San Benito High School does not offer an intermediate course for
English language learners heading into the standard English course,
leaving some students unprepared and struggling.
Hollister – San Benito High School does not offer an intermediate course for English language learners heading into the standard English course, leaving some students unprepared and struggling.
The high school currently offers Specifically Designed Academic Instruction in English in several of its content-based courses – such as science, social science and math – but not in English.
The basic concept of these intermediate classes is to help English language learners get familiar with the vocabulary for that particular course while simultaneously learning the subject. These courses are specifically designed for English language learners to help prepare them for the standard content-based courses.
For English, those students take English Language Development 1, 2 and 3 – with no transition – before moving into English 9, typically for freshmen.
Cindy Cordova, director of educational services, said most of the English language learner students are not fluent in English when they move into English 9. She said the high school’s teachers and administrators hope to start one of the courses for English in the next couple of years.
Traditionally, the district did not have the enrollment numbers to justify offering the classes, Cordova said.
“We really need to have the numbers to support the class. It’s sad to say but that’s the reality,” she said.
Cordova said there are currently around 300 students who are designated as English learners, but they were all at different levels.
Melissa McGrath teaches the third level of the English Language Development course – the last one the students take before moving into the mainstream English class. She said students are often unprepared to enter the English 9 class.
“Usually the gap is too big for me to fill. The curriculum we have is at the fifth- or sixth-grade level – so they’re basically skipping all of middle school,” McGrath said. “It’s a huge task to expect them to make that leap.”
The California Department of Education does not require a special intermediate course for English language learners, as long as the students are being given ELD instruction by a certified teacher, said Hector Rico, director of the Language Learner and Support Division of the California Department of Education.
“The key requirements are that somewhere the English language learners have to get (English Language Development instruction) until they are reclassified as fluent,” Rico said.
McGrath said the lack of a segue class into the standard English program was a commonly repeated concern among high school staff, who felt students are inadequately served with the current model.
“It’s really surprising that we don’t have one in English,” McGrath said. “We’ve talked about it a lot, but there hasn’t been a next step.”
When the students move into English 9, most of them still require extra attention and additional instruction, Cordova said.
“They still require special scaffolding,” she said. “The teacher really needs to know who those students are and provide strategies in order to provide the scaffolding.”
While the state does not require a separate course for the intermediate English learners, Rico said sometimes the students’ needs are not addressed in the standard courses.
“Sometimes it’s helpful to designate a class so that everyone knows that there are kids in there that need extra instruction and keep in mind we don’t want them to get lost,” Rico said. “That’s the fear if you put them in a general (education) class that’s not labeled; the teacher might forget their needs.”
Providing the scaffolding for English language learner students can be a daunting task for teachers.
“With English 9 teachers, they’re pulling their hair out because half the class doesn’t speak English, and it’s very hard to teach a class that’s mixed like that,” McGrath said.
McGrath said it can be frustrating knowing that students who leave her class will be ill-prepared for English 9 classes. But at the same time, she said, the students are pushed to move swiftly into the standard instruction classes.
“Sometimes it’s frustrating as a teacher when you can’t keep the kids as long as they need,” she said.
For the school to start offering a Specifically Designed Academic Instruction in English class for English, the course would have to be developed and then go before the board of trustees for approval, Cordova said.
“I think it would help the students,” Cordova said.
