Tag: ESL

  • The District’s Ambitious New Plan to Serve English-Learners

    I opened a story last year by zooming in on Ángel Solorzano, a student at Kearny High. Solorzano arrived at Kearny speaking very little English. When he met his new principal, Ana Diaz-Booz, the two communicated in sign language. He was one of 32,000 English-learners in San Diego Unified schools who aren’t proficient in English.…

  • The Case Against Isolating English-Learners

    Ángel Solorzano spoke so little English when he arrived at Kearny High he had to communicate with the school’s principal, Ana Diaz-Booz, through sign language. That’s not unusual for Diaz-Booz. The students who enter her school run the gamut in language skills. She gets those with a basic grasp of English, and those like Solorzano,…

  • City Heights High School Helps Refugees Become Graduates

    By Matthew Bowler Shmoh Lah was 14 years old when he came to San Diego from a Taiwanese refugee camp. Now, he’s getting ready to graduate from Crawford High School. Lah’s journey has been long. “When I was in the Thailand refugee camp every day, my parents would wake me up at 3 a.m.,” Lah…

  • English-Learners Could Get Lost in the District’s Teacher Shuffle

    By Mario Koran Up against a June 30 budget deadline, Superintendent Cindy Marten made an executive decision to save money by shuffling teachers instead of hiring new ones. But now that the details are starting to shake out, it’s looking like the move will come at a cost to the district’s neediest students: English learners.…

  • California’s English Language Learner Programs Criticized

    By Ruxandra Guidi There are an estimated 1.6 million English learners in California. But only 1 in 10 reached proficiency levels in English last year. Children from multilingual homes are tested for English proficiency as they begin school, and if they score low, they are placed into English language classes. The problem is, there are…