Culture in Elementary Schools

One of the most important things my mother has taught me thus far in life is to never become an elementary school teacher. This is partially because she knows I'm not good with kids, but also partially because she says that so little of what she does anymore is actually the teaching aspect of being a teacher. The school that my mom teaches at is diverse. The number of languages spoken there are in the double digits, and is not matched by the school's staff. In fact, parent/teacher conference are becoming a struggle. There have been times when a translator wasn't available, and the student had to sit in on the meeting/conference in order to translate for both the teacher and the parent.

If I had to define a the "culture" of the school, however, it would technically be an "English" school. The school has a program for what they call "ESL" kids- or, English as a Second Language. The children of each grade level that do not speak English at all or as their first language get together at certain parts of the day and are taught as one group. This way, an instructor can spend more one-on-one time with each student so he or she can learn the material. Having an "ESL" program is good in theory, but interesting to look at in terms of what we've been studying in class. The school does not offer different classes or instructors depending on the student's native language. Therefore all of the students who do not fall into the "English" category are grouped into one non-descriptive group. They are not considered "Hispanic" or "Asian" or any of the other terms we've talked about in class. Instead, they are all clumped together into one "English is not my first language" culture. Their class is known as the "ESL" class. In a way, it's defining them by what they aren't, instead of defining them by what they are. I realize that there aren't many solutions, due to funding issues and the like. It isn't feasible to have separate teachers for each and every language being spoken in the school. And I also don't think that the students feel offended being called the "ESL students" (although I can't speak for them). But it is an interesting topic to look at based on what we've talked about.