Thread: In Arizona, Some Teachers Don't Speak English

Why is English being taught as a second language? This is the U.S.A.

http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/2007/ ... glish.html
NUMBER 261 THE NEWSPAPER OF EDUCATION RIGHTS OCTOBER 2007

In Arizona, Some Teachers Don't Speak English, Either

Each year since 2001, Arizona officials have visited classrooms across the state where students are learning English as a second language. English language learners fare worse on reading, writing and math assessments every year, and these state officials have been trying to find out why. Their visits last year discovered at least one important reason: nine out of 32 districts employed teachers who barely spoke English themselves. In 12 of the districts, some teachers flouted state law and taught their English language learners in Spanish.
Officials said that some teachers were almost impossible to understand. Others were comprehensible but mispronounced words and used incorrect grammar and syntax. The visitors recorded several examples of teachers' poor grasp of English:

"You need to make the story interested to the teacher."

"If you have problems to who are you going to ask?"

"How do we call it in English?"

"Read me first how it was before."

Last year's visits also uncovered legal violations in whether or how schools provided English instruction to students.

Major changes in English education go into effect this year in Arizona. English language learners must now spend four hours a day in classes devoted exclusively to language: English phonetics, grammar, reading and writing.

I hear college students speak like that every day here (in Tucson). They are allowed to graduate from high school barely speaking English, get into college, and then are referred to as "the best and the brightest" and "our future". These are the children the Dream Act is being pushed for?
If a teacher (and I don't care which subject they are "teaching") can't speak English correctly, they should be fired. If a kid can't speak English correctly by the time they are supposedly ready to graduate, they should be kept back. If they can't master the language by the time they are 18 (or is it 21 now?) and no longer entitled to a free education, they should be forced to get an education on their own dime if they ever want to receive a diploma. Quit babying them. If they can't learn what they are supposed to, the parents should hire a tutor, teach them themselves (if the parents can speak English), take away the tv and video games until they are proficient. How are they supposed to learn if everyone in their home, and now even the teachers at school, speaks broken English? They really need to stop automatically passing them on to the next grade. If a 12 year old from another country is testing at a 2nd grade level when they come to the U.S., put them in the 2nd grade. Tell them they have 6 years left. Learn fast, do extra work, or their free education will be over before they get out of middle school. If a kid starts here in kindergarten, and can't pass the 2nd grade when it's time, keep them in 2nd grade. When the kid is 10 and still in the 2nd grade, he/she will have enough incentive to learn. Keep passing them, and they won't care if they learn or not.
Why is AZ hiring teachers that don't speak English though? Don't they need a degree to teach? Or can it be a degree from anywhere? So many places don't hire unless the applicant can speak Spanish, so I'm surprised that doesn't go for the school system too (must speak English and Spanish).

I would think residents who pay for their childrens education would be in a up roar over this...........

This article was published by World Net Daily back in September and there is a separate thread on this subject:

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-80820-ariz ... l+teachers

Please do a search before posting, as many of the same articles are recycled months later by different media outlets. Thanks!



Shannon

Thanks for the Article "MyAmerica" I must of missed the other one. I see you are new here so if you need help how to do a search, ask "Dixie", shes the best, or maybe "Texasgal" can help, sounds like she knows how to do it. I'm still not very good at it, and manage to screw up all the time or I would help you out!!

Now I wonder if these school teachers will be replaced or if this was just another study. God forbid they do something like replace any bad teachers in our schools, especially ones who can't speak or teach decent english!!

I apologize for the duplicate post TexasGal. Will do my best to see it doesn't happen again.

Thank you for your offer of help SOSADFORUS. Yes I am new here and have learned so much from all the posts. There are so many facets to the immigration issues I was unaware of.

Originally Posted by MyAmerica

I apologize for the duplicate post TexasGal. Will do my best to see it doesn't happen again.

Thank you for your offer of help SOSADFORUS. Yes I am new here and have learned so much from all the posts. There are so many facets to the immigration issues I was unaware of.

Well you came to the right place and Alipac has more information than any other site and a great bunch of people to work with, you are right there is so much more to illegal immigration than meets the eye.
Don't be afraid to ask for help, if one of us can't answer your question we will find someone who can, and believe me I have had to ask alot of questions, along with most, but I think you will like it here and the people, so again WELCOME TO ALIPAC