California educates about 1.6 million, or nearly a third, of the nation’s 5.1 million English language learners, so it is often looked at as a trend-setting state. That’s one reason why it was interesting to read about what happened in Carol Decker’s pre-school class in the Santa Clarita Valley, where the four-year-olds who showed up in September arrived speaking hardly any English at all.
At first, the 24 students struggled. But now, they speak well and are ready for kindergarten, according to a study from Los Angeles Universal Preschool.
At the beginning of the year, the group scored lower than English speakers in categories ranging from self-care, motor skills and social expression. But by the spring of 2009, almost all of those differences had disappeared.
California was the first state to approve standards known as “learning foundations,” to help preschoolers who are English learners develop language skills, and plans to release more details on how to use the standards this month.
Nationally, much debate remains about how much support students who speak languages other than English should get in pre-school — and beyond. In Illinois, new regulations have been proposed that would give additional support to English language learners, who are the fastest growing group of children in the U.S.
“If approved, the rules would also require districts to give a home-language survey to parents to determine if a language other than English is spoken at home, screen all children from such homes for their English proficiency, and provide transitional bilingual education in preschools where 20 or more pupils with limited English proficiency speak the same native language,” the recent Education Week article noted. “Preschools without a critical mass speaking the same home language would have to provide English-as-a-second-language instruction.”
Some experts are concerned that the new regulations would separate, isolate and possibly marginalize students who don’t speak English when they start school.
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at 7:58 pm
It is true that there is much debate about this topic across the nation. Research, up to this point, has been pretty clear in demonstrating that preschool children need at least some support to continue learning in their home language while developing English. The “how to” and “how much” questions have not been adequately addressed in research yet, so opinions are running rampant. I would recommend that every classroom, every program, every state and every interested national organization and federal office should begin by supporting high quality, developmentally appropriate preschool education with small class sizes, highly qualified teachers and a research-based, comprehensive curriculum. Then, begin the quest for the best adaptations you can make for children from different home languages based on the needs in your area and the resources available to you. And… we could all stand to work a bit harder to make this effort effective for ALL the children who need it!