On Feb 21, 2:48 pm, AnAmericanCitizen <NoAmne...@earthlink.net> wrote:

Houston & Texas News =20

Professionals from Mexico pack an Aldine ISD recruiter's table at a Mon=

fair. Cynthia Garza: CHRONICLE =20

Of great import: bilingual teachers
Texas schools increasingly recruit in Mexico, other nations to meet lan=

That's what happens when USofA
kids are "dumbed down" with
"english only", They cannot
compete. When will our leaders
wise up?

WELCOME BIENVENIDOS MEXICO !

Requirements for Alternative Certification through the Region IV Intern=

Initiative:
=B7 Degree: Four- or five-year university degree with a 7.5 GPA on a 10=

The titulo is the bachelor's degree equivalent

=B7 Core grades: "B" in each of the four required courses: English comp=

history, mathematics and science. Courses are offered by partner univer=

=B7 Language skills: Must show proficiency in English.

=B7 Testing: Preparation through online and face-to-face classes in ord=

TExES, or Texas Examinations of Educator Standards.

What do you think?
School Zone MONTERREY, MEXICO - At the onset, there's a mad rush to be =

line to talk to the school recruiters. Within seconds, the candidates, =

like bankers in their suits than elementary educators, anxiously await =

Tables with pencils and stress balls from school districts across Texas=

walls of the hotel ballroom in Monterrey, and maps show where the distr=

located.

Location doesn't matter much to the 225 lawyers, doctors, engineers, ar=

teachers who have been preparing online and in classrooms throughout Me=

bilingual teachers in Texas. Most say they'll work for whichever distri=

the Rio Grande hires them.

With the number of Texas students requiring bilingual education at an a=

school districts in the state are increasingly attending job fairs like=

Monterrey to recruit from Mexico and other Spanish-speaking countries.

Liliana Gonzalez is confident as she works the room. She's fluent in En=

studied in the United States and Canada, and she has passed the require=

certification exam, perhaps the hurdle consuming most of these candidat=

During her minute-long chat with each recruiter, Gonzalez talks about h=

marketing degree and experience working for the automotive industry in =

of Saltillo will translate to a Texas classroom. The Bastrop, Giddings =

school districts invite her to a full interview the next day.

"I'm taking advantage of the fact that I'm bilingual and the opportunit=

United States is to grow in your quality of life but also contribute to=

of life of the Hispanics that are there," says Gonzalez, who accepts an=

teach in Conroe next fall.

She's just one of 162 applicants hired by the 20-plus Texas school dist=

charter schools at the fair.

The scene in Monterrey is a far cry from what Texas public school recru=

state job fairs.

Despite offers of stipends, signing bonuses and tuition reimbursement t=

from the U.S., districts struggle to fill bilingual teacher vacancies l=

of too few qualified applicants, they say.

During the 2005-06 school year, 711,237 students in Texas were classifi=

limited English-speaking skills.

"We are finding ourselves having to go beyond our walls and come intern=

said Brenda Lozano, the Cypress-Fairbanks school district's assistant d=

professional staffing. She hired 10 bilingual teachers at the Monterrey=

month.

Lozano said her district only recruits internationally from this progra=

Region IV Education Service Center, which serves 54 school districts in=

Houston area. Lozano said 86 percent of the 43 teachers hired in recent=

still there.

"It's hard when I go to El Paso or down to the Valley because (certifie=

teachers) want to stay there," said Henry Espinosa, a recruiter for the=

school district. "When we can go to Monterrey, our chances for hiring h=

because they're wanting to come here."

Once hired, the candidates apply for a temporary work visa for professi=

later apply for residency, a process that can take years. Some district=

Alief, entice recruits by offering to sponsor their residency applicati=

The transition can be tough as they must assimilate to a new country an=

system quickly, Espinosa said. Moving expenses are high, and then there=

the candidates pay for their alternative certification training and vis=

But recruiting internationally gives districts another option for hirin=

teachers - and helps get the best teachers, recruiters said.

"We all know that in the United States the Hispanic population is incre=

critical shortage for bilingual teachers will be there," said Arnold Zu=

bilingual teacher recruitment for the Houston Independent School Distri=

recruited 47 teachers from the Mexico program in the past decade.

'Very high pay increase'
It was a year ago that 27-year-old Carlos Antonio Sanchez first heard a=

Puebla, Mexico, announcing that Texas public schools were looking for p=

willing to become bilingual teachers.

Sanchez, an architect with a wife and a toddler, had never considered m=

United States, but he liked the idea of helping children from his count=

them in U.S. schools, he said. Money was also a factor.

It's "a very high pay increase, because as you know, here in Mexico eco=

conditions are hard," said Sanchez, who landed a job with Spring Branch.

The Mexico recruiting initiative started in 1992 as a small program wit=

candidates in Guadalajara, but over the last decade interest has spread=

Mexico and Texas, simultaneously. Preparation classes are available in =

cities in Mexico, including Monterrey, Guadalajara, Mexico City, Puebla=

Morelia, Tijuana and Veracruz. There are plans to expand next year.

Ads for the program appear throughout Mexico in newspapers and are broa=

television and radio.

The certification requirements are the same as for anyone who goes thro=

U.S.-based teacher certification program.

Cecilia Cerdan, the 2006 national Bilingual Teacher of the Year who was=

Alief through the Region IV program in 1998, said having a common cultu=

connection - with the students they're teaching can have a major impact=

performance.

"As a bilingual teacher you welcome them to the new language and to the=

because you share the same culture, the same language and you need to a=

their physical and emotional needs in order for them to be prepared for=

academics," said Cerdan, who is a reading interventionist at Youens Ele=

Alief.

What the law says
State law mandates that Texas public schools with 20 or more non-Englis=

students at the same grade level across the district must offer bilingu=

There are 16,322 certified bilingual educators in the state, but Texas =

Agency officials have no data to show how many teachers in bilingual cl=

certification.

Some districts, including Cypress-Fairbanks and Alief, only recruit int=

through Mexico's program, while others cast a wider net.

The Houston ISD has recruited about 330 teachers during the last nine y=

Spain, Mexico, Puerto Rico, China and the Philippines, among others, to=

vacancies in the bilingual program and in other areas where there are c=

shortages, such as science, math and special education.

Bilingual teachers hired by HISD get a $3,000 stipend, and in the past,=

bilingual hires received $6,000 sign-on bonuses.

Houston ISD has recruited 47 teachers from Region IV's Mexico program d=

six years but did not attend this year's fair. Thirty-three are still w=

district.

HISD's payroll has 2,110 bilingual certified teachers.

Recruiting abroad has its own challenges. In the mid-1990s, HISD's alte=

certification program for bilingual teachers came under fire when a rep=

several teachers recruited from Mexico had fraudulent transcripts, with=

little or no English.

That program has since undergone a leadership and policy overhaul. Pros=

teachers are interviewed "strictly in English," Zuazua said.

"We want to hear what their English skills are like," Zuazua said. "If =

proficiency is not there, our principals are not going to hire them."

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