We are starting our annual ELL testing on Monday.
This is kinda a teaching post…but maybe not entirely. I am dealing with some sh*t, y’all. First, I have two new students with zero English. This is not new and I love the challenge. They have, however, vastly different educational backgrounds. Both require full-day ESL instruction. Neither is getting it.
They need it. I want to provide it. We do not have the Human Resources necessary. This is not the fault of our central office or administration. No one who is qualified for this job has applied to do it.
So in these weeks of testing, not only are these students not receiving the instruction they need, they are also being asked to complete testing tasks that are completely inappropriate for their level of English acquisition.
Can we please give our recent newcomers a break? That would be a much warmer welcome to the United States.
Again, I am not laying blame on our CO or school board, because a baseline and current acquisition are appropriate, but for all that is good and holy (regardless of who/how you worship), why must we torture the newcomers who have shown us mere weeks or days ago that they do not yet know any English, with these tests which will frustrate them and provide us with no new information?
Meandering Around the Middle 