Alliance for Catholic Education
The Alliance for Catholic Education’s English as a New Language Program (ENL) recently published a new handbook as part of the NCEA’s (National Catholic Educational Association) Exceptional Learners Series. “Our Legacy and Our Future: A Framework for Serving English Learners in Catholic Schools” addresses the urgent moral imperative faced by Catholic schools today to provide teachers with the necessary tools and expertise to effectively serve English language learners (ELLs).
The need for teachers formed in ENL best practices in Catholic schools is indeed urgent. While the number of ELLs is sharply rising, the number of teachers and leaders formed and prepared to teach and care for them lags. Researchers in language acquisition, deJong and Harper (2013), report that less than twenty-five percent of teachers have ENL formation, and underscore that forming teachers prepared to address the unique challenges of language learners is key to their academic success.
This handbook and school implementation guide is designed to at least start the conversation about how Catholic schools can welcome and serve a more culturally and linguistically diverse student population while also recognizing the unique opportunity that ELLs and their families have to enrich our Catholic schools. These NCEA Briefs are short enough that they can be read in one sitting and is small enough to keep within reach for reference to ideas easily put into practice in the classroom. Order your copy at the NCEA online store.