Our guest speaker, Ms. Montenegro, was very informative in
regards to providing an understanding of her role in the Cincinnati Public
School District with ELL students. I found it interesting that within their
school population of 30,000 there are over 100 countries and 70 different
languages represented. This is an overwhelming number predominantly because 75%
of their total population is on free and reduced lunch.
It was striking to learn that it takes 2-3 years to master a
language socially and 7 years to master a language academically. Now I
understand a little better why some ELL students tend to struggle for a few
years or more, and may even be suspected to have a learning disability which is
clearly not always the circumstance.
One thing that will remain is that I must never assume
anything when it comes to cultural/education practices and values.
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