Teaching English as a Second Language: Turning Theory into Practice for K-12 Catholic School Teachers of English Learners

This chapter addresses the various theories, approaches and practices in teaching children who speak languages other than English in Catholic schools in the United States. The passage from Corinthians above is an ideal frame for the approach taken in this chapter, namely that using children’s languages and cultural backgrounds should be viewed as resources, treasures and gifts in helping them succeed in Catholic schools. While there is a scarcity of data on the actual enrollment in Catholic schools of children who speak languages other than English, including the levels of proficiency in the ability to speak, read, write, and understand, the common practice in 20th and 21st centuries in U.S. Catholic schools has been to immerse children in English. Interestingly enough, prior to the First World War, Catholic and other parochial schools used the languages of many immigrant communities in schooling. This was true for German, Italian, French and other language communities (Kloss, 1999).