'Significant shift' coming to ESL programs to end systemic racism, Peel board says

One of Greater Toronto's largest school boards says its making "significant changes" to end discriminatory practices in its English as a Second Language program.

The Peel District School Board (PDSB) says it is following through on directives from the Ministry of Education aimed at ending systemic racism, increasing communication with families about the ESL process and making other improvements to its program.

One of those improvements, the board says, is "translanguaging." According to a description online, it's an approach where multilingual students can take notes in their mother tongue while learning a lesson in English, for example. Or they can speak both languages interchangeably in class to understand a subject.  

"This is a significant shift," Rasulan Hoppie, the board's superintendent of curriculum, instruction and assessment, told CBC News. 

"More of our educators are having a better understanding of using the language, using the pieces of [students'] identity to their strength and to their benefit."

Changes are long overdue, according to students in the PDSB. The news comes after a CBC Toronto story in which students took part in a panel discussion about the racism and discrimination they face in the board's schools. One of them, Lidia Tewodros, spoke of being forced to take ESL — even though she already spoke the language well.

Tewodros, a Grade 11 student, said when she arrived with her family from Ethiopia, she was placed in an ESL class at her school in Brampton, Ont. She was in Grade 3 at the time.

"They kept insisting to put me in ESL, even though I was excelling in English class and had a high reading level," she said.

"But because of my accent, and because I was an immigrant, they were like, 'No, she can't speak; she has to go into ESL.'"

Tewodros said she couldn't think of any other explanation aside from discrimination.

Since CBC News broadcast the panel discussion with Tewodros and three other PDSB students, several readers and viewers from Peel Region have commented about having similar experiences — or knowing someone else who was placed in ESL classes despite speaking English fluently.

The PDSB says it's aware of the issue and says it's determined to resolve it. The board says while the Ministry of Education's list of directives to combat racism and discrimination doesn't specifically mention ESL, many of the the directives — including destreaming and equity audits — include changes that would improve its ESL program.

"What we want to be doing in the PDSB is making sure that what has happened to Lidia and may have happened to other students is no longer happening," said Donna Ford, the board's superintendent of Indigenous education, anti-racism, anti-oppression and community partnerships.

"Those directives are about changing practice," she said. "Pointing to practices such as what Lidia has experienced, and saying that's no longer okay."