An issue in the United States today has to do with the English Learners—many come to America looking for a better life and are often met with hostility.
In Hawai`i, EL’s experience varying degrees of hostility, especially among the newer groups of people arriving to the islands. In recent years there have been many Micronesians, Marshallese, and other people from countries in the Pacific region moving to Hawai`i that face huge disenfranchisement upon arrival.
In our classroom educators are to accommodate all learners and try to understand them better by creating authentic relationships.
However, many EL students face difficulties in schools: adjusting to a new environment, a new culture, accessing the academic content, new rules, new expectations, and often experience bullying.
Many students are immigrants or descendants of immigrants to Hawai`i; apart from the Kanaka Maoli or the Indigenous people of Hawai`i. And so, educators need to educate their students, faculty, staff, and community to make sure they understand that EL students are of cultural importance, have things to say, and are valued.
As an EL advocate, I as well as my fellow educators, need to make sure we educate as many that are willing to learn through professional development classes. Our union has led in this effort.
Through the assistance of the Hawai`i State Teachers Association and the NEA, Hawai`i educators have participated in EL professional development classes several times a year. This makes sure that educators have the tools they need to meet the needs of the EL population in their classrooms through culturally relevant, rigorous, standards-based, and equitable lesson plans.
I am a social justice activist because I feel it is our duty as educators to meet the needs of all learners. Part of that is to make sure that all students, no matter what skin tone, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation will feel comfortable and safe in our classrooms.
