Teachers' removal exposes bilingual program's woes (The teacher CAN"T speak English!)

Rocky Mountain News ^ | 5-27-08 | Laura Snider

[dynachrome]

Now members of the Hispanic community are concerned that the sole Mexican teacher, whom they see as a positive role model for their children, was singled out unfairly because she speaks little English.

[dynachrome]

Also, she is a science teacher who has LIMITED computer skills!

[rawhide]

The day is coming where English-only speaking teachers will be out of a job, in some parts of this country. Either you are bilingual (IOW, speak Spanish) or you are gone.

[VeniVidiVici]

If they want a Mexican, positive role model, I suggest they try about 1000 miles south. I’m sure they’ll find a few.

[Don Corleone]

Either you are bilingual (IOW, speak Spanish) or you are gone.

Speaking real Spanish not that aboriginal dialect from south of the U.S. border won't help either since few of the Mexican "immigrants" can grasp it.

[CAluvdubya]

Sounds like some of my kid’s college profs/asst. in the good ol’ UC system!

[contemplator]

The question is how much responsibility the school district has in helping these exchange teachers to succeed.

Answer: There should be minimum qualifications for a teacher to qualify for the exchange program. Minimum qualifications should be the ability to speak conversational English and at least enough techno-savy to be able to be able to post grades online etc.

The question in my mind at least is what the point of the classes being taught in Spanish are. I am fine with 'immersion' programs where native english speakers are taught in a foreign language environment in order to broaden their horizons, in fact I love those kinds of programs. If they are doing this as a backdoor way to provide classes to non-english speaking students in their own language then I think these types of programs provides a crutch which will slow down or in some cases impede the process of learning English for non-englsih speaking Americans.

[UCFRoadWarrior]

If you cant speak the language, you shouldnt teach

These Mex Klux Klan types are making me sick....everything is now race race race...even though Spanish speaking peoples come from all over the world and are a variety of races

[WellyP]

If the teachers were certified by the State then they should not be fired, except for policy violations set forth in their contracts, no matter what their language skills are. If they are not certified or accretided for a particular teaching roll then fire them.

[PapaBear3625]

If the teachers were certified by the State then they should not be fired, except for policy violations set forth in their contracts, no matter what their language skills are.

If a teacher who does not speak English was certified by the state, then the teacher AND the state certification committee should be dismissed, no matter what "certifications" the teacher holds

[WVKayaker]

...If the teachers were certified by the State...

Yes sir, gotta make sure the state approves. They are always the best arbiters of correctness.

"May I see your papers, please?"

[contemplator]

"If the teachers were certified by the State.."

The teachers the article is talking about are exchange teachers from another country swapped out for a year or so.

[Maceman]

Some Hispanic parents question whether an English-speaking teacher who struggled with Spanish would be treated the same way.

I'm guessing she would in Mexico.