On Saturday March 17th the Office of Asian American and Pacific Islander Affairs hosted its first Youth Town Hall. Students gathered at the Chinese Community Culture Center (CCCC) to speak with Mayor Vincent Gray concerning issues faced by DC's young AAPI community. SMART's very own Lisa Zhao and Shen Qu attended the meeting. Lisa spoke about the barriers ELL students face in accessing AP courses in DCPS. Shen spoke about the importance of having more ELL counselors!
Excerpt from Shen's Testimony:
I am a student from Wilson high school,my name is Shen. Today I went to talk about counselor , and I may have some proposal.We know in high school every student have a counselor, but do we know that a counselor responsible for how many student? In my school , we have more than 200 ELL students,but only 1 counselor .
For each student we need our counselor to help us change class, school timetable, help us to talk with teacher,help us to understand the rules and regulations, And feedback student' performance in school. They have many things to do,but the proportion for student and counselor are 1:200
Excerpt from Shen's Testimony:
I am a student from Wilson high school,my name is Shen. Today I went to talk about counselor , and I may have some proposal.We know in high school every student have a counselor, but do we know that a counselor responsible for how many student? In my school , we have more than 200 ELL students,but only 1 counselor .
For each student we need our counselor to help us change class, school timetable, help us to talk with teacher,help us to understand the rules and regulations, And feedback student' performance in school. They have many things to do,but the proportion for student and counselor are 1:200
Lisa's Testimony:
My name is Lisa Zhao. I go to Wilson High School. I’m in 10th grade now. The issue I’m going to talk today is about college readiness classes for English Language Learning Students. Our school doesn’t really have those classes for ELL students.
First, let me explain why this issue is important for ELL students. As we know, high school is the last step before college. If you get a really good grade, you probably can go to a good college. A good college can give you a good future in generally. For ELL students, their English is not good. So many deans or teachers just say “no” when those students want to take AP classes.
I want to give an example from my own experience. I wanted to take AP chemistry this year. At first, the teacher said “no” because she thought I wouldn’t understand because of my English so I couldn’t do well. She wanted me to switch out of the chemistry. For me, this is a really important class because I want to take SAT subject Chemistry after taking this course. I think you know how important a good SAT grade means to a student. So I talked with my dean and the chemistry teacher again. I told them how important this course is for me and I have the ability to catch up. Finally the teacher said “yes”. I do really well in this class now and I get a really good grade. The teacher and I have a good relationship now.
I’m always thinking how lucky I am because most ELL students don’t have the chance to take AP courses except AP math (because people think Asians are good at math) Actually, I feel sad about it because the key that decides if you can take those classes or not is if they think you’re English is good enough or not. I think it’s unfair because before if you dont try it, who knows the result? If you don’t challenge the students, how do you know how well they can do?
Deans and teachers shouldn't just assume, they should take a closer look! This happens not only because of the deans and teachers. It is also because most ELL students don’t know about it. The American education system is new for them. For example, we don’t have AP courses in China. Those ELL students couldn’t get enough information. Most of the classes that the school gives them are easy classes. If I didn’t talk with a senior last year, I’m would still be in those easy classes right now and result for that would be that I’m would still be behind! I can’t imagine what it is going to be if it really happens to me. If all the ELL students know how important taking AP classes is to getting to college are they going to allow those tragedies happen to them? Of course not! In this case, what I want you help to do is please let schools provide more information for ELL students and at least give them a chance, give them a good future!
My name is Lisa Zhao. I go to Wilson High School. I’m in 10th grade now. The issue I’m going to talk today is about college readiness classes for English Language Learning Students. Our school doesn’t really have those classes for ELL students.
First, let me explain why this issue is important for ELL students. As we know, high school is the last step before college. If you get a really good grade, you probably can go to a good college. A good college can give you a good future in generally. For ELL students, their English is not good. So many deans or teachers just say “no” when those students want to take AP classes.
I want to give an example from my own experience. I wanted to take AP chemistry this year. At first, the teacher said “no” because she thought I wouldn’t understand because of my English so I couldn’t do well. She wanted me to switch out of the chemistry. For me, this is a really important class because I want to take SAT subject Chemistry after taking this course. I think you know how important a good SAT grade means to a student. So I talked with my dean and the chemistry teacher again. I told them how important this course is for me and I have the ability to catch up. Finally the teacher said “yes”. I do really well in this class now and I get a really good grade. The teacher and I have a good relationship now.
I’m always thinking how lucky I am because most ELL students don’t have the chance to take AP courses except AP math (because people think Asians are good at math) Actually, I feel sad about it because the key that decides if you can take those classes or not is if they think you’re English is good enough or not. I think it’s unfair because before if you dont try it, who knows the result? If you don’t challenge the students, how do you know how well they can do?
Deans and teachers shouldn't just assume, they should take a closer look! This happens not only because of the deans and teachers. It is also because most ELL students don’t know about it. The American education system is new for them. For example, we don’t have AP courses in China. Those ELL students couldn’t get enough information. Most of the classes that the school gives them are easy classes. If I didn’t talk with a senior last year, I’m would still be in those easy classes right now and result for that would be that I’m would still be behind! I can’t imagine what it is going to be if it really happens to me. If all the ELL students know how important taking AP classes is to getting to college are they going to allow those tragedies happen to them? Of course not! In this case, what I want you help to do is please let schools provide more information for ELL students and at least give them a chance, give them a good future!
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