Mainstreaming ESL

Mainstreaming ESL Synopsis

In many parts of the world, language minority children are educated through a second language. In these contexts, it has often been thought appropriate to teach such children separately until they are fluent enough in the medium of instruction to join in mainstream schooling. More recent experience and research shows that it is both socially more just and educationally more effective to integrate language minority pupils into mainstream education as early as possible. In this book, ESL and mainstream teachers from primary and secondary schools in Australia, Canada, the USA and the United Kingdom, describe how they go about 'mainstreaming'. Well-supplied with examples of teaching materials and pupils' work, their narratives are practical and detailed. At the same time they raise vital questions of school policy which the whole school community must address when launching initiatives of this kind. This book will be of very practical use to ESL and mainstream teachers, as well as to principals, advisers and those at all levels of the education service who work in multilingual communities. It will also serve as a handbook for teacher-educators and student teachers of any subject who are preparing to work in linguistically diverse classrooms.