Originally published in TEACH Magazine, September/October 2018 Issue
By Adam Stone
For K–12 teachers of English as a Second Language, the shifting nature of the ESL population is creating a new set of classroom challenges.
As an ESL teacher at Decatur Central High School in Indianapolis, IN, Kameron Packard has seen it firsthand. “The only thing they have in common today is they are not grade-level fluent,” he says. “They are not from the same country. They don’t have the same background knowledge. If you are teaching algebra, a kid who comes from another school can fall right in. In ESL, a kid comes in and the experience is very disjointed, with kids constantly playing catch up.”
Adam Stone is a seasoned journalist with 20+ years’ experience. He covers education, technology, government, and the military, along with diverse other topics.
