination every day in many aspects of their lives, including job interviews, parent-teacher conferences, public speeches, and even ordering food at a restaurant. The list goes on with the different scenarios in which Spanish speakers do not feel safe or welcomed because of how they speak the English language; however, White people who do not speak perfect Spanish are excused without being reprimanded. Although this extends

The dissertation that met the action research (AR) this student found to examine was “The Biliteracy Achievement of Latino English Learners in Two-Way Immersion Elementary Programs.” This study focused on the “biliteracy achievement of Latino English learners in two program models of two-way immersion to determine if learning two languages sequentially is indeed more effective for English Learners” (Moraga, 2010, p.74). There was several research questions discussed throughout this study. However, the one question this student mostly interesting on was “How are data used at school site level to determine the biliteracy attainment of English learners?” (p. 74). This question was the most relevant to this learner because she wanted to examine

Language complexity is an issue that people deal with every day. What words mean and how they have different meanings often causes confusion amongst people. Such is the problem with the words, Latino and Hispanic. These two words are often used as synonyms of each other, when in fact they mean different things. Hispanic deals with language and a specific group of people; Latino correlates with geography. While the two words overlap, a gap exists too.

The reason is that according to Grace Chen education researcher, writer and educator, children learn easily at early age, and since children tend to learn more from other children than from adults, it is good for them to be surrounded by native English speakers (Chen 2). In addition, research suggest that English immersion programs help English learners to develop initial literacy in English and develop a complete understanding of English faster that they could with bilingual education (Chen 2). According to Grace Chen English immersion programs do not only help the English learners to develop their skills in English since according to her, this teaching method will expose them more to the new environment and culture around them (Chen 2). In the same way, Juan Rangel Chief executive officer of the United Neighborhood in Chicago who superintends eight charter schools remarks that that English immersion programs promote assimilation and give Hispanic students a sense of belonging (Jost 6). In this aspect, English immersion can be helpful for English learners. In many cases, English learners tend to isolate themselves from other students, and specially close their groups of friends with other English learners, which then can cause a delay in the process of English mastering. In average according to Chen, it should