Thread: IL-Mexican immigrants: U.S.-born students struggle...

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

Not to mention our own American kids who are being shortchanged in school due to a large number of non-English speaking students in their classes.

It also affects teachers who are alas, only monolingual. We had an article in our local paper a while back about a teacher who had been bumped twice because there were not enough monolingual students at her school.

A growing concern for educators that don't speak a second language. BUT the article also spoke about how successful immersion was with children from other countries other than Mexico.

Non- Spanish speaking teachers re-assigned

Spanish needs worry some teachers

Job security up in air, say those who don't speak language
By Deborah Horan | Tribune staff reporter
August 17, 2007


Valerie Goranson has twice lost her teaching assignment in Waukegan because she doesn't speak Spanish.

After six years teaching 5th grade at North Elementary School, district officials moved Goranson to Clark Elementary School last year to make room for a Spanish-speaking teacher who could instruct the school's growing number of Spanish-speaking pupils, Goranson said. Now she's being involuntarily transferred again.

It's the kind of deja-vu that has Goranson, and many other monolingual teachers in Waukegan School District 60, worried about their prospects for continuing to teach in a city with one of the fastest-growing Latino populations. If immigrants continue to enroll in Waukegan schools at the rate they are now, these teachers wonder how long it will be before there are few positions available for teachers who don't speak Spanish.

"I know what the trend is, and it's not looking good," Goranson said. "Even if my job was saved this year, what about next year?"

District officials say the reassignments are the result of a districtwide restructuring plan, and not simply because of an increase in Spanish-speaking pupils. Moreover, while more elementary classes require bilingual teachers, that is not necessarily true overall because pupils transition to English, they say.

Still, officials acknowledge Waukegan's changing demographics. "I can understand why they are a little nervous," said Mary Lamping, the district's chief academic officer. "If we don't have an English-speaking population to serve, then we're not going to need English-speaking teachers."

Waukegan appears to be the first district in the Chicago area to trigger alarms among its monolingual teachers. Chicago Public Schools' immigrant population has remained constant for the last half decade, officials said. Despite growing numbers of Latino immigrants in suburban districts in Aurora, Elgin and Joliet, teachers union representatives there said they haven't received calls from monolingual teachers worried about their positions.

But Waukegan's teachers predict it won't be long before they do. Waukegan has seen a 25 percent increase in its Latino population since 2000, said Rob Paral, a demographer at the Institute for Metropolitan Affairs at Roosevelt University. Other suburbs are not far behind.

"Other communities will face this problem," said Linda Asma, a 5th-grade teacher at Oakdale Elementary School who said she expects one monolingual teacher at her school to be reassigned for the fall. "I'd give it less than 10 years."

District officials say the restructuring enabled bilingual and special education classes in all 14 elementary schools, allowing pupils to attend in their neighborhood. So far, the district has been able to find slots for all teachers who have been moved involuntarily, officials say, adding that the number of English-only classrooms also has increased to accommodate a growing student population.

The number of bilingual classrooms has jumped -- from 124 in 2003 to 153 in 2006. The total number of classrooms has increased from 296 to 335, with 29 of the new ones being bilingual.

"We still have a lot of monolingual teachers," Lamping said.

District officials point out that Waukegan is following a 1973 state law that requires a school to provide a bilingual teacher if there are 20 or more students who speak the same foreign language in a school. Proponents of the law say studies suggest students learn better in their native tongue.

"It would be ideal to have native-language instruction in any language," said Zaida Cintron, president of the Illinois Association for Multicultural Multilingual Education. "But you have to go with the numbers [of students] because otherwise it's not economically feasible."

Many educators in Waukegan agree. Angel Figueroa, principal at NorthElementary where Goranson used to teach, said bilingual instruction allowskids learn the curriculum while they are working on English fluency.
“Of course they need to learn English, but they also need to know scienceand math,â€

Exactly what I meant fedup. What happens to American citizens kids in Waukegan schools? Will they have to learn Spanish to get an education or will their parents have to cough up fees for private schools?