COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. Colorado public school teachers spend years preparing to teach subjects such as reading, mathematics or science to their pupils.
But what happens when teachers find themselves trying to teach those topics to students whose native language may be Spanish, Vietnamese, Polish or one of dozens of other languages?
“It’s nearly impossible to learn a subject when you don’t know the language in which it is being taught,” Michael Brunn, assistant professor, Education, and director of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs’ English as a Second Language (ESL) program, said. “Language is the most powerful determinant in a student’s success.”
As a result of federal “No Child Left Behind Legislation,” the CU-Colorado Springs College of Education recently received $2 million in state and federal grants to prepare curriculum and related materials to help teachers teach English to their students and to prepare them to better understand the cultural differences that the students may bring to the classroom.
Using both traditional on-campus classroom-taught courses and online courses that allow teachers to learn via the Internet, Brunn and other College of Education faculty are teaching teachers from throughout Colorado how to help non-English speaking students. A cohort of teachers is “piloting” the courses as they are being developed. In January, they will pilot the third course in a series of seven. More than 50 teachers from districts throughout the state are enrolled in the three courses offered so far by the university. The curriculum is geared for educators at levels ranging from teacher’s aides to experienced teachers seeking a master’s degree with an endorsement in English as a Second Language teaching. Additionally, CU-Colorado Springs’ faculty work closely with Pikes Peak Community College and students who are enrolled in its two-year education programs.
“This is not an issue for a single district, or for that matter, just Colorado,” Brunn, who previously taught in Alaska and Illinois, said. “Any community can find itself facing the problem of how to teach non-native English speakers.”
In some school districts such as fast-growing Cherry Creek in Aurora, enrollment of non-English speaking students is almost 50 percent. The problem is not exclusive to metropolitan areas, however. In Leadville, enrollment of non-English speaking students is 30 percent. Teachers from Gunnison and Longmont have also enrolled in the ESL program as a result of changes in those communities’ school districts. According to Brunn, an influx of non-English speaking students can be a result of a new industry locating in a community or, as he experienced in Alaska, indigenous tribes sending children to town for schooling.
Because of the College of Education’s longstanding working relationships with Colorado Springs School districts 2 and 11, sharing resources is a natural part of the developmental process. For example, the ESL program operates from District 11’s Buena Vista Elementary, located in an older neighborhood on the city’s west side. Though separated from Buena Vista’s main classrooms in what originally was a tuberculosis ward and primary grade classrooms, College of Education faculty can watch children at play through their windows and hang their coats on diminutive hooks. From the space, faculty work to develop the curriculum, and other related materials and serve as a reference center for educators who have questions.
“We are deeply appreciative of District 11 providing this space for us,” Brunn said. “It is ideal and being able to see the children serves as a constant reminder of the importance of what we’re doing. Indeed, no child should be left behind.”
District 2 has provided human resources including Carol Pollard, the district’s ESL Supervisor, who has been instrumental in the development and the operations of the ESL Education Program.
“Carol not only helped us develop the grant, but she continues to help us actualize the grant in the schools,” Brunn said.
Pollard coordinates the classroom videography for the on-line courses, participates in the studio production of the companion videos for the online courses, is the liaison between the program and the teachers enrolled in both the on-site and on-line courses, and provides critical feedback that is important for the fine tuning of the pilot phase of the program’s courses.
For further information about the ESL Endorsement and the Master of Arts degree visit http://web.uccs.edu/esl/ or e-mail [email protected].
CU-Colorado Springs, located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in northeast Colorado Springs, is the fastest growing university in Colorado and one of the fastest growing universities in the nation. The university offers 25 bachelor’s degrees, 17 master’s and two doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls more than 7,600 students annually.