As immigration increases from non-English speaking countries, our education system risks greater failures
Niya Karpenko
Special to the Sun
Monday, February 25, 2008
http://tinyurl.com/256m4w
I sit across from an Afghan boy named Ali. Ten years old, he is doing reading and writing exercises tailored to his English-as-second-language level, part of a local non-profit program that helps refugee children with literacy.
He asks me if I can help him with his schoolwork instead, and I agree. As I open up the Grade 5 reader and go through reading comprehension with him, I am baffled.
Asked to underline the words he doesn't know, he turns the page red as he stumbles across each sentence, often resorting to phonics to read. He tells me that he is often frustrated because he falls behind in his classes.
Ali is one of many students who struggle with the current integrated approach to ESL.
Children are placed in classes according to their age groups, regardless of their English literacy level. After provincial funding cuts for ESL support programs in schools, teachers and parents begin to question the sustainability of integrated learning without proper resources. Without specialized assistance in mixed composition classrooms, majority of ESL students do not meet acceptable literacy levels.
Literacy is crucial to making sure that new immigrants are active and successful members of society. In British Columbia, many of the students who struggle with literacy have English as a second language. With increased immigration expected from non-English speaking countries, the challenges of our education system will only become more apparent in the years ahead.
By 2017, one in three British Columbians will be foreign-born. Metro Vancouver school districts are already experiencing growing pains, currently struggling with a ratio of one in four students from non-English speaking households.
With adequate resources, integrated approaches are better than segregated classes. But without proper support, students will fail.
The B.C. Teachers Federation is questioning the efficacy of Bill 33, the latest provincial education reform. The number of ESL students allocated to each classroom is not limited by the bill. Teachers are stretched thin dealing with high numbers of ESL students. Without sufficient attention, ESL students have lower academic performance, with dropout rates more than double the high-school average.
Teachers and parents agree that inclusive policies create the best environment for ESL students, given the right resources. Many newcomers feel ashamed to attend segregated ESL courses and don't receive sufficient language instruction to be proficient in English. ESL classes foster stereotyping and exclusion within schools.
As a graduating SFU arts student, I don't exactly look back with fondness on the three years of segregated ESL classes in my Burnaby high school. In my first week, classmates from my home country took me aside and told me to scratch ESL off my binder and replace it with English. Until that moment, I hadn't realized that learning English is something I should be ashamed of. It was the first time I felt stigmatized as an immigrant.
I quickly got myself into a "normal" classroom. The segregated approach alienates students and makes them feel anything but "normal." Integrated classrooms could be a solution, but because they lack adequate resources, teachers, out of desperation, are considering moving back to a segregated curriculum.
Last month, Premier Gordon Campbell reaffirmed the province's commitment to the Canwest Raise-a-Reader campaign as part of Family Literacy Week contributing nearly $900,000 in funding.
Since 2001, the province has pledged more than $131 million for new literacy programs to make British Columbia "the best educated, most literate jurisdiction on the continent."
Yet by 2005 this government had eliminated 20 per cent of ESL teachers, closed more than 100 school libraries and laid off more than 23 per cent of teacher librarians. It is hard not to think of these initiatives as publicity stunts.
Vaughn Palmer recently reported that literacy "results to date have been disappointing," with little improvement made since the 2004 promise. While non-profits are a great tool for ESL, public education must come first.
Our teachers are on the frontlines of immigrant literacy. Instead of focusing on media-friendly initiatives, the government should first of all strengthen the education system.
If the government wants to live up to its own Bill 33, teachers must get adequate funding for ESL learning in integrated classrooms.
Language is the most crucial factor in determining the success of new Canadians socially, culturally and economically.
Niya Karpenko is part of the Simon Fraser University's undergraduate semester in dialogue.
