A day in the life of an itinerant ESL teacher.

1. Posted on Thu, Nov. 06, 2003
He goes the distance so they learn English
By Terry Bitman
Inquirer Staff Writer
GLASSBORO - It's 10:40 a.m. at the Glassboro
Intermediate School, and Bruce Rapsher already is
teaching his fourth class of the day, in his third school,
and tossing about words in maybe his fifth language.
When he leaves the Intermediate School after just one
period, he will have at least two more classes to teach at
two other Glassboro schools - one of which he has just
come from.
This head-spinning race from school to school is a typical
day for Rapsher, itinerant instructor of English as a
Second Language for about 30 students.
"It is very difficult," Rapsher says of teaching children to
speak, read, write and think in English, which is rarely
spoken in their homes. "Each situation is different. But I
love it."
ROSE HOWERTER / Inquirer
Bruce Rapsher, an English
as a Second Language
teacher in the Glassboro
district, leads a class at
Bullock Elementary
School.

2. Rapsher, 43, didn't start teaching until five years ago.
Now, with a have-laptop-will-travel attitude ("I move
around too much to carry too many papers"), Rapsher
teaches six scheduled classes - sometimes two more if he
can fit them in - each day at all three elementary schools
and the middle school, dashing about in his Honda CR-V.
Glassboro High School has its own ESL teacher.
"I run 21/2 miles every day," Rapsher says with a smile.
"I come to work and drive 71/2 miles during the school
day."
New Jersey requires ESL classes when a district has at
least 10 students with limited English proficiency, a
designation found by testing students who speak a
language other than English at home.
Enrollment in ESL programs in New Jersey rose 82
percent between 1985 and last fall, when it totaled
62,000. Overall enrollment was up 22 percent.
In North Jersey, half or more of some schools' students
have limited English proficiency. In South Jersey,
Camden's schools have the largest percentages of
limited-proficiency students.
About 38 percent of Camden students speak a language
other than English at home. Although Spanish is the
leading non-English language, many speak Vietnamese,
Cambodian or another language. Other districts with a
significant percentage of students speaking another
language at home include Chesilhurst, Delran and
Edgewater Park.
Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, districts are
held accountable if students do not improve in many
categories. Included are the language skills of students

3. who have limited English proficiency.
At Glassboro's Intermediate School, Jatinder Singh, 13,
who came from India two years ago speaking Panjabi,
works on an essay about three wishes he has. One
involves a car.
Rapsher urges him to think about the sentence structure.
"Is it a red, fast Ferrari, or a fast, red Ferrari?" he asks.
"I would like to have a fast, red Ferrari," Jatinder writes.
Then student and teacher share a personal moment.
"I have a toy Ferrari," Jatinder says.
"So did I," Rapsher replies.
Jatinder smiles.
Across from Jatinder sits Luis Rios, 12, who arrived from
Puerto Rico this year.
Luis is a basketball fan and, Rapsher says, a good player.
Luis, who has read a book about Stephon Marbury, works
on the ubiquitous laptop answering questions about the
NBA player.
Rapsher asks Luis to find typos Rapsher has left in the
questions. The boy does.
Then Rapsher turns back to Jatinder and helps him
structure another sentence in his essay.
"Don't forget to say 'the Ferrari,' " he reminds the
student.
Many languages don't have an article, he explains. "This

4. is a common problem."
Rapsher speaks French, some Japanese, and a word here
and there in some other languages. He also knows sign
language, which he uses to cross language barriers.
"This is kind of relaxing after the last class," Rapsher
says as the class of two works on. "There I feel like Bob
Barker."
Rapsher's previous class was a group of kinetic first and
second graders at Bullock Elementary School, less than a
mile from the Intermediate School.
"OK, stand up. Let's burn off some energy," Rapsher says
to start the class.
Then he begins to sign, leading the students through the
alphabet.
"It's the common denominator," he says. "It levels the
field. You have kids here whose English is all over the
place."
Four boys, ages 6 to 8, are learning word beginnings and
endings.
A stuffed skunk flies across the room, thrown by Rapsher
to Enrique Santiago, 6.
"What are the first two letters?" the teacher asks.
"SK," Enrique says.
"The last two?"
"NK" the boy replies.
Rapsher instructs Enrique to write the letters on the

5. board, then fill in the middle letter.
The boy looks puzzled.
"It is this one," Rapsher says, holding his hand high, the
first two fingers together pointing up, the others folded
down, forming the sign for U.
Rapsher grabs a potted plant and takes it to Albren Kir,
6, whose native language is Turkish, guiding the boy to
find the A in the middle of plant.
Rapsher, a Temple University graduate, was a salesman
of interior-design products for several years.
"I got to the point where I was working for a couple of
companies that said, 'You do good work,' and then they
terminated me," says Rapsher, who lives in the Queen
Village section of Philadelphia.
He thought about other careers, including teaching
history, and eventually went to graduate school at the
College of New Jersey. But not before his wife, Ellen, a
librarian in the Cinnaminson school system, had him
meet an ESL teacher there, Barbara Veska.
"My wife is a very wise woman," Rapsher says.
In Veska's class he saw a little girl from Bosnia who,
when she arrived in Cinnaminson, not only didn't speak
English, but was so terrified she hid under the desk when
a bell sounded.
"Within two years," Rapsher relates, "she spoke English
with a New Jersey accent."
Not all stories are successes.
"Last year I had a girl from Somalia, and, well, her

6. history was really tough," he says pensively. "She comes
from a war-torn country, and that adds a lot of stress,
makes it all tougher. You have to work through the stress
with her."
Then she was gone. To where, Rapsher doesn't know.
Rapsher has taught ESL for five years, the last three in
Glassboro. He measures success not just by how
students read and speak, but how they think and act.
"I want them to be independent," Rapsher says, "not to
depend on others. That's why I don't use a dictionary in
class. I want them to read the context of a sentence and
make a guess [on the meaning].
"That's what it is about, being willing to take a chance."
Contact staff writer Terry Bitman at 856-779-3919 or
tbitman@phillynews.com.

7. history was really tough," he says pensively. "She comes
from a war-torn country, and that adds a lot of stress,
makes it all tougher. You have to work through the stress
with her."
Then she was gone. To where, Rapsher doesn't know.
Rapsher has taught ESL for five years, the last three in
Glassboro. He measures success not just by how
students read and speak, but how they think and act.
"I want them to be independent," Rapsher says, "not to
depend on others. That's why I don't use a dictionary in
class. I want them to read the context of a sentence and
make a guess [on the meaning].
"That's what it is about, being willing to take a chance."
Contact staff writer Terry Bitman at 856-779-3919 or
tbitman@phillynews.com.