On Mon, 11 Aug 2003 16:05:01 -0400, Pulver <redlen@gta.igs.net> wrote:

No Habla English

If bilingual teachers are bilingual, why can't they pass a test of
English fluency, asks Rich Lowry. Massachusetts is finding
that long-time bilingual teachers have trouble expressing
themselves in English.

I don't think this was *long time* bilingual teachers..

Critics of bilingual education have long contended that rather
han -- as advertised -- a way to ease immigrants into
instruction in English, it constitutes an educational ghetto where
students are taught in their native tongues and are kept from
learning in English.

In some cases, I agree with this, but not all. The bilingual
teachers I knew at the high school level in Chicago were
quite fluent in English.

The fluency debacle in Massachusetts is a stark
demonstration of this critique.

Inflamatory articles don't really do much to help matters.

In Somerville, Mass., the five bilingual teachers who took the
test failed. In Lowell, 22 of 25 teachers failed. In Lawrence, 27
out of 31 teachers failed. The widespread failure to pass the
test is a sign that bilingual education is a misnomer. It is really
monolingual education, in any language but English.

The problem with this analysis is that the teachers who didn't
pass were already identified as having problems before they
were tested. We don't know from the article how many teachers
were not tested because they were already doing a good job
and/or had passed the certification tests in English prior to this.

In November, Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly
approved an initiative calling for English-immersion
for immigrant students.

Yes, they did. But immersion was tried for many years
and it has not been shown to be the better way. Bilingual
education when it is done well and transitions children out
does work. But it takes time.. and money.

Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..
Outer Limits