Page 6 - ELG2005 Jul Issue 471

NEWS . NEWS

TESOL calls for US$1 billion funding while England’s EALs Irish online courses slammed

US struggles to teach ELLs in lockdown struggle with By Matt Salusbury government, ICOS emphasised

that, “Only 13 percent of English
with the online classes they are
latest to be accused of charging
By Matt Salusbury Ireland’s language schools are the language students were satisfied
too much money for online being provided.”
In April 2020, 40 US educational SHUTTERSTOCK homeschooling courses which are “not fit for David O’Grady, CEO of schools
bodies, including TESOL purpose”. association MEI, agreed the
International Association, wrote to Complaints about paying full sudden order to close in March
congressional leaders asking for an fees for courses delivered online meant members had to, “scramble
additional US$1 billion in funding By Matt Salusbury are not limited to language to provide students with an
for English Language Learners. schools. Newspapers around the alternative form of continuity, and
“As the reach of Covid-19 How is coronavirus home HAMISH CHALMERS world have reported similar the pace and efficiency was
continues to grow, we are seeing schooling working for children in demands for refunds from uneven at first.” But he added
increased need for support of England who have English as an international schools from the that, “eventually a balance was
English Learner students,” they Additional Language (EAL), and UAE to China. While in India, as struck.”
wrote in a letter urging Congress does it compare with the situation we report in the News in Brief, The Irish government recently
to support moves to provide the in the US (see page 6)? parents have protested outside decreed that language students
supplemental funding, “in the To find out, the Gazette spoke schools. from outside the EU, who had
next relief package, to help ensure to Hamish Chalmers, vice-chair In Ireland, language school completed the maximum two
that states and districts have the of Naldic, the subject association courses have proved particularly years allowed, can remain in the
necessary resources to address the for EAL teachers, and a lecturer contentious, according to the Irish country until the end of 2020,
unique needs of our students.” at the Department of Education, Council for International Students provided they re-enrol in an
With state schools across the University of Oxford. (ICOS). In a letter to the online course.
US still in coronavirus lockdown, As in the US, in England these
home schooling for the nation’s Mexico’s education system. and laptops (and in some cases English-language materials, the children are often very
estimated 4.9 million school Plaintiffs, including many from food parcels) to ELL students. Los school board has since published disadvantaged, he told us. As well ELT nervous as Malta opens
students designated English the Navajo Nation, allege “the Angeles was reportedly seeking to learning resources in Spanish, as a “lack of linguistic support”
Language Learners (ELLs) has state’s lack of action has been laid get “digital devices” to 100,000 of Chinese, Khmer and Arabic. from parents, EAL children share
proved challenging. The bare by the Covid-19 crisis, which its students. Miami-Dade County A teacher in Cleveland the same problems as other By Melanie Butler
coronavirus crisis has even has further aggravated the deep Public Schools in Florida had by reported spending two full days a students from deprived Hamish Chalmers, vice-chair
prompted a class action lawsuit and ongoing educational mid-April distributed 80,000 week on the phone speaking to backgrounds. Many parents have of Naldic Thousands of Hungarian students
against the state of New Mexico, inequalities across New Mexico.” mobile devices to students. parents, with the help of Somali, to go out to work and are unable are to study in Malta, the foreign MICHELLE MARIA/PIXABAY
asserting that the state is failing in School districts nationwide Janice Jackson, CEO of the Swahili and Spanish-speaking to supervise their children’s home classes to EAL children. ministry have announced. It is
its constitutional duty to “provide report that ELLs and their parents City of Chicago’s public schools, colleagues. Meanwhile, in schooling. Homes do not have Differentiation is already “difficult not clear whether the 8,000
a sufficient education” for its struggle with home schooling. with 67,000 ELLs, told National Nebraska, a radio station has been computers or internet face-to-face” and many EAL students will arrive in time for the
students. Many parents lack the English Public Radio that they had started to broadcast classes in connections, and equipment approaches are “not the kind of crucial summer season.
The new case calls for oversight needed to follow instructions for ensured their “remote learning Spanish. promised by education authorities thing you can do on paper.” Maltese schools are set to open
of the court judgement in the lesson plans. They are also less plan” included guidance for ELL The New York Times in April has been slow in coming. Home schooling takes EAL in July, the government has Malta is reopening, but is it
2018 Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit, likely to have a suitable internet- parents and students, and “we interviewed Zainab Alomari, from England’s teachers had “four students “away from good models informed the Federation of in time to save the summer?
which resulted in a ruling that the capable device or internet access. trained our teachers around that.” Yemen, as she tried – with only a days’ notice” of schools closing of academic English,” something English Language Teaching
state violated the rights of English Immigrant parents are Oakland Unified School few words of English – to educate and, Chalmers reports, in the which is “much more difficult to Organisations Malta (FELTOM). just a few hundred at best,” he
Language Learners. In March this significantly more likely to be in District, where 33 per cent of her six children in Oakland, early days of the lockdown acquire” outside a face-to-face With quarantine regulations told the paper.
year, the state of New Mexico work they can’t do from home, students are ELLs, said their first California. She relied on her teachers in South London were classroom context. For example, it currently in place in the UK and The islands’ EFL teachers have
filed a request to the court, meaning they can’t supervise priority when the lockdown came oldest daughter to interpret, or delivering printed teaching may not be possible for EAL kids, Ireland, the Mediterranean island also been hard hit, according to
seeking to dismiss the case. school work. was contacting students to find used Google Translate. Alomari materials to EAL students’ homes. and their parents, to follow nation is the first European EFL the Union of Professional
The suit calls on the court to In Minford, Ohio, teachers out who had devices and internet told NYT “I’m doing my best… England has a higher science classwork in English, so destination to open, albeit to Educators (UPE), which has
compel the state to produce a went out early in the lockdown to access at home. Finding that But I don’t know if this is going to percentage of EAL students than the strategy has been to “do citizens of a limited number of reported teachers facing hardship
plan to urgently “overhaul” New deliver printed teaching materials parents struggled with using affect their learning.” America, but both report the whatever is possible in their home countries. due to delays in government
ability to support these children language.” Malta removed travel payments.
varies widely by region. According To make this easier, the EAL restrictions on 19 nationalities at Clearly 8,000 Hungarian school
to Chalmers, EAL is “part of the Journal website has links to the beginning of July, but only children would make a huge
newsinbrief. from Gazette news editor Matt Salusbury fabric of schools” in regions like teaching materials in other two, Austrians and Germans, difference, but FELTOM has
Leicester and London, which languages – for example, science come from traditional language questioned whether these are new
INDIA: Parents of students CHINA: Prestigious inde- SAUDI ARABIA: THAILAND: The Thai SINGAPORE: Singapore’s have large immigrant populations, texts from the Polish national travel markets, James Perry, CEO bookings. In February, the
at the Podar International pendent British boarding Emirates-based government has permitted Ministry of Health but other parts of England “don't schools’ curriculum. of FELTOM, told Malta's Hungarian government
School in Maharashtra school Harrow, based in international schools giant some schools to re-open confirmed that, as of 7 have the staff or the expertise.” Chalmers also has special praise Independent newspaper. announced that 8,308 Hungarians
State demonstrated at the northwest London, has GEMS Education, from 22 June as part of an June, a16-year-old
school gates in mid-June agreed to allow four new believed to be the world’s easing of coronavirus Chinese national student Unlike their US peers, all EAL for publishers Mantra Lingua for Perry had warned of a bleak had applied to study in Malta as
in a “No School, No Fees” franchise schools in China. largest private education lockdown restrictions. of Ascenia International children are taught in mainstream giving free access during the summer. “We will surely not reach part of a government-funded
campaign. Maharashtra Harrow International provider, announced in International schools with School had tested classes. That means one pandemic to bilingual e-textbooks or even get anywhere close to the language learning initiative. The
ordered schools to Schools, a subsidiary of Asia June that it will open an fewer than 120 students are positive for Covid-19. This important part of teaching is and audiobooks in many 40,000 students mark of previous programme was postponed due to
suspend fees during the International Schools Ltd, al- international school in included in the new case of infection was
lockdown, but parents ready has 4800 students in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. measures. Visitors from detected as part of the differentiation – tailoring subject languages. years, but it is more likely to be the pandemic.
claim the school was China, Hong Kong and Thai- This is GEMS’ first school countries where Covid-19 city state’s “proactive
“harassing” them for land. Bloomberg reported in the Kingdom. It will has peaked – China, Japan, screening” programme.
money and demanding that China’s apparent accommodate 3,100 Hong Kong and Taiwan – International schools in
they buy new textbooks emergence from coronavirus students and is already can also enter Thailand Singapore opened on 5
and uniforms. was a factor in the decision. open for enrolment. again. June.

6 July 2020 editorial@elgazette.com 7