Measure 58

A family member sent me this article today. As a new member to the teaching English profession, I thought I might comment on Oregon's Measure 58. According to the article, Measure 58, "would prohibit schools from teaching English learners in their native language after one year in elementary school or two years in high school."

The research presented in the article is absolutely correct. Prominent second language acquisition researchers have found that students who do not become literate in their first language have a very difficult time learning a second language. Much of this work was done in Canada, particularly with Canada's First Peoples not being able to learn English despite being put in English-only schools. There is something about developing the ability to read and write in one's first language that helps the brain fully develop the capacity for language. This is especially true in children. One year is not always enough.

For high school students there is also the question of confidence. If they are bright, good kids, but can't show their progress because of the language, how is that a good education? What will that do to their desire to learn? It can be incredibly demotivating to have a desire to show the teacher what you know but not be able to because of the language. Students need to be able to work on both content and language at the same time. There are several ways to do this - from normal subject teachers teaching both English skills and the content, to the ESL teacher incorporating the content from courses into the ESL classes, to simply putting students in mainstream classes and offering ESL as additional class. In any case, two years may not be enough time depending on the level of literacy a student already has in their first language.

This measure is directly related to everything I am studying and working on. Language learning is complicated and much about it is still unknown. To arbitrarily put a time limit on a person's learning is irresponsible. Many studies have shown that immersion doesn't produce competant language learners, especially if the goal is academic language use.

If Mr. Sizemore thinks that schools keep students in ESL programs for the extra monetary support, perhaps he should promote some kind of annual language assessment program for ESL learners rather than putting a time limit to someone's learning. I find it hard to believe that any responsible and ethical teacher would hold a learner back on purpose.

Africa Live!

Yesterday Jeff and I went to church at the normal time. We ended up staying quite a bit after, talking to various people, praying, and generally hanging out. Church was over around 12:30 pm, and by the time we had declined an invitation to go out to lunch, it was after 1:00 and we wanted to say for the music of the next service, Africa Live!

Our church has four services. They recently slightly modified the worship styles of some of them. Thursday night is small and contemplative, Friday 9:30 is more traditional, 11:15 is less traditional, and the 1:30 Africa Live! is for the African community we have in our church (and anyone else who wants to go). I've been wanting to visit the last service for a while, and this was a prime opportunity (plus we had both eaten breakfast and weren't too hungry).

The Africa Live! service was great. As the music began, people kept arriving, and everyone started moving. And I don't mean just swaying in thier seat, but moving their feet, bending over, lifting up thier hands, and whatever else they felt like doing. The weird thing is, it wasn't disorderly. People followed the music leaders and participated appropriately. The feeling I had was that people were free! I was thinking about how different the cultures of our church services are. Even in the younger-people oriented service, I would not feel quite as free as I did at Africa Live!. Comparing the cultures didn't carry any judgement, it was just seeing the differences. I really liked seeing emotion embodied at the African service. Emotions in my regular services, if expressed, are very subtle. I also appreciated how the African worship team seemed less concerned with being "professional" musicians. They are talented and there is order and they all follow the leader, but again, there is a freedom to be expressive and real.

Jeff and I left right before the sermon (the same one we heard in the previous service). I think we are both just a little bit African in our hearts.

A Little Spoilin'

On Thursday last week Jeff and I treated ourselves with pizza, soda, and Ramadan treats. Here are some pictures:

We liked the Ramadan sweets so much, we bought more a few days later:

Settling In

It's been a while since I last posted. Things are finally starting to settle into a routine and we have internet at home! That was the primary reason for not blogging. When Jeff and I arrived, we were happy to find our landlord had received my emails and was expecting us. After some serious dusting, here are some pictures of our flat:

Painted behind the front door:

View from the front door:
The living room:
View from the main area. It's nice to be at tree level:
The kitchen:

The bathroom:

The guestroom:The master bedroom: