第1375期:ESL Program Face Shortages, Learning Loss during Pandemic

Students in English as a Second Language (ESL) programs are a large and growing population in American schools. The U.S. Department of Education says that the number of ESL learners increased by more than 1 million from 2000 to 2020. That is about 10 percent of all students in the country.英语作为第二语言 (ESL) 课程的学生在美国学校中人数众多且不断增长。美国教育部表示，从 2000 年到 2020 年，ESL 学习者的数量增加了超过 100 万，约占美国所有学生的 10%。In states like California and Texas, nearly 20 percent of students are English learners. But “English learners are everywhere” in the country, notes Leslie Villegas. She is an education researcher with the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C. Her recent study looked at the percentage of ESL students within each state, as well as the most common languages spoken at home for those students.在加利福尼亚州和德克萨斯州等州，近 20% 的学生是英语学习者。但莱斯利·维勒加斯 (Leslie Villegas) 指出，该国“到处都是英语学习者”。她是华盛顿特区新美国基金会的一名教育研究员。她最近的研究调查了每个州内 ESL 学生的百分比，以及这些学生在家中最常用的语言。As the number of English learners grow, there is a need for more ESL teachers. But the U.S. is dealing with a nationwide teacher shortage across all grade and subject areas. And in the next few years, experts expect the shortage to get worse among English language educators, Villegas said.随着英语学习者人数的增长，需要更多的 ESL 教师。但美国正在应对全国范围内所有年级和学科领域的教师短缺问题。维勒加斯说，在接下来的几年里，专家预计英语教育工作者的短缺会变得更糟。Josie Gutierrez is the assistant superintendent of the Waco Independent School District in Texas. She said the teacher shortage has slowed down the growth of the district’s bilingual program.乔西·古铁雷斯 (Josie Gutierrez) 是德克萨斯州韦科独立学区的助理学区长。她说教师短缺减缓了该地区双语课程的发展。There has been an increase in state and federal pandemic aid to schools. So money is not the problem, Gutierrez noted. But the supply of teachers has not increased. And schools are “vying for the same supply,” she said.州和联邦对学校的流行病援助有所增加。所以钱不是问题，古铁雷斯指出。但是教师的供给并没有增加。她说，学校正在“争夺同样的供应”。School districts know that ESL teachers are often in short supply. District leaders often try to improve and increase their recruiting efforts.学区知道 ESL 教师经常供不应求。区领导经常尝试改进和增加他们的招聘工作。Grace Benson is the director of ESL and bilingual education of Waco schools.Grace Benson 是韦科学校 ESL 和双语教育的负责人。She said, “Being in ESL and bilingual education I am always recruiting, even when we’re not in a pandemic — just because bilingual education as a whole is under a shortage.”她说：“在 ESL 和双语教育中，我一直在招聘，即使我们没有大流行——只是因为整个双语教育都处于短缺状态。”Benson said she has been able to fill almost all ESL positions for this school year.本森说她已经能够填补本学年几乎所有的 ESL 职位。In Austin, Texas, the city school district requires all elementary school teachers, as well as middle and high school English teachers to be trained in ESL instruction. Assistant Superintendent Dessynie Edwards said that is a large reason why there is currently no shortage of ESL teachers in Austin, where more than 27 percent of the city’s 75,000 students are learning English.在德克萨斯州奥斯汀市，市学区要求所有小学教师以及初中和高中英语教师接受 ESL 教学培训。助理学监 Dessynie Edwards 表示，这也是奥斯汀目前不缺 ESL 教师的一个重要原因，该市 75,000 名学生中有 27% 以上在学习英语。Jackie Leroy is head of ESL programs for Syracuse City School District in New York. She said when she started working there 22 years ago, 5 percent of students were ESL learners. Now, more than 18 percent of the city’s students are English learners. She said that even though job applications have slowed lately, the city has been “very active” in recruiting teachers. She also said many students that have gone through Syracuse’s ESL program later return as teachers.Jackie Leroy 是纽约雪城学区 ESL 课程的负责人。她说，当她 22 年前开始在那里工作时，5% 的学生是 ESL 学习者。现在，该市超过 18% 的学生是英语学习者。她说，尽管最近求职申请有所放缓，但该市在招聘教师方面“非常积极”。她还说，许多参加过雪城 ESL 课程的学生后来都回到了教师岗位。English learners are among the students who have struggled the most during the pandemic, school district officials say.学区官员说，在大流行期间，英语学习者是最挣扎的学生之一。Edwards, with Austin schools, said a large percentage of the city’s ESL students were “not faring well” during the early part of the pandemic. “A larger percent had failing grades,” she said.爱德华兹在奥斯汀学校工作时说，在大流行初期，该市很大一部分 ESL 学生“表现不佳”。“更大的比例有不及格的成绩，”她说。Learning and studying in a home where English was not the main language spoken proved to be very hard for many students. Some parents of ESL students had difficulty communicating with teachers and understanding what learning materials their children needed.在英语不是主要语言的家庭中学习和学习对许多学生来说非常困难。一些 ESL 学生的家长难以与老师沟通，也无法理解孩子需要什么学习材料。“If they’re in their home the whole time, and there’s no one that speaks English and all their assignments are in English, how do they get that extra support?” Leroy said.“如果他们一直呆在家里，没有人会说英语，而且他们所有的作业都是英语，他们如何获得额外的支持？”勒罗伊说。Edwards said ESL students in Austin have greatly benefited from the return to in-person classes. Students are now able to have a full day of classes and the district has started providing small group instruction.爱德华兹说奥斯汀的 ESL 学生从重返面对面的课程中受益匪浅。学生现在可以上一整天的课，学区已经开始提供小组教学。But it is largely unknown how many students are behind in their English and academic progress, said the researcher Villegas. There is not enough data to know for sure. In Texas, for example, there was a statewide test to measure performance, but the test was not required for all students.但研究人员维勒加斯说，在很大程度上不知道有多少学生在他们的英语和学术进步方面落后。没有足够的数据可以确定。例如，在德克萨斯州，有一项全州范围的测试来衡量表现，但并非所有学生都需要进行测试。English learners, many of whom come from immigrant families, also faced difficulties at home. In Texas, some immigrant families were unable to receive pandemic aid and feared looking for health insurance because they are undocumented, Benson said. Some students needed to get jobs to provide extra money for their families.许多来自移民家庭的英语学习者在家里也面临困难。Benson 说，在德克萨斯州，一些移民家庭无法获得大流行援助，并且因为他们没有证件而害怕寻找医疗保险。一些学生需要找工作来为家人提供额外的钱。“The pandemic as a whole has added so many challenges,” Benson said. “But they face additional challenges that are out of their control.”“整个大流行病增加了许多挑战，”本森说。“但他们面临着无法控制的额外挑战。”

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