Bilingual Education / ESL

Master of Education Degree Bilingual Education or English as a Second Language

Idaho has a large population of Latina/o children who are part of the public school system. Most of them are taught by wonderful, well-meaning teachers who have little or no training or coursework in teaching children bilingually or in English as a Second Language. This master’s degree is designed to provide additional training to educators who are providing services to or are preparing to provide services to limited English proficient school children. Most of the classes are taught at the BSU Canyon County campus in Nampa and on the College of Southern Idaho campus in Twin Falls. Summer classes are taught at BSU in Boise, or at CSI in Twin Falls.

Students enroll in two classes each semester. During the summer sessions they enroll in the Core Classes held on the BSU Campus and in a linguistics and/or literacy class held in Twin Falls. For information on graduate courses and requirements, consult the appropriate University Catalog. If you are a prospective student, consult the most recent version of the Catalog.

How the Program Operates

The program offers Master of Education in Bilingual Education (Spanish-English) and Master of Education in English as a Second Language degrees. Its purpose is to provide additional training in the form of a Master of Education degree for teachers who work with, or are preparing to work with, English language learners. We have tried to make it as convenient as possible. Nevertheless, the program can be very taxing and even grueling at times.

BSU professors will travel to each campus 3 weekends per 8-week session. The schedule calls for 2 classes per semester. For the first eight weeks of the semester, one 3-credit hour class will be offered. The same schedule will be followed for the second eight-week period.

Graduate Core (a 4-credit hour block of classes) must be completed. It is offered on the BSU campus during the first session of the summer, usually 5 weeks. (It is now also offered during the regular semester. See Schedule of Classes for day and time.)

During the second summer of the program, we will probably offer one or two 3-credit hour classes. Treasure Valley students or Magic Valley students may have to travel to either one of the sites for two weeks to complete this course.

Cost per 3-credit-hour class is the same for Idaho residents and non-residents: $840

Follow the links for a more comprehensive listing of Masters of Education Classes offered through 2010.

For downloadable Program Development forms for MEd. Bilingual and MEd. ESL follow the links.

Where are classes held?

Most classes are held at the Boise State University West Campus (Nampa) and BSU extension centers in the Twin Falls area. Although, some classes may be offered at Boise State University Campus in Boise, or other BSU extension centers. Most classes will rotate from year to year giving those students in rural areas opportunities to meet at a central location without having to travel for extended distances.

The Required Practicum

The bilingual/ESL program requires that you attend an intensive practicum experience in a bilingual or ESL classroom.

Scholarship students will travel to an out-of-state practicum during the BSU spring break. Non-scholarship students will participate in a similar practicum on the BSU campus and local schools.

Monday through Friday is spent observing, working with and co-teaching with an outstanding bilingual/ESL teacher. You will work in classrooms using bilingual education, ESL, or a combination of the two. Students will meet with host teacher at the beginning and end of the practicum in a seminar format.

Previous students have rated the practicum as the most outstanding work of their Master of Education program.

Idaho Teaching Certificate

When you complete this degree, you can have your Idaho Certificate endorsed for bilingual education and/or ESL for K-12. The Idaho legislature passed a bill recently approving rigorous new standards for bilingual education and ESL endorsements. The program meets these standards. ESL participants will need to have at least 4 credit hours of a foreign language. This program does not provide foreign language classes.

Bilingual Education

To be a bilingual teacher is to be prepared to teach all content area subjects in two languages, Spanish and English, and to teach them in the context of both the Latino and Anglo cultures. In other words, you must be fluent in Spanish and English.

The four major goals of bilingual education are as follows:

To teach English to non-English-speaking students or students learning English;
To maintain the students at grade level in the content subjects while they are learning English;
To ensure students meet the same rigorous academic standards that all other students meet; and
To prepare them to meet requirements so that they can graduate from high school on time.

English as a Second Language (ESL)

The primary purpose of English as a Second Language (ESL) is to teach students English, enabling them to succeed in schools where English is the language of instruction. ESL is not designed to do the work of bilingual education, that is, teach all of the content subjects in a way that will maintain students at grade level. It is designed primarily to teach English by using vocabulary and structures commonly found in the content area classes.

Special Notice

The Federal grant that supports the scholarships for this program has been renewed for 5 years, beginning with the 2004-2005 academic year. As long as Federal grant money is available, classes will continue to be offered on the CSI campus in Twin Falls as well as the Boise State West campus. Students taking classes on the CSI campus may have to travel to the Boise or Nampa campus to complete their coursework.

Deadlines for Graduate Students:

This is a short list of deadlines for graduate students and is meant to be used only as a general guideline. The final source for all deadlines and the most current information for the university is the online Academic Calendar at: http://registrar.boisestate.edu/Calendars.htm

To Apply

Contact the BSU Bilingual Education Office by calling (208) 426-4077 in Southwest Idaho, or toll-free from the rest of the State by calling 1-800-632-6586, extension 4077. If you are outside Idaho, call toll-free by dialing 1-800-824-7017, extension 4077. Ask for Wilma Kamphaus, Program Assistant. You may send an e-mail to her at wmorgan@boisestate.edu or you may send a fax to (208) 426-4006. She can give you the details, and other information to get you started.

You must apply for admission into the Graduate College at BSU. To apply, please visit their web site at http://www.boisestate.edu/gradcoll/. You may apply online.

Check the bilingual Education Home Page regularly for updates at http://education.boisestate.edu/bilingual-esl/.