Who are our Students? by Kelly Reider

MD English Learners

2021-02-01 20:54:29 UTC

Having grown up in MD, I knew that we were a very diverse state (at least Montgomery County is) and had a large number of English Learners in our schools. I actually expected the number to be higher than it is considering how many ESOL kids I have in my classes. I'm not surprised by Amharic being one of the top languages since that is a common language at my school, but I was a little surprised by Vietnamese.

I was surprised to see that Amharic was one of the top five languages in Maryland. Honestly I had never heard of it before. I was expecting to see Spanish, Chinese, and other Asian languages, which were included. I know that Maryland , especially in the Montgomery County area is very diverse; but seeing that in terms of languages was surprising and interesting.

2021-02-13 17:49:59 UTC

Diversity

matthewbaldassano — 2021-02-25 23:32:24 UTC

I knew that there was a diversity of languages of ESOL students although the majority speak Spanish at my school, others speak Amharic.

Maryland ELLs

jamesamato — 2021-03-07 21:08:44 UTC

I was surprised to learn the top five languages spoken by ELLs in Maryland were Spanish, French, Chinese, Amharic and Vietnamese. I was also surprised to learn that there were more than 69,000 ELLs in Maryland!

2021-03-10 05:20:04 UTC

I was surprised to see that Vietnamese is one of the top five languages of ESOL students in Maryland. I knew that the state was diverse having grown up in Montgomery County and that Amharic is one of the languages higher on the list since it is so prevalent at my school. I wonder what the numbers would look like if it was just in Montgomery County.

ELL in Maryland

2021-03-10 17:57:49 UTC

I knew Maryland had a lot of ELL learners, but was still surprised that there are more than 69,000 in Maryland. I was not surprised that one of the top languages was Amharic. I taught down county for many years and that was one of the languages most spoken by my students parents.

2021-03-14 20:03:42 UTC

Having taught in 2 different schools in MCPS, I am not surprised with the top 5 languages in MD.

malina_r_chitkara — 2021-03-14 22:42:33 UTC

Spanish and French did not surprise me. The one language that surprised me was Amharic. I did not know that was the Ethiopian language. I am aware that we have a large Ethiopian population. This was very interesting to me.

2021-03-15 23:13:12 UTC

Had I guessed the top five languages before looking, I definitely wouldn't have correctly identified them. But, once I saw the 5 languages, I wasn't surprised. I was a little shocked that only about 7% of Maryland students are English learners. Based on my experience as a teacher in Maryland, I would have thought the number was higher.

2021-03-28 18:41:29 UTC

I am not sure what Amharic is, but it does not surprise me that Maryland is a WIDA state. I of course did not know what WIDA was either, but I see it is very important and I am proud to be a part of that!

Maryland

2021-03-29 13:56:05 UTC

I was not surprised to read that Maryland had a large population of English Language Learners. A few of the languages listed are represented by students in my current classroom- Amharic and Spanish. The website also stated that Maryland follows the WIDA standards, which I am familiar with.

Maryland

2021-03-31 13:12:02 UTC

The information regarding the top languages was not surprising to me. I have taught many students who are English Language Learners representing at least three of the top languages. In my current school, a Title 1 school, we have a very high number of English Language Learners, but I realize that is not representative of the entire county or state.

Maryland

2021-04-14 21:53:31 UTC

The data was not surprising having taught in the area for numerous years, I have seen many changes and an increase of ELL students.

meghanebryson — 2021-04-16 01:29:38 UTC

I've had a lot of experience teaching native Spanish, French & Amharic speakers in Montgomery County. I have taught a few native Chinese speakers, though can't say I've worked with a Vietnamese family before in the county.

I was surprised that Amharic is one of the top 5 languages. Spanish definitely is the top language at my school and I've taught a few French, Chinese, and Vietnamese students as well. I would like to see updated numbers as I bet there has been even more growth in the last 4-5 years. 69,000 is still a very high number!

2021-07-06 16:37:11 UTC

I would like to learn more about the WIDA strategies. We use them in my school, however I am still very reliant on using the resources and want to get to a place where it's more "automatic"

MCPS-MD

2021-07-26 18:21:15 UTC

I grew up in Montgomery County so I was not surprised by the number of ELL in our county. I was surprised to see the difference between the number ELL students in neighboring counties. I agree with other posts that I am curious to see what the current statistics are for Maryland.

Maryland

2021-10-06 20:10:12 UTC

Though I am relatively new to Montgomery County, this information is not particularly shocking. My school has a large percentage of ESOL students, primarily those whose native language is Spanish. It's important that I take note of the other top languages spoken though so that those needs are addressed as well.

2021-11-11 17:23:46 UTC

I knew Spanish is one of the most common languages that students begin with in Maryland. This year I have a student who speaks French. Collaboratively my students and I realized there are alot of common sounds/ words in French and Spanish. By exploring this we have all been able to communicate in a more multi-lingual nature which has been so enrinching!

Many of my students are long term English language learners, but I am seeing that they remain in this category because of other unidentified disabilities that make passing the WIDA test very difficult. One roadblock to getting them properly identified with a disability is the fact that they are in the ESOL program, so other teachers assume this is the issue and don't explore other possibilities. It's rather a vicious cycle.

2022-01-31 20:36:04 UTC

Maryland

2022-03-09 18:11:49 UTC

Where I grew up (in PA), we had very few students of other languages- and those students who did speak other languages, mostly spoke to Spanish. I've been in MCPS for almost 20 years now- so I greatly appreciate the diversity in the area- which is highlighted by the top 5 languages. I've taught in a variety of schools here and lived i a few different areas within MoCo, its fascinating to see all the various languages spoken throughout the county.

I am amazed of how diverse our English Language Learners are in Montgomery County. I was very familiar before teaching in MCPS to have more Spanish speakers, but know I have many students from Asia and one from Czech Republic. It has been a great experience learning from each others culture.

mariselrivera — 2022-06-24 01:40:38 UTC

MCPS- Maryland

2022-12-28 14:43:05 UTC

I was surprised that Portuguese was not on the most common languages list. At my school, we have seen a huge growth in students who speak Portuguese as their native language in the past few years.
I am wondering what the missing data looks like. A lot of the data seems incomplete because we do not know the total number of students in Maryland compared to the number of ELs, and we see data of ELs by county, but each counties enrollment is vastly different, so the numbers of ELs seems misleading.

EL share of population

2023-01-03 17:16:55 UTC

I was surprised that the data showed only 10.07% of Maryland's students are English language learners. At my school it is definitely a lot more than that.I thought it would have been higher statewide

ELLS in Maryland

2023-04-13 19:40:03 UTC

I was surprised that there are more ELLS in Prince George County than in MCPS. The data shows that 72% of ELLD speak Spanish as their first language. I work in a Dual Language Elementary School and this data is in agreement with what I see in my elementary school.

I went to a high school with little diversity. I am so thankful for the diversity in our county! Great place to be a part of teaching and raising children to love, care, and appreciate the differences in everyone! I love that the most common other languages spoken come from 5 different continents! I knew Spanish and Chinese would be the most common other languages spoken, but it was interesting to read that French, Amharic, and Arabic were the others.

2023-04-20 08:51:46 UTC

Languages

2023-06-12 13:31:40 UTC

I was surprised that Arabic and Amharic were in the top 5 languages of ELL students in Maryland. I expected Spanish and French to be the big hitters with a few Chinese. I was shocked that there weren't more Asian languages like Vietnamese or Korean.

NS

2023-08-02 14:37:02 UTC

The number of English learners in my area is very high but that is not surprising. My school has separate sections of courses just for English learners because there such a high demand for it.

MD

2024-02-02 17:26:31 UTC

Maryland has been increasing its ELL population.

Maryland

2024-02-09 01:47:03 UTC

I was surprised with how Amharic was one of the top five languages spoken. I was not surprised to see that we had a large population of English Language Learners.