Millions of American students in public schools need to learn the English language in addition to its math, science and social studies curricula, according to a report by The Atlantic.
According to Patricia Gandara, a UCLA education professor appointed by President Barack Obama to the Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics said that teaching the English language to American students in the public school system is a monumental challenge for educators across the U.S., the report said.
Gandara cited a nationwide survey given to public school teachers who were trained to teach an increasing number of English-language learners (ELLs), during a speaking engagement at the Education Writer's Association's National Seminar at Stanford University.
Gandara said that even the teachers don't feel qualified teaching the English language to ELLs.
The report said that about 40 percent of American teachers have ELL students in class, but only a third of teachers have enough training to teach the English language.
"This is really difficult to do," Gandara said during the seminar while quoting a bilingual teacher who struggles to keep ELL students on track. This is despite speaking Spanish, which is the native language of three-fourths of America's ELL students, the report said.
But there are public charter schools that are successful despite 82 percent of its enrolled students are ELLs. An example is the Austin school KIPP Comunidad in which each of its teachers uses one language at a time per instruction. This means that instructions transition from Spanish to English per subject throughout the day. KIPP is a national network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public charter schools with a track record of preparing students in underserved communities for success in college and in life.
However, Kenji Hakuta, education professor at Stanford University, said that even though KIPP's dual language approach is effective, other states will not allow its usage. At this point, Hakuta said at the seminar that schools can't agree on whether to adopt bilingual modes of instruction.
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