Three Rationales to SEI
January 19, 2014
ESL 433N
Sharyn Weinheimer
Three Rationales towards SEI Education, over time, has changed, progressed and flourished. But before any of those changes have been made, there was a beginning to the story. The story of education in the US has added so many chapters. After those chapters have ended, volumes started getting added as new ideas and concerns would arouse. One of the concerns was the idea of what should be taught and how when in regards to students who are second language learners. We will look at the legal, historical and education rationale for structured English instruction. In November of 2000, English for Children, Arizona Proposition 203 passed. This made the bilingual program no longer the primary model of teaching and the Structured English Immersion model, SEI, became implemented. The bilingual program would be implemented only if the parents filled out a waiver stated that they wanted their children to continue the program, yet, it could be rejected with no explanation. Nevertheless, with the start of the SEI, it has brought school districts to a great stop concerning the time constraint they had to teach English. Students whose primary home language was anything other than English, would be placed in an SEI classroom where they are given a time frame to not exceed 180 days and are to be taught English as quickly as possible before getting mainstreamed into an English classroom. However, “In tandem with the emphasis placed on the rapid acquisition of English under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the English for the Children policies have severely constricted the options available to linguistically rich minority communities.” (Johnson, 2011) With SEI implemented, for teachers to successfully be able to teach this model, teachers have to be SEI certified. This required that all teachers get clock hours to become SEI certified. From what I have seen today, teachers get notified by the district when they have to
ESL 433N
Sharyn Weinheimer
Three Rationales towards SEI Education, over time, has changed, progressed and flourished. But before any of those changes have been made, there was a beginning to the story. The story of education in the US has added so many chapters. After those chapters have ended, volumes started getting added as new ideas and concerns would arouse. One of the concerns was the idea of what should be taught and how when in regards to students who are second language learners. We will look at the legal, historical and education rationale for structured English instruction. In November of 2000, English for Children, Arizona Proposition 203 passed. This made the bilingual program no longer the primary model of teaching and the Structured English Immersion model, SEI, became implemented. The bilingual program would be implemented only if the parents filled out a waiver stated that they wanted their children to continue the program, yet, it could be rejected with no explanation. Nevertheless, with the start of the SEI, it has brought school districts to a great stop concerning the time constraint they had to teach English. Students whose primary home language was anything other than English, would be placed in an SEI classroom where they are given a time frame to not exceed 180 days and are to be taught English as quickly as possible before getting mainstreamed into an English classroom. However, “In tandem with the emphasis placed on the rapid acquisition of English under the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), the English for the Children policies have severely constricted the options available to linguistically rich minority communities.” (Johnson, 2011) With SEI implemented, for teachers to successfully be able to teach this model, teachers have to be SEI certified. This required that all teachers get clock hours to become SEI certified. From what I have seen today, teachers get notified by the district when they have to
References: Johnson, E. J. (2011). Peerlingual Education: A Socioeducational Reaction to Structured English Immersion. Journal Of Latinos & Education, 10(2), 127-145. doi:10.1080/15348431.2011.556522 Wright, W., Pu, C., & Arizona State University, E. (2005). Academic Achievement of English Language Learners in Post Proposition 203 Arizona. Executive Summary. Language Policy Research Unit, Lillie, K. E., Markos, A., Estrella, A., Nguyen, T., Trifiro, A., Arias, M., & ... University of California, L. (2010). Policy in Practice: The Implementation of Structured English Immersion in Arizona. Civil Rights Project / Proyecto Derechos Civiles, (Lillie, Markos, Estrella, Nguyen, Trifiro, Arias & University of California, 2010)