Heading to San Diego

[silverkris]

Originally Posted by RosieSD

Just curious, but how did your teacher friend know that ALL of the students she taught were from "illegal families"? Under Federal guidelines, schools and teachers aren't allowed to ask about a student or parents' citizenship.

Also, there are plenty of families who speak a language other than English at home besides Spanish. Just in my local area, I know families who speak Vietnamese, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and French at home, and many of their children get ESL support at school too.

I guess I don't have a problem with families speaking whatever they want in their homes. My own father spoke German at home and didn't learn English until he started elementary school. Based on the stories he told us, it certainly would have been easier for him if he had teachers who were trained to teach students who were not native English speakers. (My Dad didn't grow up in California, by the way, but Pennsylvania).

ESL teachers aren't always overburdened and unhappy. For instance, I chose a dual immersion program (English-Spanish) for my son when he was in elementary school. The teachers were some of the best in the district and my son thrived in the program. He went on to attend great universities for college and graduate school and now is doing well career-wise, so being in a classroom with so many students who spoke another language at home certainly didn't hurt him.
If anything, he really benefited.

I can't tell you whether any of the kids in the program were undocumented; all I cared about was that my son had friends who were good kids, and he did.

You've said it very tactfully and well.