The number of limited English speakers in Texas has grown by about 50 per cent in the past decade with 1 in 5 students struggling. Sadly, at the same time there has been a 20% drop in educators working in bilingual and ESL classes.
We asked Liz Lee, our new sales representative in Texas, for her thoughts on the situation as reported in the Dallas News:
This has been an ongoing problem in Texas that has gotten worse. As the population of non-English speakers has continued to grow, the pool of certified bilingual teachers has waned. When I first began working in Texas, I worked with pre-K and elementary programs. The bilingual ones were more predominant and successful in South Texas, which was a reflection of demographics. It was most difficult to find teachers for programs in North Texas. The majority of bilingual teachers were raised and educated in South Texas and were not willing to relocate. The culture is very family oriented so venturing away from home is not common.
The article addresses financial incentives, and lack of funding is certainly a big problem in education overall. It has especially affected special programs as cutbacks have been the norm for the last decade. Even textbook adoptions have been pushed forward so that new materials have not been selected for as long as a decade. Many retiring coordinators of language programs have not been replaced due to lack of funding. The decline of all teacher candidates due to lack of incentives is also a problem.
I would imagine that the number of qualified bilingual candidates would be also be on the decline as time goes by and generations change. When the Hispanic population first began to grow, the children were not allowed to use their native language in class. Memories of rulers hitting knuckles are not uncommon among adults today. This changed, but many young Spanish speakers never had adequate education in their native language. The use of Spanglish or code-switching is abundant. Many can communicate orally but have little or no reading/writing skills. Their native language ability is poor and certainly not that of an educated professional. In addition, the phenomenon of not wanting to communicate in Spanish exists. These young people comprehend but want to respond only in English. The desire to assimilate is stronger than the one to preserve heritage.
The article also speaks to the certification issue where requirements are more rigorous. Those with the cultural and language backgrounds needed to facilitate programs are discouraged. I relate this to a friend who I recently encouraged in her job search. I’ve found her English to be quite adequate and never considered that she might be self-conscious about her language ability. She certainly has the required job skills, but she was concerned that a mandatory assessment might include words beyond her comprehension. Time and money for furthering education is an issue for many. My friend has managed to balance evening classes with a full-time job and a family, but it is has not been easy. Add financial burden to the time sacrifice and top it off with the stress of working with young students and teens, and the result will be fewer candidates. With cutbacks, training for dealing with behavior problems is limited or non-existent.
As a language teacher and promoter of language acquisition and as one who has met educators and researchers in the world of bilingual programs, I’ve done a lot of thinking about bilingual education. There was a time when I was not an advocate of bilingual programs. I still believe immersion is the best. However, as with many issues there are circumstances that must be considered. When very young children are introduced to a new environment, I believe that they should not check their language skills at the door and enter a world to learn new concepts in a completely foreign tongue. Scary! I have come to believe that learning basic skills in one language (whichever) is best; then, transferring these to a new language can be easily achieved. Too many programs have not fostered development of needed skills in one language resulting in children not having a strong foundation in any language to which they have been exposed. The programs that I have found to be best are the dual language programs. Language arts instruction occurs in the student’s first language. Other disciplines are taught in a second or first language depending on the subject. Students are exposed to a third language in an exploratory class. I would like to see all high school students graduate as bilinguals and bi-literates.
Working with adults and students in higher education is another issue with other sets of circumstances. Hopefully a solid first language foundation is in place so that the transition of skills can occur more easily. This is not always the case. Also, similarity of the first language to the second helps. This too is not always the case. This is where good ESL materials can contribute to success!