The best practice that I believe serve ELL students best was the two-way bilingual program. I noted in my discussion that I have only experienced an ESL pullout program at the one and only school I have worked at. Although I believe that a dual language bilingual program is effective because it uses both languages for instruction, it can only be successful if there is a need for it at a school. I think that TEA should make this program more easily accessible for ELL students. Exiting an ESL program seems to be easier than being admitted. I have had to fight to keep one of my students in the ESL program even though technically he would have been exited due to TAKS writing score. Although he had passed, I did not feel as though he would be as successful in the classroom without ESL services. According to the TEA website, a district with an enrollment of 20 or more LEP students in the same grade level must offer a bilingual program. The magic number, 20 in this case, is enough for one classroom. But what happens if there are 18 or 19 students? Just because they are short one or two students means they cannot have a bilingual program. One would think that in the state of Texas where we have an increasing number of ELL students there would be a large number dual language bilingual programs, but this is not the case.
I found it very interesting that there were only seven districts in the state of Texas with dual language programs as of May 2009. I was able to experience one of the districts, Bryan ISD, while I was an undergrad at A&M in College Station. One of my ESL courses required us to log hours watching either an ESL pullout program or a bilingual program. I was placed in a bilingual classroom for two hours a week. It was interesting to watch the teacher use both English and Spanish in her instruction. I felt as though I learned more by observing this teacher than I had in many of my college courses. With Texas having such a high population of ELL students, I was surprised that there were only seven districts listed on the TEA website as having these programs. In general, the districts that did have them were located on the border (El Paso or Houston), but I know even in the Dallas area that I have had an increased number of ELL students in my classroom since my first year.
The change that I would like to see TEA make in their approach with ELL students deals with educators. I believe that TEA should encourage, or possibly even mandate, general education classroom teachers to be more knowledgeable of ESL practices and methods. As an undergraduate, I felt that we were constantly taking classes that addressed ELL students (and at the time, I was thoroughly annoyed). However, with the growing population of ELL students in Texas public schools, it is important that teachers are equipped with the training of how to effectively teach ELL students because they will inevitably have them in their classrooms. I took the ESL certification test because I believed it would make me more marketable as a teacher; however, I did not think it would ever be necessary for me to teach ESL. I think that TEA should increase the requirements for teachers in order to aid ELL students. More required observation time, more interaction with ELL students, and more courses offered from colleges would be just a few ways that they could do this. In addition, according to the TEA website, in order for a permanent substitute to teach LEP students, they must have a Texas teaching certificate along with a bilingual or ESL supplementary certificates. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this. I know sometimes teachers struggle to find good substitutes who can serve their children the same as they do. In my school district the past couple of years, we have been moving toward only hiring substitute teachers who have their teaching certificate. I think this is one step in guaranteeing that students are given the best education possible. ELL students are no exception. We should do everything we can to provide an effective education for them, including providing programs that meet their individual needs.
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