Diversity in America

1. Diversity in America TESOL CH 1 & CH 4 Dr. Schneider diversity in US

2. OUTLINE • Shifts in student populations • Language distributions • At-risk populations • Ideas for teachers to nurture, celebrate and challenge ELLs • Ideas for schools to enhance ELLs’ success in academics • ELL characteristics diversity in US

3. Shifts in student populations • Based on 2003-2004 results: • Enrollment of ELLs in K-12 nationwide: over 5 million • Equals 10% of entire student population K-12 • Almost 70% increase since 1997-98 • Equals a growing rate of ELLs of over 9 percent each year • 25 states reported an ELL increase of 50% or more between 2004 and 1997 diversity in US

4. Shifts in student populations • Greatest increases in the following states: • NC (84%) • SC (128%) • Georgia (210%) • Wisconsin (75%) • States with largest ELL enrollments that contribute to about 75% of nationwide enrollments of ELLs: • California • Texas • Florida • New York diversity in US

5. Language distribution • According to 2002-2003 data: • Of all enrolled ELLs • Spanish spoken by 76% • Vietnamese spoken by 2.4% • Hmong spoken by 1.8% • Korean spoken by 1.2% • Arabic spoken by 1.2% • Haitian Creole spoken by 1.1% • Chinese (mandarin & other): 1% • Russian spoken by 0.9% • Navajo : 0.9& diversity in US

6. At-risk populations • ELLs are at-risk for failing in the school system for various reasons: • New culture and new language and now content instruction • Lack of prior schooling in L1 culture • Lack of parent involvement in education • Ethnic peer group pressure diversity in US

7. At-risk populations • SECONDARY ED: ELLs missed more than 2 years of schooling (Ruiz de Velasco & Fix, 2002): • In High school, 20% • In Middle School, 12% • More than 33% of all 15-17 year old Latino students are enrolled below grade level (Jamieson, Curry, Martinez, 2001) • Immigrant and migrant children (in 2002: 829,00 nationwide) • 50% complete high school (Ruiz de Velasco et al., 2000) diversity in US

8. Teacher Support for ELLs • Study ELLs’ cultures • Integrate cultural info related to ELLs into units of study • Invite sharing life stories and speakers, story tellers from ELLs’ cultures • Set up mentor pairs • Recruit L1 speaking volunteers • Engage High school ELLs to tutor ELEM ELLs diversity in US

9. Teacher Support for ELLs • Involve parents in school activities • Engage ELLs in all activities • Label classroom with visual images that support initial understanding of class routines • Foster multi-cultural understanding of diversity within class (African Americans, Asian Americans, ELLs, white cultures) diversity in US

10. School Support for ELLs • High expectations for academic achievement • ELL integration must be priority • Outreach programs in parents’ home language • Develop class schedules that include ELLs in mainstream classes • Awareness programs to raise knowledge about multi-cultural education among staff (teachers, paraprofessionals, custodians) diversity in US

11. School Support for ELLs • Provide multi-lingual, dual language programs whenever possible • Ensure adequate professional support for ELLs in academics to be able to meet high expectations • Develop high parent involvement (alternate schedule of parent conferences etc) diversity in US

12. ELL Characteristics • Ways to analyze ELL characteristics • Time of entry to US of parents • Age at which integration into US culture and language began • Degree of formal schooling prior to entering US • Documented vs. undocumented immigrants • Reasons for immigrating (political or socio-economic refugee, education) • Value of education in L1 culture • Support from home environment for learning • Socio-economic family situations diversity in US

13. ELL Characteristics (1) Grouping according to time of immigration • First Generation Immigrants • Adult immigrant • Foreign born • L1 competency • Foreign educated • Sharp decrease in self-esteem in grade 8 leading to high drop-out rate • The higher ELLs self esteem the better the academic skills diversity in US

14. ELL Characteristics Grouping according to time of immigration cont.: • Generation 1.5 • Childhood immigrant • Foreign born • May be partially foreign educated and is partially US educated • L1 or L2 (English) competent diversity in US

15. ELL Characteristics Grouping according to time of immigration cont.: • 2nd generation immigrant • Child of first generation immigrant but born in the US • US educated • Generally: English dominant only (unless L1 is kept up in home environment for reasons important to child) diversity in US

16. ELL Characteristics Grouping according to time of immigration cont.: • (4) Migrant Children • Child of first generation immigrant, possibly born in the US • Spending short periods of time in a variety of US schools • L1 culture and language essential • first exposure to academics in L2 culture and language • See p. 32 for characteristics collected in 1994 study by Martinez et al. diversity in US

17. ELL Characteristics Grouping according to degree of schooling: (Freeman & Freeman, 2004;Olson & Jaramillo, 2000) • (1) LONG TERM ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS • Attended US schools for years, not necessarily still labeled ELL but still struggle with academics (-> 36% proficiency cut off!) diversity in US

18. ELL Characteristics Grouping according to degree of schooling: • (2) RECENT ARRIVALS WITH LIMITED or INTERRUPTED SCHOOLING • Often at middle/high school level entering US schools with limited academic knowledge in L1 • (3) RECENT ARRIVALS WITH ADEQUATE SCHOOLING • Lack social language and culture skills (BICS) but have academic background in L1 diversity in US

19. ELL Characteristics • Grouping according to degree legal-illegal status: • (Martin & Midgley, 2006) • Front door immigrants = legal immigrants • Side door immigrants = temporary migrants • Back door immigrants = illegal immigrants diversity in US

20. Essential facts about ELLs • More than 2 million immigrants are school aged • Teachers going out of their way to help ELLs succeed have tremendous impact on ELLs’ future • ELLs come from 3 main regions: • South East Asia • Eastern Europe • Latin America diversity in US

21. Essential facts about ELLs • One of three foreign-born residents in the US are undocumented, illegal residents (Martin, 2006) • of undocumented immigrants • 56% are from Mexico • 22% from other Latin American countries • 75% of these illegal Latino immigrants have been in the US less than 10 years, • 40% less than 5 years (Passel, 2006) diversity in US

22. Essential facts about ELLs • Immigration rate during most of last decade: about 1 million annually (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). • Nearly 60% of foreign-born population currently lives in CA, FL, NY, and TX (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006). • Approximately 50% of immigrants in rural areas do not have high school degrees diversity in US

23. Essential facts about ELLs • REFUGEES: people persecuted by their home country due to race, religion, nationality, membership to social or political groups • Between 1991-2005, 1.5 million immigrants admitted to U.S. as refugees • Cuba (1) and Vietnam (2) were followed by the Ukraine (3), Bosnia-Herze-govina (4), and Russia(5) (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006) diversity in US

24. Essential facts about ELLs • Largest group of legal immigrants enter US through family sponsorships • Second largest group are those who are requested by employers (22%) • Third largest group are asylees and refugees • Fourth largest group immigrants entering through the lottery (50.000 slots a year) diversity in US