Educational Barriers: Area Schools Teach English to Children 'Ready to Learn'

This shows how teachers who only speak English are successfully helping children from many countries, together in the same class, to learn English. DP

By Janet Blackmon Morgan, The Sun News

redorbit.com: Alaa Ismail is careful writing her name in the upper left corner of a blank piece of paper.

She bears down hard with the pencil as she erases her first try. She writes it again, then leans back to inspect her work.

"I know the answer," she says in a whisper, rehearsing what she will say if called on by her teacher. "I can write it: 'The seed will grow another flower.' I can write it."

Her teacher, Ann Pond, has spent the better part of an hour reading, pantomiming and puckering her lips to form the beginnings of "root." Her lessons are given between the outbursts of Myrtle Beach Primary School children as each one vies for her attention.

"This is a noisy classroom," she says with a laugh. "But it's important for them to be comfortable saying the words, you know? They know they can talk in here and practice speaking. That's all part of it -- learning. They can talk in here without being uncomfortable or judged. They can roll the words around and learn the words, the way they work, what they mean. It builds them up and takes away some of that isolation they may be feeling."

Students, such as Ismail from Morocco, sit side by side with others like Murod Pedamatov from Uzbekistan. The area's country roll call includes China, Egypt, France, Germany, Japan, Greece, Vietnam, Russia and Albania. But the school systems and individual teachers say a majority of the students are from Mexico or other Spanish-speaking countries.
Be sure to read the rest of this story! This is only a small part of it.