Bilingual Teacher Preparation

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Bilingual Teacher Preparation from an ELL’s Perspective
Claudia Gonzalez
University of Texas at El Paso

Abstract This paper explores bilingual teacher preparation; one of the most important and principal lack of bilingual education. Teachers play an important role in children’s education and it is very important to give to bilingual students adequate preparation according to their academic level so they have the same opportunities as other students to be successful in the world. Often times, however, bilingual teachers are hired by an administrator with an inadequate picture of their preparation and experiences as bilingual educators and citizens. Teachers are role models for students and they model what they observe from …show more content…

Bilingual Instruction is implemented in United States schools to afford students the opportunity to acquire the English slowly. Various programs are employed such as: dual language, immersion programs, and Fifty (McKeon, 1987). These programs have been implemented in some districts and schools in the United States allowing bilingual students the opportunity to learn a second language commensurate with their abilities. Some of these programs are successful; others fail due to the deficiencies in bilingual teacher preparation. One reason for inadequate bilingual teacher preparation is the fact that some teachers use the transmission as part of their teaching-learning process instead of applying correctly the bilingual program that the school has. The transmission model of teaching has been used in traditional schooling it aims to view students as empty vessels that the teacher must “fill” with knowledge. This teaching style defines knowledge as “a collection of facts, concepts, principles, and theories that were discovered by experts in the different academic disciplines and packaged into the formal curriculum” (Villegas & Lucas, p. …show more content…

What they do not know is the work that this bilingual student had to accomplish in order to become knowledgeable in the English language. Bilingual teacher preparation comes to be judged because bilingual students are not reaching the academic progress hoped. According to Walqui & Van Lier (2010), there is no perfect person neither in English or Spanish who could be perfect in both languages. This idea refers to the ability to think, read, write, and speak without issue in both languages. An individual always requires the use of their first language to make a connection and then to process the second language. There are many schools that pretend to have perfect bilingual kids, but they have to pay attention to the bilingual teacher preparation. Schools must use caution when selecting personel. They must ensure the preparation of their bilingual educators will adequately prepare teachers to meet the needs of their students in an effort to help them to

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