ESL teachers feel incapable of providing for immigrant, refugee students

A lack of English as a second language [ESL] teachers in the province is leaving foreign students in the dark as their teachers deal with geographic hurdles and a lack of help.

Each time Cathy Anstey hits the road to travel to a different school, she thinks about the kids she could be helping closer to home.

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When she is working with students in the city, she thinks about the kids she's missing in the outer regions.

It's an imperfect system, she said, and one where travel demands leave students without proper help.

"It's very difficult to go home after a day and really feel good about what you've done because we know we're doing so much less than what they need," she said.

Anstey works in a city school with 28 children who require ESL instruction. She is also responsible for other schools, including one 30 minutes away with just one child.

She is an itinerant ESL teacher — meaning she has no permanent classroom, but travels to meet students.

When she takes time to visit that lone student, it's time she could have used to work with a dozen students in St. John's.

Cathy Anstey on the demands of an ESL teacher

8 years ago

Duration 0:27

Cathy Anstey on the demands of an ESL teacher

"You don't feel good about taking time away from 12 to go and see one. But on the other hand, I would feel just as bad about neglecting the one for the sake of the 12," she said.

"That's the kind of situation I'm put in, because we do not have enough itinerant teachers."

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Martha Trahey is one of the lucky ESL teachers — she is responsible for one school, seeing the same students week after week.

In comparing their experiences, Trahey points out the disparity in attention paid to children due to the lack of itinerant teachers.

"You might see your teacher one day a week, and the students are there full time for the rest of the time," she said.

"[It] adds another burden onto the mainstream classroom teacher, who is responsible for the child when an ESL teacher can't get there."

Many of the students have escaped extremely difficult circumstances and now find themselves struggling in a foreign classroom, immersed in a language they don't understand.

"They come from so many different backgrounds and so many different places — a lot of difficult situations," Anstey said. "A lot of my students are refugees."

When the child really needs instruction, they are in the classroom not receiving instruction- Martha Trahey

Each year, teaching positions are allotted based on the number of students enrolled who require ESL programming. That process can be long and arduous, and the lag can leave students hanging, Trahey said.

"From the time that students come, to the time they are receiving instruction from an ESL teacher can be months. For all that time, when the child really needs instruction, they are in the classroom not receiving instruction."

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While Anstey insists she loves her job, she said it often leaves her feeling inadequate.

"We have children who are being severely let down, in my opinion."