Article PresentationListening to Inner City

Teachers of English Language Learners:

Differentiating Literacy Instruction

“ The idea that school, by itself, cannot cure poverty is hardly astonishing, but it is amazing how much of our political discourse is implicitly predicated on the notion that it can” – J. Traub

…some insight from Paulo Freire "The oppressed want at any cost to

resemble the oppressors." "They call themselves ignorant and say

the 'professor' is the one who has knowledge and to whom they should listen."

"Almost never do they realize that they, too, 'know things' they have learned in their relations with the world."

Regardless, we, as educators must still

try.

THE PROBLEMS

Social inequities & pervasiveness of

poverty

Anti-immigrant & anti-bilingualsentiment

Lack of resources in schoolsserving the poor

Children of color living in poverty and/or learning English are grosslyover-represented in the category

of unsuccessful literacy