ESL Ghettos

I tell all of my friends to never, I MEAN NEVER EVER, identify your family to any public school district as knowing any language other than English.  If you tell the district any language other than English is ever heard in your house, even though your kids are US born and speak perfect English, your child will be condemned to ESL.  After that, it becomes your burden to prove your child does not belong in ESL; the district does not have to prove your child does belong in ESL.  ESL will be a very difficult hole for your kids to try and climb out of in the future.

Why are the rules written like this?  Because ESL is a multibillion dollar industry of publishers, advisors, educators, and lobbyists who have massive political power who will go to any lengths to protect their $$$$.  You don't have a chance against the ESL industry.

So please, even if you just arrived from Somalia yesterday, never admit to any school district you speak anything other than English at home.
 
Lol they put me in ESL for K. Lasted about a week. Just crazy tgat they automatically assmued. 
 
Happiness said:
I tell all of my friends to never, I MEAN NEVER EVER, identify your family to any public school district as knowing any language other than English.  If you tell the district any language other than English is ever heard in your house, even though your kids are US born and speak perfect English, your child will be condemned to ESL.  After that, it becomes your burden to prove your child does not belong in ESL; the district does not have to prove your child does belong in ESL.  ESL will be a very difficult hole for your kids to try and climb out of in the future.

Why are the rules written like this?  Because ESL is a multibillion dollar industry of publishers, advisors, educators, and lobbyists who have massive political power who will go to any lengths to protect their $$$$.  You don't have a chance against the ESL industry.

So please, even if you just arrived from Somalia yesterday, never admit to any school district you speak anything other than English at home.

I screwed this up already...
daughter starting TK and on the application I put Chinese as the language that we speak at home... I just got a call from the school asking for her to come in for a test. Any recourse?
 
Crispy3 said:
Happiness said:
I tell all of my friends to never, I MEAN NEVER EVER, identify your family to any public school district as knowing any language other than English.  If you tell the district any language other than English is ever heard in your house, even though your kids are US born and speak perfect English, your child will be condemned to ESL.  After that, it becomes your burden to prove your child does not belong in ESL; the district does not have to prove your child does belong in ESL.  ESL will be a very difficult hole for your kids to try and climb out of in the future.

Why are the rules written like this?  Because ESL is a multibillion dollar industry of publishers, advisors, educators, and lobbyists who have massive political power who will go to any lengths to protect their $$$$.  You don't have a chance against the ESL industry.

So please, even if you just arrived from Somalia yesterday, never admit to any school district you speak anything other than English at home.

I screwed this up already...
daughter starting TK and on the application I put Chinese as the language that we speak at home... I just got a call from the school asking for her to come in for a test. Any recourse?
Try to clarify to them that what you meant was you speak English at home but that you also know how to speak Chinese.  Do everything you can to not have your kid be placed in ESL.  I'm not familiar with this test but I would try to find out more about and prepare your kid well for it.
 
Crispy3 said:
I screwed this up already...
daughter starting TK and on the application I put Chinese as the language that we speak at home... I just got a call from the school asking for her to come in for a test. Any recourse?

My kids did not take any tests before since all my friends told me not to have any languages other than English in the record.

As I heard, during the test, a Chinese native speaking lady will be sent out. She will speak simple Chinese and English to your kids and kids are expected to answer in Chinese and English back. She evaluated both languages. Some said kids will be required to read a very simple English book. The test is very simple. Only kids can not speak English at all will be required to attend ESL class at some assigned schools.

For elementary kids, ESL does not make big difference. Only one is ESL kids will have an additional report sheet about language development every year. Again some parents said their kids are required to take language test annually.

District will try very hard to have your kids in ESL status as long as possible since ESL students means more budget for schools.
 
We had similar experience for my child last September when he enrolled for first grade at Oak Creek Elem.  We did not see any Chinese native translator in the testing center at Jeffery Trail School location, only all Caucasian ladies were the ones to do the assessment with the kids.  My child had attended Montessori school  for 3 years including Kindergarten so we didn't expect that he will need to take the assessment, however my husband screwed up on the application when he did first grade enrollment for my child as such my child was required to take the assessment last July.  Yes, we do speak Chinese at home.

This assessment is about 45mins long and it has 4 main categories
(Writing, Reading, Listening and Comprehensive).  The teachers will score the test and inform you  with the result right away.  After that, you will be given with a confirmation ( test result) on how well your kid is doing on this assessment.  My son doesn't need to take this assessment annually based on his test result.   

I will find the test result  and post it here to share tonight.

You don't have to worry if your kid doesn't have problem with listening and reading.  However, we saw few kids  who are 10 yrs and up do require to take the assessment annually so it is just based on how the test result is.

Nothing to study, just tell your child to ask if he/she doesn't understand the questions, Don't guess!

hope this helps ;)

 
What Happiness says is 100% true. I was born in socal. Never lived anywhere else. When I went from Montessori to IUSD in kindergarten, I got put in ESL. It definitely wasn't from a test because the only language I could speak was English.

From what I remember there wasn't a yearly exam back then. I was just automatically rolled into ESL year after year. My 4th grade teacher finally realized I shouldn't be in ESL and got me out of it.
 
cheetos said:
What Happiness says is 100% true. I was born in socal. Never lived anywhere else. When I went from Montessori to IUSD in kindergarten, I got put in ESL. It definitely wasn't from a test because the only language I could speak was English.

From what I remember there wasn't a yearly exam back then. I was just automatically rolled into ESL year after year. My 4th grade teacher finally realized I shouldn't be in ESL and got me out of it.

And your parents didn't know any better right?  I was put in ESL for K and then they just eventually took me out.  Very strange though that the schools just did that by default
 
jmoney74 said:
cheetos said:
What Happiness says is 100% true. I was born in socal. Never lived anywhere else. When I went from Montessori to IUSD in kindergarten, I got put in ESL. It definitely wasn't from a test because the only language I could speak was English.

From what I remember there wasn't a yearly exam back then. I was just automatically rolled into ESL year after year. My 4th grade teacher finally realized I shouldn't be in ESL and got me out of it.

And your parents didn't know any better right?  I was put in ESL for K and then they just eventually took me out.  Very strange though that the schools just did that by default
It's the ultimate trick question.  They ask an innocuous question about what language(s) do you speak at home with no warning whatsoever about the potentially life changing consequences for your child depending on how you answer.  I don't know how the edubureaucrats can sleep at night.
If only one child is saved from involuntary ESL committal because a parent visited TI, the TI forum has done a wonderful thing.
 
Happiness said:
jmoney74 said:
cheetos said:
What Happiness says is 100% true. I was born in socal. Never lived anywhere else. When I went from Montessori to IUSD in kindergarten, I got put in ESL. It definitely wasn't from a test because the only language I could speak was English.

From what I remember there wasn't a yearly exam back then. I was just automatically rolled into ESL year after year. My 4th grade teacher finally realized I shouldn't be in ESL and got me out of it.

And your parents didn't know any better right?  I was put in ESL for K and then they just eventually took me out.  Very strange though that the schools just did that by default
It's the ultimate trick question.  They ask an innocuous question about what language(s) do you speak at home with no warning whatsoever about the potentially life changing consequences for your child depending on how you answer.  I don't know how the edubureaucrats can sleep at night.
If only one child is saved from involuntary ESL committal because a parent visited TI, the TI forum has done a wonderful thing.

What exactly happens during ESL?  You make it sound like a prison where the kids are abused at length and are unable to ever leave.
 
I was an ESL kid. Without it, my grammar would probably be even worse :). Maybe if I didn't do ESL, I woulda gotten into USC :)
 
Yep. My parents didn't know what it was because they never went to school in the US. They just thought it was strange because my siblings weren't in ESL. Turns out being quiet/shy in the classroom = foreigner who is too embarrassed to speak.

Lol it's not torture. You were part of regular classes and they would pull out the ESL kids just for english lessons. We would have to repeat after the instructor, match words to pictures, etc. But because of this my writing skills were always behind my peers.
 
IMO ESL should focus on confidence building. It would be cool and fun if ESL teaches lip syncing and dancing.
 
Coleman said:
What exactly happens during ESL?  You make it sound like a prison where the kids are abused at length and are unable to ever leave.

The issue is not whether or not ESL will benefit your child.  The issue is disclosure and consent. 

ESL was introduced in the 1970 as part of the liberal education reform.  As a reminder, the liberal creed is:

THE GOVERNMENT KNOWS ALL.  THE PEOPLE CANNOT BE TRUSTED.

In terms of education, the specific liberal philosophy is:

PARENTS CANNOT BE TRUSTED WITH THEIR OWN CHILDREN.

If the schools disclosed to parents what ESL is and parents voluntarily choose to put their kids in ESL, that would be proper and fine with me.  But that not how ESL works today.

The people who make these decisions for you believe they know better than you.  They have credentials and Ed.D degrees (which only prove they have read a lot of books about child rearing).  I believe parents have rights that no government bureaucrat should be able to infringe upon.








 
Happiness said:
I tell all of my friends to never, I MEAN NEVER EVER, identify your family to any public school district as knowing any language other than English.  If you tell the district any language other than English is ever heard in your house, even though your kids are US born and speak perfect English, your child will be condemned to ESL.  After that, it becomes your burden to prove your child does not belong in ESL; the district does not have to prove your child does belong in ESL.  ESL will be a very difficult hole for your kids to try and climb out of in the future.

While this is true, I don't think it's a BAD thing.  My son was also labeled ESL (although both his dad and I are 2nd generation and English is our main language). I was taken a back at first, but realized it was a GOOD thing. If it means more resources and more attention is given to my child, then I am all for it!

It had absolutely no negative impact on him whatsoever socially or academically. He still passed the OLSAT in 3rd grade and made it into GATE. He was able to be non ESL by 4th grade.

I think its a good thing that they are making sure children aren't going to be disadvantaged in anyway due to possible language barriers.
 
Happiness said:
Coleman said:
What exactly happens during ESL?  You make it sound like a prison where the kids are abused at length and are unable to ever leave.

The issue is not whether or not ESL will benefit your child.  The issue is disclosure and consent. 

ESL was introduced in the 1970 as part of the liberal education reform.  As a reminder, the liberal creed is:

THE GOVERNMENT KNOWS ALL.  THE PEOPLE CANNOT BE TRUSTED.

In terms of education, the specific liberal philosophy is:

PARENTS CANNOT BE TRUSTED WITH THEIR OWN CHILDREN.

If the schools disclosed to parents what ESL is and parents voluntarily choose to put their kids in ESL, that would be proper and fine with me.  But that not how ESL works today.

The people who make these decisions for you believe they know better than you.  They have credentials and Ed.D degrees (which only prove they have read a lot of books about child rearing).  I believe parents have rights that no government bureaucrat should be able to infringe upon.

Take the tin foil hat off...I am a product of ESL and so are many others.  ESL provides a structured environment in which kids can learn English at a slower pace and without the fear of falling behind.  Parents always think that their kids are special and don't need help, reality is very different. 

If your kid has a requisite English skills, s/he can test out of it really easy.
 
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