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English isn't necessarily the second language someone new to English is learning. "English language learner" is a more widely applicable term.
When my FIL's second wife came to the U.S., she spoke Taiwanese Hokkien and Mandarin Chinese. English wasn't her second language, it was her third.
It's not that ESL is deemed pejorative, it just isn't necessarily accurate.
And theoretically one could have learned English in tandem with another language in their early childhood, but take a class like this to brush up on certain things.
And theoretically one could have learned English in tandem with another language in their early childhood, but take a class like this to brush up on certain things.
Well, not in my school. It wasn't a choice. Kids were tested and either placed in the program, or not. "Brushing up" was done mainstream.
And theoretically one could have learned English in tandem with another language in their early childhood, but take a class like this to brush up on certain things.
If all they're doing is just "brushing up", it'd be redundant to place them into a formal program for people learning English from scratch. Not to mention, it would take away a space from someone who truly needs to be there. (Especially immigrants from countries that use a non-Latin alphabet.) The student "brushing up" can make do with a regular class, find a book in the school library, or take a class outside of school.
Not disagreeing with that at all. But I doubt that the word "second" in "ESL" was meant to actually count the languages a student knows. It was probably meant simply as a synonym for "non-native", with the native langauge being "first". Am I wrong?
no, it was thought to be the second language, before it was spanish or chinese or indian as primary and english being the second and that was it
but with more migrants, we get mixed couples so kids speak both parent's languages plus english
think back to the 1930-1980s, how often did you see mixed race families compared to today?
i remember growing up as the sole foreign student in school in small town usa, they didnt have an esl class so i got put into speech class and got to work on my pronouncation and that was the esl class. a decade later, they started the esl class because 10 families moved to town. today foreigners are about 5-10% of the population there
perhaps as another angle, it's for kids for whom english is a first language, but require more reinforcement.
That's not ELL (if used as a new name for ESL). That's a remedial English class.
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