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State-mandated English policy under fire in Arizona
- 01-05-2011
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By Claudio Sanchez/NPR
There are 150,000 schoolchildren in Arizona who don't know English. They're labeled ELLs — English-language learners. For four hours a day, ELLs are drilled on vocabulary, pronunciation and grammar. Up until the late 1990s, schools in Arizona relied on various approaches to teaching English-language learners. Bilingual education was especially popular, although with mixed results, so it was banned in 2000. In its place, the state mandated a highly prescriptive four-hour block called Structured English Immersion that some teachers today call inadequate. "I think the four-hour block really is limiting for teachers," says first grade ELL teacher Darlene Galindo. "I think that it's limiting for students. I don't necessarily agree with it." As far as Galindo is concerned, it's a law meant to be broken. (more…)
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