The Help Tabloid

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I realize that we here in the United States consider ourselves at the top rung of the educational ladder, if only for the fact that so many foreign language
students are breaking their necks to come here to both study and live English.

But, on second glance, we should not deceive ourselves. On this board, we read
one teacher complaint after another pertaining to the impossible conditions of
Asian ESL schools, while we fail to remember - or, perhaps, admit - that right
here in the good old US of A, ESL instructors are pretty much in the same leaky
boat! In fact, was it not this very realization that originally induced so many
of us to leave our country to seek better professional pastures elsewhere? On
these shores, after having met the oft-times rigid academic and certification
standards of most US ESL institutions, for the mere sake of gaining employment
experience, we’ve often found ourselves accepting as little as $12 per hour for
part-time and $15 per hour for full-time employment. That, I would guess, is not
that far above the national poverty level for … say … a family of two. But,
provided one is willing to accept the all-too-often shoddy living standards of
an underdeveloped foreign land, not to mention the gross disregard of apathetic
management sources (with a salary to match), there’s ALWAYS employment to be had
… that is, until which time one finally decides enough is enough!

In the interim, we fans of the eslteachersboard.com are literally besieged by
critiques which become sadder and more desperate by the day. We KNOW all too
well what you are suffering, folks. It’s not exactly been a picnic here on this
side of the tracks, you know. What I have trouble figuring is WHERE one might
locate any regard for an ESL instructor as a “professional,” let alone his/her
financial needs as a human being. And if we residents of this more “sanctified”
side of the Pacific are forced to utter such concerns, HOW in hell can we dare
sit in condemnation of the lesser-developed ESL situations in Asia? After all,
is it not WE whom they are attempting to emulate? WHY, in fact, should we cringe
at the discovery of dishonesty and misrepresentation over there when right here
it’s so often identical? Once you’ve realized it’s pretty much the same on
either side of the Great Ocean, it’s a small wonder WHY teachers flit between
continents in search of their educational Mecca and, in many cases, eventually
wind up frustrated enough to seek other careers.

I, for one, love the theory of English as a foreign language - especially the
preparation of students for entry into American universities for pursuit of
advanced degrees. However, it’s the reality of it all that serves to disillusion
me no end. There can be no denial that ESL is a business. However, when such an
ambition becomes the sole purpose of a school’s existence, and academic and even
human values seem scarcer to come by, it’s high time to rise up and reform the
bloody system … or leave it! I pray that I’ll not eventually be forced to opt
for the latter choice. Amen.

Love to all,

The Arrogant One

About The Author

Ellis E. Seamone is an Veteran ESL teacher with 13+ years of experience. Ellis publishes articles at the http://www.eslteachersboard.com/ (free access to ESL resumes, jobs and materials). See more articles by Ellis by visiting: http://www.eslteachersboard.com/

There are more than 39 million Hispanics live in the United States making it the fifth largest Spanish-speaking nation in the world. It is estimated that within five years, only Mexico will have more Spanish-speakers than the U.S. Schools are offering bilingual courses and fully integrated bilingual curriculum. In some areas of the country , Spanish even exceeds English as the first language of the residents. Families are integrating languages into their neighborhoods regularly.

We propose bridging the language gap with bilingual picture books that both educate and entertain. The presence of both English and Spanish in the same book allows cross-cultural access and language development. Reading is a wonderful family experience which allows children to explore character development, expanding imagination and develop problem solving skills. The addition of another language educates and the illustrations in a picture book support the learning in an entertaining way.

Raven Tree Press offer bilingual books in a variety of styles and choices.

Full text translationFull text translation means the text of the story is presented in English and then again in Spanish. Both texts are generally placed on the page with an icon separating the two for ease of reading. A different ink color is also generally used to further offset the two languages.

Embedded textTake a story in English and sprinkle in a little Spanish. We call it embedded text. The word that will be embedded is usually first introduced in English and then reiterated in the sentence, or at least in the same paragraph in Spanish later. Once the word is introduced, it can be used again and again in context of the story. The context of the story and the illustrations are of utmost importance when using embedded text as they aid in making the leap from one language to another.

WordlessCan a wordless book be effective in learning language? Definitely! Wordless picture books and picture books with limited words are both beautiful and educational. They help children develop language, creative thinking and enhance future reading and writing skills. Using wordless picture books, children learn that reading follows a left-to-right pattern. They learn that stories generally have a beginning, a middle section and an ending. They also learn to identify details, see cause and effect, make judgements and draw conclusions. We present an instruction page in both English and Spanish for creative uses of our books.

Concept BilingualIn concept bilingual books, we take one concept of language and focus strictly on that. Counting, for example. The story is presented in English, but the concept (numbers in this case) are presented in both English and Spanish. Keywords are easily learned using this format.

Raven Tree Press includes an English/Spanish vocabulary page to help readers with keywords in either language.

Raven Tree Press children’s bilingual picture books are available at favorite bookstores, online booksellers and at the publisher’s web site www.raventreepress.com.

Publisher Note: Book excerpts and artwork can be imbedded in this article easily to clarify points if interested. Please contact me for further details.

Raven Tree Press is an independent book publisher specializing in bilingual picture books in English and Spanish.

Contact: Raven Tree Press
Dawn Jeffers, Publisher
www.raventreepress.com
dawn@raventreepress.com
920-438-1605 phone
920-438-1607 fax