Sandy Foster understands test anxiety. If she didn’t already, she certainly learned this summer how her students feel with a big exam looming, and then waiting for the results.
Foster, an English teacher at Liberty Middle School, is one of eight USD 382 teachers who took a test for English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) certification.
“It was a hard test,” Foster said. “I felt real strong on the grammar part. For the rest of it, I’m sure I had a deer in the headlights look.”
What made the test extra difficult was that the teachers did not take classes to prepare. Gina Bates, ESL director for USD 382, pulled together some study materials, directed her colleagues to websites and facilitated some study groups. Everyone passed, she reported.
On average, the Pratt district will have 35 to 40 English language-learners enrolled each year, and currently all speak Spanish as their native language. The number is growing slowly, but steadily, Bates said, and in Kansas the non-English speaking population has grown so rapidly that the state has set aside coursework requirements in favor of certification by test.
Having eight additional ESOL-certified teachers will bring extra dollars to the district. Teachers receive an additional endorsement on their teaching licenses, but, without coursework, don’t benefit financially on the pay scale.
“They did it to improve their teaching and learning for their students,” Bates said. “Kudos to them.”
Foster took two years of Spanish in high school — more years ago than she cares to count — but she said being fluent in Spanish isn’t necessary to help her students.
“They really tell you you want to have the student become proficient in English,” she said. “You don’t have to know their language to teach them.”
Some students come to the school already knowing how to speak English fairly well, she said, having learned it in much the same way a child learns the language of the parents. The written language is more difficult to learn.
She will use lots of visuals, pictures, and charts. Short phrases are easier to grasp. Occasionally she may pair a student up with someone who is proficient in both languages. Drill and repetition are important — a child may have to use a word 30 or more times to claim it as their own.
Foster has an idea that will help her middle schoolers gain a better appreciation for the challenges some of their classmates face. She plans to introduce an assignment entirely in Spanish and then lead a discussion centering on “how would you feel every day, knowing you have to be responsible for the material, and not being able to understand what it is you must know.”
