First KATESOL Honor Roll Awards
ESOL Teachers to Be Recognized at Conference in Emporia
(PRESS RELEASE) The Kansas Association of
Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages
today announced a new program to recognize excellent
ESOL practitioners across the state of Kansas. Ten
ESOL endorsed teachers in P-12 schools, as well as
five ESL teachers and/or teacher trainers at the
state's institutions of higher education and adult
learning centers, will be honored at the annual
KATESOL/BE Conference in Emporia, Kansas, on Friday,
February 18, 2005.
"Academic success for English language learners is
rapidly becoming the number one priority in our public
schools, community centers, colleges and universities,"
explained Robb Scott, KATESOL President. "Hundreds of
teachers have retooled their classroom practices to
incorporate ESOL strategies."
The Kansas immigrant population is growing at three
times the national rate, according to numbers from the
Kansas State Department of Education. Five percent of
all public school P-12 students in the state are English
language learners. More than 60 percent of the students
in Liberal USD 480 are Hispanic. The same is true in
Dodge City USD 443, where an initiative is underway to
get every classroom teacher for every content area
endorsed in ESOL. In Kansas City USD 500, reading
specialists are getting their ESOL endorsements so
that schools can respond to a growing trend where
many children who qualify for Title I support services,
such as reading recovery, are also culturally and
linguistically diverse.
"Getting the State of Kansas ESOL Endorsement is
a time-consuming and intellectually challenging
task," said Scott, an assistant professor of
special education and ESOL at Fort Hays State
University. "Even for teachers with years of
experience, the process of changing our own
mind-sets to be more inclusive can prove very
frustrating."
Kansas colleges and universities also continue
to see high numbers of international students,
in contrast to a downward trend in these numbers
nationwide after 9-11. "Kansas has a great
reputation around the world," explained Scott,
who has lived and taught ESL in Ecuador and Japan.
"Families send their children here to receive
a high quality university education in a friendly,
relatively low-cost setting."
These international students, as well as immigrant
Kansans, are changing the dynamics of life in
the state, according to Scott. "The KATESOL Honor
Roll is being established to reflect the importance
of the work done by ESOL professionals on behalf
of these learners," he said. "Thanks to the efforts
of our ESOL endorsed and other ESL teachers, Kansas
is experiencing a smooth transition to a more
multicultural and multilingual society."
Anyone wishing to nominate a teacher for this year's
KATESOL Honor Roll may do so by contacting Robb Scott
at 785-628-5568 or sending an e-mail to HonorRoll@katesol.org ,
including the nominee's full name, contact information,
current teaching assignment, school/institution/agency,
and a 50-75 word statement regarding the difference he/she
is making for English language learners.
This page was last updated on 10/20/2004.
Click for information about KATESOL/BE 2005!