Michelle Obama’s recent commencement speech at the University of California – Merced is remarkable in many ways. But the most striking element is that instead of speaking at a well-established school such as Harvard or Stanford, Ms. Obama chose UC-Merced, a little-known, four-year-old university with a diverse student population made up of 40.3 percent underrepresented ethnic or racial groups. Many of these students are immigrants or come from English Language Learning (ELL) immigrant families.
Ms. Obama’s choice highlights a growing education trend in the United States. This emerging movement recognizes and provides high-quality education to a widely diverse population who speaks many languages and maintains distinctive cultures. This makes sense when you consider that between 1990 and 2000, non-white ethnic populations jumped from 23 percent to 30 percent and are commonly expected to account for over half the U.S. population by 2050.
During the early K12 years, ELL students and parents thrive in culturally sensitive environments that provide language translation services and embrace differences. These same students enroll in schools like the University of California – Merced, schools that celebrate our nation’s diversity.
Just ask the First Lady where our youth is headed.
Keep Learning!
Maggie
K12Translate
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Posts Tagged ‘K12’
Michelle Obama highlights the necessity of K12 ELL education and effective language translation services
Thursday, June 4th, 2009Welcome to the inaugural post of K12Translate’s new blog!
Tuesday, May 26th, 2009
At K12Translate our mission is to facilitate clear communication through language translation services. That’s our reason for being. As an online education translation company, every day we help our school districts to say what they mean.
It sounds simple, but as anyone who works with English Language Learning (ELL) communities knows, things can get complicated pretty quickly. And the consequences of failing to be understood can be enormous, even catastrophic.
This is perhaps nowhere more true than in the field of education. School districts and state boards of education have to be able to communicate with the communities they serve, and in a culturally sensitive way. So much depends on it.
That’s how the K12Translate Education Blog was born. It seemed the perfect way for us to share the kinds of education translation challenges our clients face — and some possible solutions for helping ensure that they, and you, send the right message, every time.
Look for new posts each week. So come on back.
To New Beginnings!
Maggie Nickles, Program Manager
