Sweden: Dutch school inspectors have been hired to review English
language teaching in 30 Swedish schools. The decision has been met with
irritation by teacher unions, according to the Dagens Nyheter (DN)
newspaper.
Alabama: Proration has hit Alabama public schools but recent
suggestions of cutting English as a Second Language programs as a cost
savings aren’t plausible, say Albertville school officials. Albertville
City Schools Assistant Superintendent Joyce Bishop defended ESL
programs as a necessity that help not only ESL students but also all
children in need of extra assistance.
Korea: A lawmaker put forward a plan Monday for a
state-subsidized afterschool English program in an effort to narrow the
so-called English divide between children from upper- and lower-class
families. In a speech during a National Assembly interpellation session, Rep.
Chung Doo-un of the governing Grand National Party described English as
one of the main stress factors for parents of low-income families as
their children have a far less chance of getting quality private
English teaching.
Florida: About one-fifth of all students in Orange and Osceola counties can't
read or write English, a greater percentage than even Miami-Dade
County, where Spanish is the main language in many areas. The number of children entering public schools who don't know
English has risen 33 percent statewide in less than a decade. But in
Orange, it nearly tripled between the 1999-2000 and 2008-09 school
years, according to a report from the Florida Department of Education.
Texas: After two years, the public school system has pulled its bilingual education programs away from the brink of state takeover. In 2007, the San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated
Independent School District's bilingual program was cited for a number
of violations following a week long investigation. Compounding the problem was that no one seemed aware of how much trouble the bilingual programs were in.
Illinois: For more than 15 years, the Dominican Literacy Center in Aurora, which is run by three Dominican nuns, has empowered foreign-born women by teaching them to read, write and speak English. About 150 women received free tutoring this year at the center, a two-story converted convent on the city's near east side. Another 80 are on a waiting list.
Maryland: There are about 4,800 Hispanic students in public schools countywide, according to the State Department of Education data. But in north county schools, they make up just a small fraction of the student population. They've all dealt with a new country, new culture, new language and new customs. And they also must fit into a system that struggles to communicate with them.
United Kingdom: University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations and Kaplan Aspect have signed an agreement for Kaplan Aspect to run a number of Cambridge ESOL`s computer-based English tests at Kaplan Aspect schools throughout the UK and Ireland.
France: The faces look a little nervous and the words are spoken a bit timidly —all rather normal for a group of French students learning to speak English. But the hesitant responses aren't coming in a classroom where foreign language instruction is another obligatory grind in a long day of courses. Instead, these 18-to-25-year-olds are paying up to $6,000 annually to master a language they all took for six years in high school before earning their Baccalaureate degrees and entering the job market.
Oregon: Giggling and holding scribbled scripts in front of them, Jose Hernandez and Olivia Salazar introduce themselves to each other. "Hi, I am Brian's daddy," says Hernandez, the father of a Talent Elementary School student. He shifts in his stance as if to ease into character in front of about a dozen adult students in an English as a Second Language, or ESL class at Talent Middle School. The Phoenix-Talent School District began offering the free classes to students' parents this fall.
Colorado: Language barriers can cause fear and confusion for English language learners who seek medical attention, legal advice, a place to live or work or basic tools for navigating the human service sector. Local providers are well aware of these challenges and recognize that "limited English proficient"people in La Plata County have limited access to services because of the lack of available and trained interpreters. On Sept. 24 and 25, the La Plata Unity Project addressed this gap by hosting a 16-hour orientation for multilingual groups. The main goal of the training was to increase capacity among providers in order to provide culturally competent interpretation services to clients with limited English.
California: Nearly 30% of Los Angeles Unified School District students placed in English language learning classes in early primary grades were still in the program when they started high school, increasing their chances of dropping out, according to a new study released Wednesday. The findings raise questions about the teaching in the district's English language classes, whether students are staying in the program too long and what more educators should do for students who start school unable to speak English fluently.
United Kingdom: Under the UK’s current immigration rules, foreign nationals who are in long-term relationships or are married to British citizens and who want to join their partners to live in the UK must prove that their union is genuine. From the summer of 2011 they will also have to prove that they can speak English by taking a language test before they apply for their visas.
Hawaii: After graduating just two students in 1969, The TESOL program is now a respected major celebrating its 40 anniversary this year. The program has become a “pinnacle of excellence,” Mark James from the Department of English Language Teaching and Learning said. “Due to the quality of the faculty and graduates over the years, along with the international leadership of the TESOL Reporter [a semiannual journal published by the department], BYU-Hawaii has gained international recognition for the quality of its English language instruction.”
United Arab Emirates: Ajman University of Science & Technology (AUST), Fujairah campus, has held a symposium on “Developing English Language Teaching for the Digital Age,” which was attended by AUST Vice President Dr. Hamdi Al Shaer, Director of AUST’s Fujairah Campus, and English language faculty members in addition to 235 English teachers from a number of Emirates, cities and educational zones in the UAE.
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