Some English learners are lagging behind Schools & Kids, posted by Editor, Mountain View Voice Online, on Jan 31, 2011 at 2:48 pm
A growing number of elementary and middle school students are learning to speak English in Mountain View schools, although one subset within the English-learning population is lagging, local education officials say.
Read the full story here Web Link posted Monday, January 31, 2011, 8:00 AM
Posted by VD, a resident of the Waverly Park neighborhood, on Jan 31, 2011 at 2:48 pm
"Latin American immigrants living in Mountain View are not as well equipped to help their children learn the new language as other families within the English-learning population -- especially European families, who are often college educated and drawn to the area by the promise of high tech jobs."
And these Latin American immigrants are drawn to the area by the promise of ............?
Posted by Observer, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Jan 31, 2011 at 5:56 pm
So many problems with this article--mainly some serious PC editing going on.
Any idiot could figure out that the majority of these families of failing children are from Mexico. How? Just ask them, or ask around if you are afraid to. But The Voice calls them Latin American? That's a slur against an entire continent. Why not just call them North American uneducated and socio-economically disadvanaged Spanish-speaking, mostly-illegal residents of Mountain View?
Also decide on how your are going to use such terms as Latino or Hispanic, because I can guarantee you both are pretty broad terms, although Latino is definitely a better fit here.
Another thing. Ms. Rodgers' parents were from Europe, so pick another brush to paint a comparison with. She is part of the very same ethnic group she use to illustrate the acheivement gap. Wow, that's a convenient omission. How tough would it have been to ask her, "Gee, and where were your parents from Ms. Rodgers?"
What is this paper so afraid of other than the truth??
Posted by mvparent, a resident of the Monta Loma neighborhood, on Jan 31, 2011 at 10:17 pm
What about summer school, an extended school day and other educational strategies to improve the outcomes of low-income students? Schools that are held up as models of success with low-income students have longer school days and longer school years as part of their approach.
Better school breakfast and lunch nutrition would help too. Take a look at the horrible food, full of sugar and fats. that is given to the kids from the poorest families every morning and noon as part of the free breakfast/lunch program.
Is there an analysis of academic performance comparing low-income Latino students with higher-income Latino students in the district? Comparing low-income Latino students with all other low-income students?
How much of the issue is poverty vs language learning is critical to analyze in order to figure out the appropriate responses and interventions.
Posted by Dominick, a resident of the Waverly Park neighborhood, on Jan 31, 2011 at 11:08 pm
I was a first generation child who of my two parents, one was illiterate and the other had only 2 years of schooling. But we did not speak our parent's home language at home we spoke English.
While in Grade school we had two sisters who were just off the boat from Italy. Our teacher told us their names and went back to our lesson. Those two sisters within a month were speaking English.
The problem with the mexican children,I see in public with their parents,is they speak spanish only. As long as the parents cling to spanish their children are doomed to be non-English speaking when they enter our school. We should teach the parents English so they can communicate in the language of the land.
Funny, the TV programs do not have spanish sub-titles but the mexican children seem to understand what's going on on the screen
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