The COVID-19 Pandemic's Negative Impact on California's English Language Learners
On March 13, 2021, many schools across the State of California marked the first anniversary of them being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students being out of the classroom for a little over a year has dramatically affected students across the entire State of California, but one group of students that has been hurt the most from the year-long school closures in the state is English Language Learner students.
Before schools were closed last year English Language Learner students already faced challenges and setbacks that their native English speaking peers did not. These setbacks included learning a brand new language, trying to understand regional dialects, fear of participating, and not understanding basic English vocabulary. Although with schools now being closed and most students in the state still doing online school more setbacks and challenges have been added to the ones English Language Learner students already face.
When it comes to virtual learning the many setbacks and challenges these students face is the lack of extra English lessons. In-person schools are required to have English Language Learner students spend a significant amount of their time at school studying one of the three English Language Learner curriculums the state offers to help the students learn English faster and not fall behind. Although, when California released its virtual learning plan last year it failed to include guidelines on how to teach the English Language Learner curriculum or how many hours students who have to study the curriculum need to spend learning and studying it.
“When school was in person I knew that the English Language Learner students were getting the help they needed because as a teacher I have to teach at a level that all students in the classroom can understand, so if something was maybe confusing for the English Language Learner students I would work with them as much as I could in class, but I knew they would go spend time with an educator who specializes and solely focuses on teaching English as a second language. Now online they do not have that access as much so I have to make myself available after class and before class if they need extra help but it is their choice to show up or not,” said kindergarten teacher Cynthia Laflin.
The lack of English Language Learner curriculum being taught or required during online schooling is a big factor that plays into English Language Learners falling behind in online schooling, but another factor that plays into this issue is that 41.5% of these students face the issue of getting help on school work at home or technology help because they live in households where only a non-English language is spoken.
The lack of curriculum and the lack of additional help is now after a year of many being out of the classroom, setting up English Language Learners to fall further behind in their school for years to come.
Another one of the other major factors that online learning has done to hurt English Language Learners with their development of English is the lack of interaction and in-person speaking with English speakers or other English Language Learners. Speaking and interacting with native speakers of any language a person is trying to learn is one of the best practices to learn a new language, so English Language Learners not having this access to interact in person or speak in person to their native English speaking peers is hurting them.
“Distance learning has been difficult on English Language Learners because they have not had opportunities to practice speaking and interacting with their peers. Strategies like partner talk are so important for students to build confidence and language skills,” said Santa Maria first grade teacher Mary Douma.
There has always been a gap between English Language Learner students and their native English speaker students counterparts, but with English Language Learners now facing more difficulties learning English and not learning English as fast as they would in person the gap has grown, and it is currently unknown how it will affect many in their later years of school.
“During COVD-19 a lot of curriculum and testing for colleges’ admissions requirements changed because many realized that students were not getting as good as education or they were falling behind because many do not learn well in a non-classroom environment. With English Language Learners we know that those setbacks and falling behind are larger than other students, so maybe in the future colleges’ admissions requirements and standardized testing will accommodate their setbacks from 2020 and 2021, because they had no control over it,” said Ellen Micaela a high education professional.
The prolonged effects of virtual learning on English Language Learner students remains to be unknown since in California 68.6% of English Language Learners are in the early grades of elementary school and have not even been in school for that long yet. Maybe when these students are in high school and going to college the schools will adjust as they did in 2020 and 2021 to accommodate these issues, but only time will tell if those prolonged closures of schools have badly affected English Language Learners.
Some teachers though have tried to minimize the effects of prolonged virtual learning on English Language Learner students by volunteering to make themselves available to help these students so these students can still be successful in their academic careers.
Sabetha High School English Teacher Johanna Brockhoff said, “I have made myself available after class and through email and other forms of communication so that students can get the help they need and do not fall behind in their English skills while virtual learning. I also have required my students to read outside of class because reading is proven to be the best way to learn English and develop English skills.”
Even with teachers and administration trying to provide the best assistance to English Language Learners while virtual learning, nothing seems to be as good for English Language Learner students as being in person and in the classroom.
Now there is some good news for those students, parents, and educators of English Language Learners. In April, many districts closed for over a year will finally reopen fully or in a limited way. Many of these districts that have been closed for over a year and are now reopening have some of the largest English Language Learner populations enrolled in their schools in the state. 59% of English Language Learner students are enrolled in schools in San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino Counties. Out of these counties, Riverside and San Bernardino already returned to school with many schools reopening in March or April 1. The largest counties with the most English Language Learner students, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange Counties, all plan to reopen in April with Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange Counties all returning to school the week of April 12. Many though wonder and question if two months of school is enough to get English Language Learners caught back up.
Gene Williams a union negotiator who helped come up with a back to school plan in Santa Maria said, “it will be hard to get English Language Learners caught up because a lot of learning English comes from interacting with other students and talking, but due to state regulations students cannot interact with each other as much as they usually can. I also think it is almost impossible to make up for over a year of lost in-person education in two months, but we want to try our best.”
Due to the fact that remaining 6-feet apart lowers the risks of contracting COVID-19, California has required that social distancing be applied to students in schools. Along with social distancing other factors that still will set English Language Learners behind while back in the classroom will be no indoor playing time, no conversations during lunch (student must be 6-feet apart while eating), and limited recess if the school even does recess since most end early and end before recess time.
Then on a more academic side, English Language Learners will be set back in that reading a book will not be allowed because books are shared items and have to be removed from classrooms. This will majorly affect these students because reading has been proven to be one of the best ways to learn a new language. Even with in-person learning, due to the COVID-19 precautions, English Language Learners will still face large setbacks and difficulties that their native English-speaking peers will not face.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has hurt students in California in different ways, but when it comes to education it is now known that the pandemic has disproportionately affected English Language Learners students in California. Online, English Language Learners face not having a proper curriculum, not having the help they need to learn English or learn other subjects that are taught in English, not having access to additional help, and not getting to practice their conversational English with their peers. Now even with mostly all the schools reopening or reopening soon in California, COVID-19 precautions at schools and in the classroom still make it difficult for English Language Learners to get the education they need. In the end, though it will not be known how far the COVID-19 education changes affected English Language Learners for years, and how much more the school system needs to do to catch these students up and get them back on track so that they can succeed further in their education.