Unnecessary ESL requirements frustrate Somali students, parents

[hodman]

What do you Nomads think of the signiicance of this issue?

and how deeply do you think it affects the students academics? I

 

Hiiraan Online

 

When 10-year old Khadar Yassin came to his first class in the U.S., he spoke no English. He sat in a classroom full of mostly white students and handful of Somali kids. For the next year, he would only speak with other Somali kids, his cultural liaison and his accommodative English as Second Language (ESL) teacher.

 

Yassin, now 18 and a senior, communicates in good English with everybody but is obligated to take ESL classes. He profoundly detests that.

 

“I can read, write and speak in English perfectly,†says Yassin in a slightly accented intonation “but they still keep me in ESL courses. I don't get it.â€

 

Yassin's frustration with ESL courses echoes a growing dissent among Somali students in Public schools and colleges. Many of them who were born and raised in the U.S. are obligated to take ESL courses by the school system, because English is not their “at-home†language. That haunts them the most.

 

“They feel separated unfairly from other students.†says Hoodo Hassan, a program coordinator for Eftin, a nonprofit organization that helps Somali students close the gap and fit in the education system by providing after school programs, counseling and mental health training..

 

Hassan, who also offers cultural courses for school staff, says most Somali students have a negative impression about ESL courses. Some have even developed a stigma, particularly when pulled for ESL classes. Extra-curricular activities such as sports become a wishful something.

 

What's more thwarting for them is that English is a primary language among them. They speak and write in English to each other. They speak “Somenglishâ€, a unique blend of Somali and English, only with their parents.

 

Yassin, the high school student, who immigrated to Minnesota with his family in 1998, says “Somali is rather a second language for me.â€

 

Somali children's English proficiency requires them to speak on behalf of their parents who often don't speak English, wrote David McGraw Schuchman, a licensed clinical social worker who managed the Somali Mental Health Program at Community University Health Care Center for seven years in Bildhaan journal of Somali studies in 2004.

 

“[somali] children become responsible for communicating with the outside world and are in charge of such things as reading the mail and paying the bills,†he wrote “Children also answer the phones and deal with the landlord.â€

 

As a result, most Somali parents neither help kids with homework nor attend parent and teacher meetings. Yet they expect their kids, especially girls, to compete with their peers.

 

“That's the biggest challenge for Somali kids in schools.†says Faisal Madar, a cultural liaison at District 196 which includes parts of Eagan and Burnsville where sizable Somali families have children in the school district.

 

Madar affirms that Somali parents are upbeat about their children's success in schools, but lack the necessary understanding of the complex education system, not to mention the language barrier.

 

One Somali student whose father has regularly participated in the school system and eventually became a committee member is Osob Ali. Last year, she graduated from Eagan High School with honors. Now a student at Inver Hills Community College, she was recently awarded with the President's Emerging Leadership Scholarship and a special recognition from the college's president in the school paper.

 

Madar, the cultural liaison, admired by many parents whose children attend District 196 for his compassion and parent-like coaching, says his number-one goal is to encourage a more parents like Ali's. He informs parents that free interpreters are available if they want to attend meetings and other school activities.

 

But Madar is also trying to twist the arm of the school system for what he calls “the over-promotion of ESL courses†to students who don't benefit from them. He contends many of them fall for the “dubious†ESL courses. In fact, he, too, had almost fallen for the “trap.â€

 

Last year, when he applied to a kindergarten for his own son, who was born here, he answered “English†to a question in the application that asks “what language do you speak at home?†A week later, he received a letter from the kindergarten stating in part: “Your child may benefit from ESL courses.†Furious over what he characterizes as a possible “last name profiling,†Madar wrote them back: “My child doesn't benefit from ESL courses. He's born here, just like most everyone else.â€

 

He thought that would take care of the problem.

 

A week later, he received yet another letter informing him that his son has to test out of ESL requirements. Cognizant of a clause in the school regulation that entitles parents to reject ESL courses for their kids, he refused the test. His son is now among the best in his peers “without ESL, †he says.

 

Some school teachers, however, don't believe that there's an over-promotion of ESL. “If a child is exposed to a foreign language at home, regardless of where they're born, he or she will certainly have a deficit in vocabulary and therefore is recommended for ESL. †says Amy Olson, who teaches ESL at Nicollet Jr. High in Burnsville. She believes that most ESL students gain from it, but acknowledges that there might be a very small number who shouldn't have been there.

 

“The stigma with ESL prompted many students to become emotionally and behaviorally disturbed,†says Hassan, the program coordinator for Eftin. Her organization recorded a rise in fights and disinterest in learning among Somali students in the last several years, especially in the suburbs, where they often have to compete with children of middle class families. “We probe [somali Students'] grievances and suggest for schools to accommodate them within reasonable grounds.†she said.

 

But Faisal Madar, the cultural liaison, uses the affluence in suburbia to inspire Somali students. He tells them: “you guys are the luckiest Somali students in the world. You're in one of the best school systems in America with Gov. Tim Pawlenty's kids. You'll go the same colleges they go to. You'll have the same jobs and opportunities they have, but you must compete.â€

 

With his own experience, Madar also advises Somali parents whose children are American born, or have kids achieving well in schools to disenroll from ESL, because “it stigmatizes them.†Still, he apprehends the significance of ESL for many other kids who were placed on classes based on their age, not their education level.

 

For Khadar Yassin, the high school senior who's graduating this summer, the ESL stigma follows him to college. He's been accepted at a community college. After testing, he's required to finish two ESL courses before taking college-level English course.

 

“I can't wait to get over with it once and for all.†he says.

[Faarax-Brawn]

Salaam Aleykum.

 

I totally understand where these schools are coming from. Spoken English is completly different from Written english. These schools are mandated by the (Bush)federal govt to perform well under the NO child left behind policy. Some silly qaxoti who speaks ebonics and can communicate in english beleives he can handle grammer school. Heck NO ku dheh

 

Unfortunatly most of the somali kids do NOT and CANNOT write complete error free sentences(Essays iskaba dhaaf).I had the pleasure of helping a few of these kids awhile back and my my what did i see?: College bound kids who could not construct a simple gramatically correct sentence.

 

Let them take the damn test and let them learn more than "YO YO! Check dis out" and or embarassing lines like, "I am come(Came) farom SOMALIA". God knows we already have seen some horrible english speakers speaking for somalis on Tv.

 

I am Back "Beaches"

[xiinfaniin]

^^Soo dhowow, saaxiib! Untill you told us your difficulties in signing in, i thought in geelaagu boqol gaaray .

[Maf Kees]

I am Back "Beaches"

Nigga from where and what?

 

War I've been accused of stealing your nickname, what the hell is goingz on?

[Castro]

What a sight to behold: Xiin sandwiched between a Blue and a Brown Faarax. So dhowoow indeed, atheer Brownow. Farah Blue is a good guy. There are others on this forum I'd like for you to "take care of".

[xiinfaniin]

^^Farah Blue is a good guy but he is suspect of stealing other nomad's chat-names; a suspect untill proven otherwise, that is .

[Faarax-Brawn]

Waad mahadsantihin Dhamantiin.

 

Xiinow I was around,i just lost the password ayama dhexdas ah..sidan ulaha i "got" my password,i saw myself in shidh so to speak.I wanted to respond to this xplosive thread but alas aaway hee... But thanks to Admin,am now Back(Beaches ). Teeda kale,geel dhamaa..sowdigan arkay droughtka iyo balayada na haysato?

 

War I've been accused of stealing your nickname, what the hell is goingz on?

Danyeerow Gr8,not only are you an imposter you are also slow miyaa? tihihi. Dude,i borrowed bishy's handle to have a word with you.[Yes that was ME ***** yoho] I thought the name farax[insert your own color here] was patented for this farax,but like everywhere else,the're imitations[beware of cheap imitations solers ]. They say imitation is the best of compliments right? Horta is this a new trend mise ani iyo my many names baa dagaal lagu haya?? Look at three or four threads below and the author aptly named himself "Afro" ... BALO

 

There are others on this forum I'd like for you to "take care of".

Atheer ,You have been incognito naftirkaada for a while now,what happened? Did you finally succeed in convincing Evo Morales to change his ugly sweater?

[xiinfaniin]

^ i know good Faarax in geel dhammaaday, but in the land of Walleye, $ is the new geel . When a Faarax happens to have lots of it ayyaamuu kibraa and hence geeliisa boqol gaara .

[Faarax-Brawn]

Originally posted by xiinfaniin:

^ i know good Faarax in geel dhammaaday, but in the land of Walleye, $ is the new geel

. When a Faarax happens to have lots of it ayyaamuu kibraa and hence geeliisa boqol gaara

.

Ilahey haa noo badiyo,amin[Amin indeed].

 

Maxaa iga dambeye? Brief me nooh

[xiinfaniin]

^^Adeer war ma jiro meeshaan duul cusub oo dhagala'a baa qabsaday. SOL has been loosing its elderly class. Castro and I are the last standing levees for preventing the sediments and other rubbishs that’re destined to deposit in SOL. Nur is camping in his confort place. Baashi geeliisaa boqol gaaray, oo salaanta xattaa waa nala dhaafa. Gabdhihiina intii ugu fiicnayd in la guursan rabo baan u malaynayaa oo si bay u socod yaryihiin ..

 

war ma jiro; waa juuqla'a.

Adigu noo warran.

[Castro]

Originally posted by xiinfaniin:

Gabdhihiina intii ugu fiicnayd in la guursan rabo baan u malaynayaa oo si bay u socod yaryihiin

And you would know this how? SOL is the same. New Faraaxs to replace those lost in battle and new Xalimos to fill the ranks of minyars. Business as usual, I'd say.

[Khalaf]

Give me a break. If they too good for ESL…why don’t they take the test and test out? I would test American students too…many of them belong in ESL class.

 

These somali students are proud to learn…..that’s why majority end up in community colleges.

 

I was told two students never learn a shy student, and a proud student. They should shut up or test out. FOB don’t belong in classrooms….unless helped….. ESL can do that.

[STOIC]

The ESL program is a frustrating social engineering of incompetent school bureaucrats who want to funnel more money into their school system. Those of us who went through the system understands. Unless you construct reality out of such program you will be frustrated and maybe consider bowing out of school. When I arrived in this country many moons ago I wanted to sit in the same English class with the rest of the Americans kids. I was frustrated and even thought about quitting school. I develop a knack for balance by imitating the American kids who were reading Othello and Mark Twain. While I was often frustrated with the fact that I was not allowed to take upper level English, the system did not pull my spirit down. I took an exit exam and passed. The Somali kids should not argue stridently over this issue. They should instead ignore the hostile program and prove themselves by doing well in the exit exams. This will make the school system think about how they are wasting taxpayers’ money. By far the greatest goal of the Somali kid should be to do well on those exit exams. You will only give birth to success only through the Osmotic flow of hard work and determination. If the Somali kid keeps whining about the programs, I am afraid many of those kids will not have the chance to see a day in a literature class. If we try to prove ourselves, it will seem unethical for the school system to keep us in a nonsense programs. If, for some unknown reasons, we keep making excuses for these kids, I am afraid we will loose a whole generation of bright minds. To the Somali kid, you might have been thinking that this program is a waste of your time I understand that. It is only hard work and time between you and that literature class. Keep your head up!

[ElPunto]

Originally posted by hodman:

 

Some school teachers, however, don't believe that there's an over-promotion of ESL. “If a child is exposed to a foreign language at home, regardless of where they're born, he or she will certainly have a deficit in vocabulary and therefore is recommended for ESL. †says Amy Olson, who teaches ESL at Nicollet Jr. High in Burnsville. She believes that most ESL students gain from it, but acknowledges that there might be a very small number who shouldn't have been there.

 

Whoa there guys! If someone can't read and speak english properly - it will soon become apparent. They will start failing - and reason would advise them to enroll in ESL But for teachers to arbitrarily decide what you know and where you belong is ridiculous. Look at that quote above - are you kidding me! What an arrogant biatch.

[Strawberry_Xu]

Originally posted by Khalaf:

Give me a break. If they too good for ESL…why don’t they take the test and test out? I would test American students too…many of them belong in ESL class.

It's not always a simple test, often students whose first language isn't English, are pressurised into taking ESL modules.

 

When I first started college I was heavily pressured into taking an ESL course. Even after I demonstrated my English skills by writing an essay and the teachers actually admitted that my grasp of English (both written and spoken) was superior to that of my peers (most of them who were native Brits), I was still strongly recommended to take an English course as my option. I stood my ground though, why waste my time with a course that contributes very little when I could take a module that could be actually helpful in some way.

 

It's ridiculous that instead of judging each student individually, they just lump them all into one big group marked "ethnic".

 

Give me a break, I can't begin to count how many British 'natives' I know who can barely speak their own language.