The Dysfunctional Independent School District

C. Mohr said: but there simply aren't enough ESL/ELL teachers available.

However, the fundamental error was bringing in foreign-born bilingual teachers, one assumes from Mexico, rather than hiring trained ESL/ELL teachers.

As an experienced ESL teacher, I can report that bi-lingual programs do not speed the learning of either language or subject by limited-English students. The result in most cases is a student who is not well educated or fluent in either language.

Perhaps Dallas is unusual, but in most city school districts there are many home languages spoken beside Mexican Spanish. It is far more effective to teach all the students in English. Subject-area tutors can be helpful at the secondary level, but they need not be certified teachers.

But I think we all know why bilingual programs are pushed by certain political groups.

Another Ann - the results are actually quite mixed. In the short term (first 1-2 years) other programs such as immersion programs do better (sheltered immersion programs, like the one in my local district are especially strong). However, in the long term bilingual programs outperform their peers, and a host of studies prove this. It's more expensive, it takes more time and commitment, and most "bilingual" schools cop out because of funding issues, but it works. Bringing political groups into the discussion is irrelevant, but Ron Unz would be proud. ____stari - no one here uses the TESOL/TESL certificate, and there's a reason for that. It simply isn't useful in most educational settings. It doesn't provide even the most basic pedagogical training, rendering it useless in a K-12 setting. It DOES work in training foreign business personnel in English using structured drills and the like, and that's where it is most used around the world.____Merlin and David - I agree, they should have used temporary numbers or ITINs for their foreign teachers. I called them corrupt because they probably knew that they could do that, while waiting for the paperwork to come through if they were legally here on a working visa (would that be H1-b?). That they should have known/probably knew this and still did not use it is why I called them corrupt. It was incredibly stupid, too. You are both right on that one.

When the newest M/LEP (Multiculture/Limited English Profiency)Director in DISD came on board she stated there would be no more ESL (English as a second language). DISD would only hire bilingual teachers. The problem is "bilingual" teachers (from foriegn countries with fake ss#) do not speak fluent English. Spanish speaking children are taught in Spanish. The work displayed in the hallways is in Spanish. The teachers speak to each other and their students in Spanish. Walking down a hallway in an elmentary school in DISD is like visiting a school in Mexico. You hear very little English. We are not helping our immigrant children. At some point they must be able to speak, READ, and WRITE in English. If trained ESL teachers are continued to be barred from DISD, students will never learn to be fluent in English.