The U.S. Department of Education will award Georgetown a $1.3 million grant, to be paid over the next five years, which will be used to better prepare future teachers of English as a Foreign Language. The money will allow the university to provide scholarships for 22 students over five years in the master’s of Arts in Teaching English as a Second Language program starting in January 2003. It will also provide paraprofessional development and training to current ESL teachers during the summer.
Linguistics Department Chair Jeff Connor-Linton and director of the Masters in Teaching English as a Second Language program Kendall King will oversee the use of the grant.
The grant is a result of the passage of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which has already allowed teachers to keep better records of their students’ progress and has created numerous research-based programs in literary instruction, which have served to better encourage the improvement of reading and proficiency skills. A part of the act specifies that every classroom be run by “highly qualified” ESL instructors by 2005, according to a university press release. With the current shortage of teachers, however, few will have the necessary training to meet the needs of the estimated 4.4 million public school students who speak little to no English.
According to a March 2002 Brookings Institute report, in the course of one year, students with limited English proficiencythat enrolled in schools in the Washington, D.C., area alone increased by 16.2 percent from 46,371 to 53,990 students.
“While federal policy and politics have shifted away from bilingual education in recent years, the fact remains that there are a growing number of students who are English language learners, and the demand for professional administrators, teachers and curriculum developers who are prepared to meet these students’ complex needs is greater than ever,” King said.
The students of the Masters in English as a Second Language program will not only be prepared for local teaching certification, but will also have the opportunity to work with students of limited proficiency in the Washington, D.C., and Virginia area. In the past, students in the master’s program were only given three-credit hours of student teaching, but the grant will permit another 12 credit hours of field practice with pupils ranging from elementary to high school students.
“This grant will allow Georgetown to attract the highest quality candidates, both locally and nationally,” King said. “Furthermore, this federal funding will allow students to focus intensively on their studies, gaining a deep theoretical and research-based understanding of second language acquisition processes, as well as the practical and applied skills necessary to be effective educators.”
The grant will also help those who currently work as ESL teachers to develop their teaching skills through Georgetown’s Linguistics Department, Institute for Professional Development and School of Summer and Continuing Education in the areas of parental involvement, language assessment, applied courses in linguistics and ESL teaching methodology, among others. Georgetown plans to coordinate with the superintendents of school districts in the area and will provide in-service training credit and opportunity incentives for paraprofessionals who participate.
“Georgetown’s MA-TESL program produces highly qualified teachers of ESL who have the . skills to become leaders in their field in teacher-training, program administration . and test development,” Connor-Linton said in a press release, “This is another way in which Georgetown is giving back to the community, by helping to meet the country’s dire need for ESL teachers.”
