ENGLISH as a Second Language is about to be stricken from the language.
ESL programs will soon be known as English Language Learning, according to an announcement last week by Education Minister George Abbott, but one volunteer said the announcement probably won't change things at the North Shore Multicultural Society.
"I'm not sure that it affects us directly," said Jenny Glickman-Rynd, a team leader with NSMS. "We often talk about it as English as a second or other language. . . in order to acknowledge that it's not necessarily a second language."
ELL programs will serve the same purpose as ESL programs, according to a statement released by the Ministry of Education.
The NSMS runs classes throughout the day for approximately 150 students with 19 ESL teachers, many of whom learned English after arriving in Canada, according to Glickman-Rynd.
"There have been a number of ways of trying to address this whole issue of it not just being a second language," Glickman-Rynd said. "The larger body in the States calls itself TESOL, Teachers of English as a Second or Other Language."
The NSMS teaches students from China, Iran, Russia and Romania, but Glickman-Rynd said there are still misnomers about learning English.
"That it's simply a question of exposure, or that anybody who speaks English is able to teach it," she said when asked about misconceptions.
The skills required to teach English are specialized, according to Glickman-Rynd.
"It takes an insight into how language is learned, especially by adults, which has links to how we learn it as children, but is also different," she said. "And a deeper knowledge of how the language is structured and how it works."
Abbott announced the name change at Youth Advisory Day, citing the many ESL youths who already speak three or four languages.
