Category: News

Cornell University, an elite Ivy League institution in upstate New York, made history in early September when its English department became the first in the United States to change its name to reflect the global diversity of those writing in the English language.

Staff at the department voted overwhelmingly to change “English Literature” to “Literatures in English” – a symbolic shift away from an overwhelming focus on England.

Learn more about this topic by reading on AlJazeera.

After reading “Teachers work to replicate bilingual experience” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

Almost every account of colonialism describes how the colonists planned to use education as a means of stabilizing and strengthening their rule. There was one system of education for those who were to rule and their abettors and quite another for those who were to be ruled.

Learn more about this topic by reading on TheNews.

A, B, C. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3. Or is it? A kindergarten teacher on TikTok is going viral for revealing a new version of the alphabet song that is being taught at her Los Angeles elementary school.

Arielle Fodor, who goes by @Ms_Frazzled on the video-sharing app, posted a clip to the site this week debuting the remixed song, which has racked up 2.2 million views.

Learn more about this topic by reading on NYPost.

After reading “Teachers work to replicate bilingual experience” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

It’s hard enough to learn in a second language without a pandemic keeping you out of the classroom. But Qasim Almjareesh—a newly minted eighth-grader at Newburg Middle School in Louisville, Kentucky—hasn’t let that stop him. Our discussion with the Syrian immigrant and native Arabic speaker brought to light his experience with distance learning after COVID-19 pushed his school to shift to teaching virtually last spring.

Learn more about this topic by reading on Verizon.

After reading “Teachers work to replicate bilingual experience” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

ESL teachers connecting online – When schools transitioned to online learning in March, teachers across the country had to quickly learn how to fit their classrooms into each student’s home.

For ESL and bilingual education teachers, the extra challenge of the linguistic and cultural diversity of students put additional pressure on teachers to keep students engaged at home as well as their families.

Learn more about this topic by reading on William&Mary.

After reading “ESL teachers connecting online” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

Cooperation between China and Philippines – The booming online education and increasingly popular Filipino teachers in China’s ESL (English as a Second Language) market is helping to bolster a win-win development for China and Philippines.

“China’s emerging industries such as online education under the epidemic have catalyzed a new win-win cooperation model for China and the Philippines. On the one hand, it has helped China’s distance education, and on the other hand, it has provided a large number of online job opportunities for the Filipino people,” said Ambassador Huang Xilian, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines, during his keynote speech at the 2020 Sino-Philippines Educational Exchanges Seminar held in Beijing on Friday.

The event

The event, hosted by 51Talk, one of China’s leading online English education platform, aimed to further strengthen and develop bilateral education exchange and cooperation between the two countries in the year marking the 45th anniversary of the founding of bilateral relations between the Philippines and China.

“51Talk has fully tapped the talents from the Philippines in the past several years. With the help of online digital technology, 51Talk has opened a window for thousands of Chinese children to communicate with foreign teachers worldwide, and it has created a worthwhile online platform for China-Philippines educational cooperation,” said Ambassador Huang.

Philippine Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China, H.E. Jose Santiago Sta. Romana is glad to see many Filipinos teaching Chinese students via internet.

“I’m very pleased that 51Talk is giving an opportunity to 20,000 competent Filipino educators to take part in nurturing the eagerness of nearly 300,000 young Chinese people to learn the English language. This educational exchange albeit virtual provides an enabling environment for cultural exchange between Filipinos and the Chinese,” said Ambassador Sta. Romana, adding that he hopes “more doors will be opened up for more and more Filipino educators in the same mutually beneficial manner.”

Learn more about this topic by reading on CGTN.

After reading “Cooperation between China and Philippines” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

In education, we preach the seven keys to college readiness. They include advanced reading in grades K-2, advanced reading in grades 3-8, advanced math in grade 5, Algebra 1 by grade 8 with a C or higher, Algebra 2 by grade 11 with a C or higher, 3 on Advance Placement (AP) exam or a 4 on International Baccalaureate (IB) exam and 1650 SAT or 24 ACT.

Educators also believe it is critical to focus on social emotional intelligence, and the Four C’s: critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity skills. All these characteristics are important for students to develop as they progress through our educational system and increase the chance of graduating from high school and being college-ready. Learn more about this topic by reading on SanJoseSpotlight.

Youngstown City Schools has seen a surge in students whose primary language isn’t English. About 25 such new students enroll in the district each year, bringing this year’s total to around 440.

That’s where Ava Yeager, the district’s chief of school improvement, and Dennis Yommer, program coordinator, enter the picture. Among the district’s efforts to ensure all students are reaching their potential, the district conducts outreach and education as needed. Learn more about this topic by reading on TheBusinessJournal.

After reading “ESL teachers connecting online” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

English-speakers moving to Spanish speaking programs – The U.S.-born daughter of Mexican immigrants, Carmen Bravo was raised to talk in Spanish as well as English because her parents wanted her to stay connected to her cultural roots.

“Growing up speaking Spanish and English at the same time helped me have a broader vision of the world around me,” she said.

At Sunland Park and across the country, the Spanish language is enjoying a cultural renaissance among a somewhat counterintuitive group: Hispanics. For years, middle- and upper-class English-speaking families have clamored for more dual language programs where their students can learn both English and Spanish. By contrast, many Spanish-speaking families have been opting out, believing their children needed to learn English, and only English, as quickly as possible.

But in predominantly Hispanic communities like the Gadsden Independent School District, where Sunland Park is located, this reluctance is fading. As a result, bilingual education is coming closer to fulfilling what arguably should have been its primary mission all along: helping non-native speakers become proficient in English while also preserving—and strengthening—their first languages.

Although the United States has no official language, English is by far the most spoken language in the U.S. That being said, approximately 40 million people speak Spanish at home in the United States (United States Census Bureau, 2017).

There is little legislation regarding the use of Spanish instruction outside of language classes, and with such a large percentage of the U.S. population speaking English, most schools instruct their students in English. Some schools, however, have made attempts to enforce “English-only” policies, which is where the problem lies.

Teaching in English when a majority of students speak English is only logical, and even helps to immerse Spanish speakers or other language speakers in English promoting bilingualism. However, by enforcing English only policies, students who speak a language other than English are excluded and may have trouble keeping up with their English-speaking peers.

Learn more about this topic by reading on TampaBayTimes.

After reading “ESL teachers connecting online” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.

 

There is a myth in Thailand that one must learn English from a native speaker. Propagating this myth are the many beneficiaries of the practice, which does not include learners. Ignoring research that shows to learn English, one does not need a native English speaker (NES) only emphasizes the myth-makers dominance. After all, if the students were to use English, they would encounter the concepts of competency, dynamism, and evolution.

There are many reasons that non-native English speakers can be just as competitive and skilled as native speakers—and can even offer knowledge to their students that native speakers never could.

Unfortunately, not everyone recognizes this yet. So in this post I’ve distilled four common myths about native English speakers’ supposed superiority over their non-native counterparts, and discussed why they’re not always true.

Or “a NES or European NNES” means white. Businesses, class creators, and teachers promote the idea, hence the recent MOE bold plan to recruit 10,000 NES to improve Thai students’ ability to communicate in global business. This and other projects fail because they are based on myths, not facts.

Who are native speakers? There are about 18 countries that are classed as native English speaker countries. Yet, many recruiters in Thailand cannot name more than five passport holders with a certain look. South Africa is not one. Job boards regularly mention the big five, yet there are more countries to choose from.

Learn more about this topic by reading on The Thaiger.

After reading “The Myth of Native English Teachers” you can check important issues for ESL teachers on the section PDFs, and visit my YouTube channel.