More Funding Needed for ESL Learners

By: Esther Kane

Toward the end of freshman year in college, I realized I wanted to become a teacher. I wanted to gain some experience managing a classroom before deciding if that was the path I wanted to pursue. That’s when I signed up to earn my TESOL certificate, or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages, at a private company over the summer. The classes were incredibly informative and I greatly enjoyed working with the students there. The teachers were passionate about helping the students and had years of experience. Excited to continue my journey in teaching, I signed up to volunteer for an ESL (English as a Second Language) class at a public school for the spring semester. However, my experience there was a different story. The program at the school was completely underfunded to the point that the teachers they hired had little to no background in teaching ESL. They were rushed through an accelerated program over the summer and thrown into the classroom with little guidance or support. The students were often left confused and the teachers expressed to me how overwhelmed they felt due to the lack of experience they had. Despite the circumstances, the students still expressed how thankful they were to be here in the United States and given the chance to go to school.

This experience shows how despite California’s pledge to provide quality ESL classes for English learners, the current funding system in place fails its students. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, research shows that ESL funding is 30 years out of date and public schools are not receiving the resources they need. Even as school districts continue to struggle to find enough funding to stay afloat, we still can not leave any students behind in providing them with a quality education.