It's interesting to read about all of the political issues addressed 40 years ago in our country and how they seem to be coming full circle, especially in the field of education. I know right now our government has cut funding for Foreign Language teaching and that affects bilingual education as well. Whoever is making these laws is clearly not a lawmaker themselves.
" The Bilingual Education Movement is rooted in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which states: "no person shall be subjected to discrimination on the basis of race, color, or nation origin." As I read this statement, issues of funding flipped through my mind. Why does more funding seem to go to middle class/ all white institutions then if we have this law? It's good and only right that laws (like Lau v.. Nichols) have been passed furthering progress towards ESL and bilingual education because every person in American has their right to succeed. But despite these movements, I still feel like ESL gets put on the backburner sometimes and singled out. Just today, my practicum teacher was telling me about funding cuts in his district and how they are losing their Read180 program next year due to budget cuts in foreign language and ESL classrooms.
My practicum experience has been going smoothly this week. I get to sit in on teacher conferences on Friday, so I am excited for that. The kids starting working on a new unit with new vocabulary and stories. They did an interesting activity today where they wrote 5 vocabulary words on slips of paper, had to organize them by type (noun, verb, adj) and then choose 2 of the easiest ones for them to understand and write the word in a sentence. Their classmates then were given 2 of the harder words and wrote example sentences and had to explain them to their other classmates. Overall, a great activity.
I'm starting to become attached to these kids, oh no!!!!! I don't want to leave them :(
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