An article that really interested me this week was in The Washington Post titled “Virginia high school gets a boost for some of its neediest immigrant students.” Although I don’t teach high school, I work closely with our district’s high school ESL teachers and I am aware of the struggles they face with some students on a daily basis. Their difficulties go beyond teaching English. High school ESL teachers see the struggles of students trying to make it to school every day. Some of them need to work to provide for their families while others may need to take care of younger siblings. Still others face the hurdles of overcoming “having fled violence and instability in their homelands,” (Balingit, 2017).
One high school in Virginia received a $50,000 grant from the state “to help teachers develop curriculum for its most challenged immigrant students, young people who may have the drive and the capacity to learn but have major academic gaps,” (Balingit, 2017). The teachers will develop a curriculum about basic literacy and number skills, as well as how to “adjust to school and life in the United States, teaching them everything from study skills and how to write an email to how to open a bank account,” (Balingit, 2017).
I think this curriculum sounds amazing. This is just what these ESL students need- differentiated instruction that is geared toward them and their unique needs and cases. I hope to follow the success of this curriculum and these teachers. If this curriculum proves to benefit the students, it could be used to help ESL students and programs in other parts of the country.
Balingit, Moriah. "Virginia High School Gets a Boost for Some of Its Neediest Immigrant Students." The Washington Post. WP Company, 27 July 2017. Web. 30 July 2017.
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