Skip to main content
University of Nebraska Omaha logo University of Nebraska Omaha
APPLY MY UNO DIRECTORY

Students Faculty Staff Community
APPLY MY UNO DIRECTORY
Students Faculty Staff Community
  • About
    About UNO
    • Leadership
    • Mission and Strategic Plan
    • Accreditation
    • Our City: Omaha
    • Facts & Figures
    • News
    • Events
    • Organizational Units
    • Campus Safety
    • Buildings and Maps
    Get Started
    • Apply
    • Campus Visit
    • Contact Us
    Front view of UNO's ASH building
    Get Started Today

    Apply Now
  • Academics
    Majors and Programs
    • Undergraduate Programs
    • Master's Programs
    • Doctoral Programs
    • International Programs
    • Online Programs
    • Class Search
    Colleges
    • College of Arts and Sciences
    • College of Business Administration
    • College of Communication, Fine Arts and Media
    • College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences
    • College of Information Science & Technology
    • College of Public Affairs and Community Service
    • Graduate Studies
    Resources
    • Catalogs
    • Academic Calendar
    • Library
    • Advising
    • Academic Affairs
    • Registrar
    • Academic Support
    • Request Transcript
    Top view glance of calendar showing August 2024
    Deadlines Are Approaching

    View year-at-a-glance calendars that include term start and end dates, and school holidays.

    Academic Calendar
  • Cost & Aid Backback to Main menu
    • Undergraduate Tuition
    • Graduate Tuition
    • Financial Support
    • Cost of Attendance
    • Undergraduate Scholarships
    • All Scholarship Information
    • Military and Veterans Benefits
    • Consumer Information
  • Admissions
    Get Started
    • Apply
    • Complete Your FAFSA
    • Schedule a Campus Visit
    • Request Info
    Admitted Students
    • Orientation
    • Enrollment Deposit
    • Transcripts
    • UNO 101
    • New Student & Family Events
    Cost & Aid
    • Undergraduate Tuition
    • Graduate Tuition
    • Financial Aid
    • Cost of Attendance
    • Scholarships
    • Military and Veterans Benefits
    • Consumer Information
    Admissions
    • Undergraduate Admissions
    • Transfer Students
    • Graduate Admissions
    Students walking together on campus for a tour
    Visit UNO's Campus

    Schedule a Tour
  • Student Life
    Campus Life
    • Event Calendar
    • Athletics
    • Campus Dining
    • Student Housing
    • Campus Recreation
    • Milo Bail Student Center
    • Parking and Transportation
    • Campus Safety
    Involvement and Leadership
    • Student Organizations
    • Student Government
    • Career Services and Internships
    • Spirit and Tradition
    • Student Leadership, Involvement, and Inclusion
    Support
    • Academic Support
    • Maverick Advising Center
    • Accessibility
    • Durango's Advancement & Support Hub (DASH)
    • Student Service
    • Student Safety
    Resources
    • Health Services
    • Military-Connected Resources
    • Student Conduct and Community Standards
    • Division of Student Life and Wellbeing
    Students participating in a beading craft activity
    Get Involved on Campus

    See Events Calendar
  • Engagement
    Students
    • Student Service and Leadership Collaborative
    • Find Volunteer Opportunities
    • Maverick Food Pantry
    • Voter Information
    • Internship Opportunities
    • Career Services
    • Student Resources
    • Become an Engaged Scholar
    Faculty and Staff
    • Faculty Senate
    • Center for Faculty Excellence
    • Staff Advisory Council
    • Faculty Resources
    • Engaged Research
    • Service Learning Academy
    • Community-Based Learning Courses
    Community
    • Campus Resources
    • Service Learning Academy
    • Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center
    • Promote Volunteer Opportunities
    • Promote Internship Opportunities
    • Rent Office Space
    • Senior Passport Program
    • Community Engagement Partnership Initiative
    Office of Engagement
    • Connect to Campus
    • Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center
    • Service Learning Academy
    • Rent Office Space
    • Samuel Bak Museum: The Learning Center
    • Partner With Us
    • Senior Passport Program
    • Nebraska Business Development Center
    • Community Partners on Campus
    Student volunteering with a food bank
    Connect with Us

    Contact the Office of Engagement
  • Research
    Student
    • Research and Creative Activity Fair
    • Graduate Research (GRACA)
    • Student Conference Travel Fund
    • Undergraduate Scholarly Experience (FUSE) Fund
    Faculty
    • Grant Databases
    • External Funding
    • Awards and Committees
    • Office of Sponsored Programs
    Research at UNO
    • Office of Research and Creative Activity
    • Research News
    • Centers and Institutes
    Students giving presentations on research projects
    UNO Pushes Innovation Forward

    Read UNO Research News
  • Athletics
    Men's Teams
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Golf
    • Hockey
    • Soccer
    • Swimming & Diving
    • Tennis
    Women's Teams
    • Basketball
    • Cross Country
    • Golf
    • Soccer
    • Softball
    • Swimming & Diving
    • Tennis
    • Track & Field
    • Volleyball
    Game Day Resources
    • Purchase Tickets
    • Team Schedules
    • Buy Maverick Gear
    Baxter Arena
    • Calendar
    • Tickets
    • Directions & Parking
    • Clear Bag Policy
    • Public Skating
    Hockey player walking out on the ice arena
    Cheer on our Mavericks!

    Buy Tickets
  • Alumni Backback to Main menu
    • Alumni
    • Transcripts
    • Thompson Center
  1. UNO
  2. News
  3. 2016
  4. 12
  5. Faculty Focus: Sandra Rodríguez-Arroyo

Faculty Focus: Sandra Rodríguez-Arroyo

  • contact: University Communications - University Communications
  • phone: 402.554.2704
  • email: unonews@unomaha.edu
  • search keywords:
  • faculty focus
  • kvno
  • interview
image
This weekly program features educators from across the University of Nebraska system.

"Friday Faculty Focus with Brandon McDermott” airs each Friday at 7 a.m. and noon on all-classical 90.7 KVNO, a broadcast service of the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO).

On Friday, Dec. 2, KVNO aired McDermott's interview with Sandra Rodríguez-Arroyo, assistant professor of Teacher Education at UNO. They discussed the importance of readying future educators for teaching English language learners.

Listen to their conversation here, or read the transcript below:


Brandon: Dr. Sandra Rodriguez-Arroyo, thanks for meeting with me.

Dr. Rodríguez-Arroyo: Thank you so much for the invitation.

Brandon: Talk about the importance of ESL jobs with more than 60 million Americans speaking a language other than English at home.

Dr. Rodríguez-Arroyo: Right now, the field of English as a Second Language or ESL as it’s commonly called, is an ever expanding field. It has never been more important. We have had immigrants for years, but I feel like there have been many different gaps in the process, that people would address it temporarily, without permanent training of teachers at all levels and what I mean is a lot of it is early childhood up to adult education.

Brandon: There's been about a 34 percent boost over the past 10 years in Nebraska schools of English language learners (ELL). Is that growth of students being met with ESL teachers or is there a shortage?

Dr. Rodríguez-Arroyo: There's definitely a shortage - especially in rural Nebraska. They are struggling because they didn’t expect a growth and if you see the map of the Department of Education Nebraska has, which addresses the different areas. It goes from east to west and of course you have Omaha as one of the biggest areas, as well as Lincoln. But you also have Scottsbluff and areas closer to Colorado that have a large number of English language learners and they're mostly rural locations. That's where the need is the biggest and the (place for) preparation is not quite close. So, there is not a university close enough to address the need to prepare those teachers and what I have been encountering too, has been the school districts are not only asking for an ESL teacher, but a teacher that is prepared to teach English language learners with an endorsement, which is what Nebraska offers, is an added endorsement to your teachers certification. But we have schools, for example, I go with my students to Field Club elementary here in Omaha and 60 percent of the kids are English language learners. So, what do you do? Are you going to just hire ESL teachers or are you going to hire a teacher that is prepared to address a need inside the classroom?

Brandon: How do we roll out those changes? How do we prepare future and current teachers to work with the growing rate of English language learners here in Nebraska?

Dr. Rodríguez-Arroyo: I think one of the biggest problems that we have is that the Nebraska Department of Education doesn’t require even a course for future teachers or current teachers. I lived in Pennsylvania for 10 years and as I was moving out to come to Nebraska, they were requiring this “Foundations of ESL” course for all the teacher candidates - similar to what we require for special education and similar to what we require for other fields. However (this is not the case) in Nebraska. We don't have a requirement. The ESL endorsement is actually required by the districts, but is “recommended” by the state. So the state does require you to have that preparation if you're definitely going to be working with an English language learner - but it's not a requirement at the state level.

Brandon: As a professor in the Teacher Education Department, what are some things you instill in students?

Dr. Rodríguez-Arroyo: One thing that I instill in the students is that there's a large diversity in the English language learners, that they are going to be working with. We're not talking about those are just immigrants; we're talking about those students who are already here. We also have those students who are coming with their parents who are educated. Then we have those students with what is called the limited or interrupted formal education - student’s who’ve gone through a lot in their lives and have been barely able to go to go to school. So if you go to a place like a teen literacy center you're going to find high school students taking reading or writing classes at the very basic level from learning the alphabet to numbers. Then we have students that are able to learn English a lot quicker because they had a background in English in their home countries. Or they come from a highly educated background. What are the family structures? How do they address learning at home? What are the things that they like and do not like? How do they discipline kids? Those are things that are going to affect them more than actually having to “dress like a Mexican” because that is very stereotypical.

Brandon: Is there something else you'd like to touch on or something you'd like to cover before we go?

Dr. Rodríguez-Arroyo: I think that one of the biggest needs that we have in the ESL field is that we have our student’s think of the English language learners as somebody they’re going to be helping. I like to take that away a little bit, because I don't like them mentality of helping. We are providing a service, we are learning from them. We have tons of resources coming from the parents that we are not tapping. Because we just feel that there are the “others” we're going to be helping them, but I think it's more than help if we take the opportunity to get into the field. It’s just one of those areas that you're always going to encounter - you have to be flexible. You have to be open to new ideas, you have to open to new cultures and embrace it with all your heart.


Listen Friday, Dec. 9 for an interview with the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Phillip Smith. Want to be a future guest, or know someone who should be? Send an email to bmcdermott@unomaha.edu.

  • News Sections:
  • UNO News Center
  • Maverick Daily
  • The Bullseye
  • Campus Events

News Sections

  • News Center
  • Maverick Daily
  • The Bullseye
  • Campus Events

Featured Stories

  • UNO and the College World Series
  • UNO Statistician Who Predicted the 2024 Men’s CWS Champion Releases 2025 Forecast
  • 10 Things to Know About UNO During the College World Series
  • Durango Steps Up to the Plate for UNO, CWS Partnership

Contact Us

If you have a story idea, news tip, or other question, please email the UNO News team at unonews@unomaha.edu.

About the Office of Strategic Marketing and Communications (MarComm)

Next Steps

  • Visit UNO
  • Request Information
  • Apply for Admission
  • The UNO Advantage
  • Our City (Omaha)

Just For You

  • Future Students
  • Current Students
  • Work at UNO
  • Faculty and Staff
  • A-Z List

Popular Services and Resources

  • my.unomaha.edu
  • Academic Calendar
  • Campus Buildings & Maps
  • Library
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Course Catalogs
  • Internships & Career Development
  • The Maverick Store
  • MavCARD Services
  • Military-Connected Resource Center
  • Speech Center
  • Writing Center
  • Human Resources
  • Center for Faculty Excellence

Affiliates

  • University of Nebraska System
  • NU Foundation
  • Buffett Early Childhood Institute
  • Daugherty Water for Food Institute
  • National Strategic Research Institute
  • Peter Kiewit Institute
  • Rural Prosperity Nebraska
  1. University Policies
  2. Privacy Statement
  3. Accessibility
  1. 402.554.2800

University of Nebraska Omaha
University of Nebraska Omaha, 6001 Dodge Street, Omaha, NE, 68182
  • ©  
  • Emergency Information Alert
  • MavsReport

Social Media


Omaha Skyline

Our Campus. Otherwise Known as Omaha.

The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and/or political affiliation in its education programs or activities, including admissions and employment. The University prohibits any form of retaliation taken against anyone for reporting discrimination, harassment, or retaliation for otherwise engaging in protected activity. Read the full statement.