A Small US Town Teaches English to Immigrants’ Children

A Small US Town Teaches English to Immigrants’ Children

A community in the southern state of Alabama is experimenting to find a better way to teach students who are learning¹ English as their second language. To reach its goal, the school district is hiring more local, Spanish-speaking workers.

More than half of the 2,500 students in Russellville City School district are Hispanic. About 25 percent of them are learning English.

The district is using federal² aid money aimed at helping³ communities hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Kathy Alfaro is one of the teachers. She was a Spanish teacher, but took a new job teaching⁴ children the English language. Students learning English are called EL students.

Russellville at times has struggled to find the workers and money needed to help EL students. It usually takes five years of intensive⁵ study to help a student learn English and perform well in a regular classroom. Russellville hopes to help its students and be a model for the rest of the country.

"We were trying to teach an increasing number of EL students with predominantly white teachers that speak English," said Superintendent⁶ Heath Grimes. "And I'm like, ‘Why are we not using resources that we have in our community?'"

As a group, English learners performed lower on language proficiency⁷ tests during the pandemic. Experts said that may be because many students did not have good online classes. Schools may have struggled to teach English by video link.

But test scores at Russellville schools have improved. Across the district, the percentage of students who met language requirements increased from 46 percent in 2019 to 61 percent in 2022. At the two elementary schools, proficiency increased by nearly 30 percentage points.

Grimes said the increase was likely because of new EL teachers and aides.

The non-profit group Education Trust found that some of the nation's largest districts used pandemic aid money to give jobs to bilingual employees. Bilingual describes a person who can speak two languages.

Federal aid is ending

However, federal aid money is starting to be used up and schools are preparing for budget cuts. Some experts warn against reducing support for EL programs.

Carlos Alemán is the director of the Hispanic Interest Coalition⁸ of Alabama. He said that as federal money is no longer available, the state should "review what it can do to make sure that these programs can remain in place."

Russellville school officials are working on ways to keep the new positions. They are also hoping the state will increase long-term funding for EL education.

State support for English language programs is limited, but growing. The state legislature approved $2.9 million for schools with large numbers of students learning English as a second language in 2018. That amount grew to $16 million last year. Leaders at the Alabama State Department of Education are asking for more money in this year's budget for EL specialists.

Supporters say money for EL students often falls short, especially in rural⁹ districts.

"It takes a lot more money to educate a child that does not speak your language," said state Representative Jamie Kiel, a Russellville lawmaker of the Republican¹⁰ Party. He has called for spending more money on EL students in the state budget.

At West Elementary in Russellville, Elizabeth Alonzo is in her second year as an EL assistant. She said there were few bilingual teachers in her school when she was growing up.

"Whenever I started kindergarten, I didn't know a word of English, so I struggled a lot," Alonzo said. "That was one of the reasons why I wanted to do this, because I want to help those students."

Words in This Story

district — n. an area established by a government for official government business

predominantly –adv. mainly, mostly

superintendent — n. a person who supervises¹¹ an organization or department

proficiency — n. skillful or good enough at doing something

1 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

2 federal   

adj.联盟的；联邦的；(美国)联邦政府的

参考例句：

• Switzerland is a federal republic.瑞士是一个联邦共和国。
• The schools are screaming for federal aid.那些学校强烈要求联邦政府的援助。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。

5 intensive   

adj.加强的，密集的；精工细作的，集约的

参考例句：

• I'll make an intensive study of a subject.我将集中学一门课程。
• There we received several weeks of intensive training.在那里我们受了几星期的集中训练.

6 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

7 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

8 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

9 rural   

adj.乡下的，田园的，乡村风味的

参考例句：

• He lived a rural life.他过着田园生活。
• We left the city for a rural home.我们离开城市，去农村安家。

10 republican   

n.拥护共和政体的人； adj.共和政体的，（Republican）共和党人，（Republican）共和党的

参考例句：

• Some families have been republican for generations.有些家庭世代都支持共和党。
• A third candidate has entered the contest for the Republican nomination.第三个候选人已经加入角逐共和党提名的行列。

11 supervises   

v.监督，管理( supervise的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The group leader supervises a dozen workers. 组长管十二个工人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He makes the wines and supervises the vineyards. 他酿酒并管理葡萄园。 来自辞典例句