Arizona: Schools seek changes to English learning requirement

[Harold Schiffman]

 Forwarded From: edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu


AZ Central



Schools seek changes to English learning requirement



Two Tucson area school districts say they can do a better job of
teaching English to non-English speakers and they intend to seek
alternatives to a teaching mandate from the state Legislature.



In 2006, the Legislature mandated that students not proficient in
English must be segregated four hours a day to learn English beginning
with the 2008-09 school year.

Administrators in the Sunnyside and Tucson unified school districts
contend the requirement is unfair, too long and will prevent students
from taking other subjects.

Both districts would cut the four hours of immersion to two hours.



Called the 2 plus 2 plan, the other two hours would be spent in
integrated subjects other than English, where students would learn
academic concepts in addition to receiving specialized English
support.



TUSD currently has about 8,000 English Language Learners students,
while Sunnyside has about 4,000.



Full story:

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/06/05/20080605tucsonschools05-on.html




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 Harold F. Schiffman

Professor Emeritus of
 Dravidian Linguistics and Culture
Dept. of South Asia Studies
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6305

Phone: (215) 898-7475
Fax: (215) 573-2138

Email: haroldfs at gmail.com
http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/

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