Advocacy

                                     Advocacy

“All educators must become fighters for what they and their students need to be successful.” (Eskelsen Garcia, 2015, Page 4)

This quotation; which was said by Lily Eskelsen Garcia, the president of National Education Association, said it all; teachers’ roles aren’t limited only by being role models, guiders, facilitators, or monitors… teachers must also play the role of advocates that fight for their students’ rights as human beings, before defending their rights as learners in order to help them accomplishing their learning process.
This matter for advocacy is especially needed in our today’s classrooms, because of the changes that have occurred in the last couple of years (about ten years), precisely because of the series of protests and demonstrations across the Middle East and North Africa which obligated many people to immigrant from their countries to different foreign countries, where English is a must for them to survive. Researchers have shown that in just two short decades, English language learners enrollment in U.S. schools has grown 57 percent, compared to less than four percent growth for all students. ELL students comprise more than 10 percent of the total student population. (Eskelsen Garcia, 2015, Page 6)

This increase in the number of ELL students didn’t result only from the immigration that happened in the last few years, but it was also a result of the English language being a linguafranca, or in other words a global language that is used in the entire world, in every country of this world. English is no more related only in a country or a continent, but the whole world.

 Many factors made of the English language a linguafranca as: “Communication, travel, popular culture, education, symbolism, historical factors, economic development, globalization, the media, a global English language teaching industry, and business and entrepreneurship…” and of course the immigration caused by the wars in some Arabic countries nowadays is one of these major factors, which made of English language a weapon for the immigrants who need to use it. This fast growing of English language learners as second language makes us aware of the different ways we should try to teach the learners from different cultures and the different methods that help them get engaged in EFL classrooms, especially that those learners aren’t regular ones, but they are very special learners with special needs that we should pay attention to. Learners of English as a second language that are emigrating from their countries because of the wars and the crimes and that are traveling under very hard circumstances…require many extra needs focused individually on them to overcome the struggles they are suffering from.

Due to the fact that English language learners (ELLs) often do not have the same educational opportunities or outcomes as non-ELL students in the United States, it became a must to ask teachers to advocate for them. Even though, research talking on how advocacy can be achieved and what are the actions that are important for such achievement. However, study revealed two factors that are positively associated with the beliefs about the importance of advocacy: more time in the teacher education program and having other teaching experience besides ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). (Linville, 2015, Abstract)

School years can be hard enough for teenagers, but for the immigrants who are facing additional challenges, school years can be a lonely hell for them. That’s why it is so important for schools to build a perfect welcoming community that’s open and inclusive for all English learners as a foreign language, especially immigrants. (Will, 2014, First paragraph) This issue is an increasingly important issue that demands educators' attention as English-language learners continue to be the fastest growing segment in public schools that are facing difficulties in building the right comfortable environments for immigrants. (Will, 2014, Third paragraph)

“Students are most successful when they feel welcomed and part of the school community”; said David Lubell, founder and executive director of “Welcoming America”; a national organization that strives to build more inclusive communities for immigrants. (Will, 2014, Fourth paragraph)

We all were once students, and many of us are still ones, and we all felt that need for inclusion and welcoming, and we experienced some hard time struggling to try and love the school and make effort, but we couldn’t because of the negative feelings and impact it reflected on us. These are all things that we felt, though we weren’t immigrants. We witnessed no wars, no crimes, no hardships, and above all we were in our countries, our home, feeling included and safe. That tells us of the shifting role that is put on us as English language teachers, and of the responsibilities that we must accomplish in order to lower our students affective filters to help them learn and acquire all the components of language that they must, need, and want to learn. We must go from being only a language teacher but to be mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends, supporters… and to take responsibilities beyond teaching that include helping students’ families acquire affordable housing, translate documents for parents, use different strategies and methods that meet each and every one of the students and that attract immigrants’ attention, and one of the biggest and hardest responsibilities is to persuade the school’s principals and the concerned ones to provide the schools, teachers, and curricula with more resources that serve the system of teaching the English language as a second language. This last responsibility is one of the most challenging responsibilities that demand from the teachers to fight a battle, because most of the schools and the principals will try to resist such changes in their schools’ systems, and wouldn’t take the needful steps to ensure the immigrants’ academic success as well as emotional well-being. (TESOL, 2013, Page 5)

Such needs aren’t electives or alternatives; they are a necessity, even state and federal laws required that students who do not speak English or whose native language is not English and struggle to perform classroom work in English, receive instruction that is designed to help them learn both English and mainstream course content. Such educational rights of ELLs and immigrants can be:

-          A free public education and equal educational opportunities: Immigrants and non-English speaking students have, by law, the right of a free public education and equal educational opportunities from Kindergarten until the age of 21, regardless of their immigration status.

-          Decide whether to enroll in an English Language Learner (ELL) program: Participation in an ELL program is voluntary, thus parents can choose to enroll or not enroll their children in an ELL program. Even if a family decides not to participate in an ELL program, the school still has a responsibility to ensure that the student has an equal opportunity to have his or her English language and academic needs met.

-          Evidence-based and effective ELL programs: Schools must provide high quality language instruction programs that are shown to increase English proficiency and academic achievement.

-          Alternative services: Schools must provide alternative services to ELL students until they are proficient enough in English to participate meaningfully in the regular program.

-          Accommodations when taking annual state academic achievement tests: Schools must provide LEP students with appropriate accommodations, as assessments that are in the language and form most likely to yield accurate data on what the student knows and is able to do.

-          Enroll in school and receive services: Students are entitled to receive all school services, regardless of legal status.

-          Not discuss, or answer questions about, immigration status: Schools may not ask about a student or parent’s immigration status. 

-          Provide alternative proof of student’s identity: School districts are required by law to ask for a certified copy of a birth certificate of every newly enrolled student. If you do not possess a birth certificate, you can provide other proof of the child’s identity and age and provide a sworn statement explaining why a birth certificate is unavailable. (Students Advocacy Center of Michigan)

However, advocacy isn’t an easy task that could be accomplished fast and with mere efforts. Advocacy needs time, experiences, and effort, and most important, teachers need to guide their steps in order to advocacy to be achieved.