How does the English-Spanish language barrier affect student-teacher relationships, particularly with Spanish-speaking students who do not speak English as their first language? What are the implications for classroom learning?
Subsequent Questions:
- What percent of the West New York population is Hispanic?
o Community outline/profile of West New York
Ø Personal walking map of city: 10 sites within 10-block radius
Ø Geographical Information: http://www.citytowninfo.com/places/new-jersey/west-new-york
Ø Urban Enterprise Zone: http://www.locationnj.com/Incentives_Urban.asp
Ø Local News: http://search.nj.com/sp?aff=100&keywords=west+new+york
o History
o Demographics, income breakdowns, where people are coming from
Ø http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=&ActiveGeoDiv=geoSelect&pctxt=fph&_lang=en&_sse=on&geo_id=16000US3479610&_state=04000US34
- In Memorial High School, what is the percentage of Hispanic students? Other non-native English speakers?
o School outline/profile of Memorial High School
Ø Personal Walking tour of Memorial High School
Ø Memorial High School Report Card: http://education.state.nj.us/rc/rc08/rcoptions.php?c=17;d=5670;s=050;lt=M;st=A
Ø http://education.state.nj.us/rc/nclb07/reports/17/5670/17-5670-050.html
Ø School/Student/Parent Compact (in English and Spanish): http://www.wnyschools.net/district/images/DistrictDocuments/School-ParentCompact.pdf
o Demographics of Memorial High School students and families
Ø Demographics and School Statistics: http://education.state.nj.us/rc/rc08/dataselect.php?c=17;d=5670;s=050;lt=M;st=A&datasection=all
- How do language barriers inhibit classroom learning?
o How does parental involvement (or lack thereof) affect reading, literacy and English language acquisition?
o What sort of strains do these language barriers place on teachers? (Interviews with ESL and English/History teachers) Within the constraints of NCLB? School-directed objectives?
o How do these outside factors impact NCLB restrictions?
o What sort of issues do language barriers place on these students when they are not in their ESL classes and in the general student population?
Ø Information from Annotated Bibliography
Ø Interviews with Teachers:
English as a Second Language (ESL) Teacher(s) Interview Questions
- Where do the majority of your students come from?
o What are the basic student demographics? - What is the student-to-teacher ratio?
- What is their level of English prior to coming to Memorial High School?
o What is their reading/writing ability in English and Spanish? - What is their level of English after attending ESL classes?
- What sorts of difficulties do your students have in their classes within the general student population?
o Do they have difficulties in their classes that are taught entirely in English?
o In which subjects do they have the most difficulty?
o In what way does the ESL program here supplement those classes? - How many of your students are enrolled in the Bilingual program here at Memorial?
o Can you tell me more about the program?
o How many students are enrolled in this program? - Can you tell me about other ESL/language acquisition programs here at Memorial?
- How much involvement do you see from the parents of students in the ESL programs?
- How much involvement do you have with the parents of students in the ESL programs?
o Are they responsive to the program? - Has the ESL program at Memorial been successful?
- How long does it take a student to pass through the ESL program completely?
o Do students who have passed through still receive supplemental ESL education? - In the last NCLB results, Memorial High School was recognized as one that has not made Adequate Yearly Progress. It has also been classified as “in need of improvement.”
o To what do you attribute these results?
o Does the fact that many of the students have Spanish as a prominent language in their lives have anything to do with this? - Has Memorial High School faced any NCLB sanctions?
o Do you think they are due in part to the language barrier?
English Teacher(s) Interview Questions
- Where do the majority of your students come from?
o What are the basic student demographics? - What is the student-to-teacher ratio?
- How many of your students are Spanish-speaking?
- How many of your students speak Spanish at home?
- Do you think that these students (who speak Spanish at home) have more difficulty learning in English than students who only speak English?
o If yes, how so? - How is their reading/writing ability?
o Do you feel they encounter any difficulties due to a language barrier? - How have these difficulties/language barriers made it more difficult to teach?
- Have they prompted you to change/alter your curriculum in any way?
o How so? - What do these language barriers do to state-mandated testing results?
- How has the school performed?
o To what do you attribute these results? - In the last NCLB results, Memorial High School was recognized as one that has not made Adequate Yearly Progress. It has also been classified as “in need of improvement.”
o To what do you attribute these results? - Does the fact that many of the students have Spanish as a prominent language in their lives have anything to do with this?
- Has Memorial High School faced any NCLB sanctions?
o Do you think they are due in part to the language barrier? - Do any students ever have trouble expressing themselves (verbally or in writing) in English?
o Do you feel this is due to their language limitations? - How involved are the parents of your students in the schoolwork of their children?
- How many students of Hispanic descent plan to graduate and go on to college?
o What are the main goals of these students? - What do the majority of Memorial students do after high school?
o Do many of them drop out?
o Do the goals of these students effect how they perform in class? (Are they apathetic/enthusiastic?)
Student Interview Questions
- How long have you been a student at Memorial High School?
- What is your ethnicity?
- In which subjects do you excel? Why?
- In which subjects do you perform poorly? Why?
- What programs/efforts have gone into effect in the schools to combat this language barrier?
o How much money goes into these programs/efforts?
o What are the results of these programs/efforts? (Are they beneficial, etc.?)
Ø Abbot District Information: http://www.nj.gov/education/abbotts/
Ø Abbott v. Burke decisions http://www.nj.gov/education/abbotts/dec/#4
Ø http://www.nj.gov/education/abbotts/budget/benchmarks.pdf
Ø Abbot Predecessor: The Comprehensive Educational Improvement and Financing Act of 1996
o Are there many available academic resources at Memorial High School to help reading, literacy and language acquisition? Adequate library, internet access, etc.?
Ø Personal survey of the school
o Have ESL programs helped to lessen the language divide?
Ø ESL Programs at Memorial High School: http://www.wnyschools.net/district/programsandservices.asp
Ø Small Learning Communities at Memorial High School: http://www.nwrel.org/nwedu/winter_00/1a.html http://schoolstudio.engr.wisc.edu/smalllearningcom.html
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