最好的英语教学方式

The U.S. government's top education official wants
schools to do a better job teaching students whose
first language is not English.
U.S. Education Secretary John King said the issue is
important. That is because one in every 10 ts from grades
Kindergarten to 12th grade are English learners.

Most English learners arrive from a country that speaks another
language, or have parents from a non- English-speaking country.
There has been progress in recent years, King said. He noted Spanish
-speaking students are graduating high school and attending college
at higher rates than ever before.


-- less access to quality teachers, less access to advanced
coursework, less access to the resources they need to
succeed,

King said a new federal law called the Every Student Succeeds Act c
an help. It allows school districts more ways to use federal money
to improve programs for English learners. That includes better
Training for English language teachers.

Kelly Gonez is a policy adviser at the Department of Education.
She said research shows giving instruction in two languages,
English and the student's native language,
is better for English learners.
Although it takes them a little longer to master English, they do
better on tests that measure reading and math skills, Gonez said.
So do people who enter dual-language programs already proficient i
n English, Gonez said. To be proficient means able
to read and speak a language.

Sarah Catherine Moore is director of online learning at the Center f
or Applied Linguistics in Washington D.C.
She said two recent studies found English learners do better if they a
ttend classes that use both English and the student's native language.
But Gonez said such programs are still not offered by a majority of
schools teaching English learners.


One problem is finding enough qualified teachers. Gonez said some
school districts are hiring teachers from Spain and China.

They are trying to make up for a shortage of teachers in the
United States who can offer instruction in two languages.
But such programs are not always easy to set up.


In New York City, for example, the city's Department of Education s
ays its students speak a total of 180 different languages.
About sixty percent are Spanish speakers, and another 14 percent are
Chinese also has 6,546 students
6,501 who speak Arabic, and 3,591 who speak
Haitian-Creole. Thousands more speak Russian or Punjabi.

Gonez said that it may be hard to find instructors who can speak all t
he different languages spoken by students. But
she said schools can get educational material in many more language
s than just Spanish and Chinese.

Terry Richards is in charge of federal programs for the state of Dela
ware. She welcomes the new federal education law.
It will allow state and local education departments to make more
decisions about how to teach English learners, she said.
Richards said the law permits local school districts to consider
who speak Bengali,