English Language Learners--5th Response

Unlocking the Research on English Learners

This article spoke about the challenges facing English language learners (ELLs).  The author, Claude Goldenberg, spoke about the benefits of a bilingual education for ELLs.  When in college I began learning about best practices for English language learners, including being taught in two languages, I denied because as an ELL, my experience with learning English was not as difficult as these researchers make it out to be.  I learned English fairly easily.  I was not in a bilingual school and did not receive bilingual education.  My method was 100% immersion and it worked.  Therefore, I don’t completely agree with Goldenberg. 

I do however acknowledge that my experience has been different from most ELLs.  Many ELLs I’ve known grow up in homes with family members that do not speak English.  Therefore, they continue to practice their native language at home.  That was not the case for me.  My sister and I were home alone a lot and we had no friends or family members to check on us while our mother worked long hours to take care of us.  Therefore, there was no one to influence our language learning.  We watched a lot of television, read a lot of books and spoke English at school.  I will not debate anyone on the matter because I recognize that not many people, certainly not many researchers, share my view.  I believe that for ELLs, schools should focus on providing these students with the best education to help them learn the language.