There are many challenges that I face in my instructional setting. My students are part of a dual language curriculum in which they learn English and Spanish simultaneously. Their native language is Spanish and most of them are learning English as a second language and come from homes where one or both parents do not speak English. One of the challenges I face daily is the different levels on each language and the different learning styles. When my children are on the Spanish portion of their day, they are very social and they enjoy working in groups to solve different tasks and participate throughout the lessons. During Spanish small reading groups I have different learning styles that I need to merge into my lessons. For small group I classify …show more content…
Each individual has their own needs and they are grouped with students that are performing at the same level, but they do not enjoy the same things or learn the same way. My above grade level group is the one with the most similar …show more content…
I have 22 students in my classroom and all of them are at different levels in English. I have 5 students who are proficient and 17 who are English Language Learners. Out of these 17 students, 5 are newcomers and have very little English skills. The other 12 are at different levels and need different skills and strategies to support- their language development. When I create my lessons I need to incorporate strategies to help them acquire the necessary English skills and try as much as I can to meet the different learning styles. This is very difficult to accomplish because often times I am not able to meet all the different learning styles throughout one lesson. I have a combination of learning preferences in my room including verbal, visual, physical-kinesthetic and social. Visuals are essential and are present during most of my lessons. My students need visual support to be able to understand the concepts and make the connections between English and Spanish. The verbal and social parts are a little tricky, because even though some children are social learners, they struggle sharing and working in groups to complete English tasks. Sometimes they are shy because they do not know the English concepts or are afraid to use English to speak in public. The other situation is that some students are very comfortable using this
Teachers need to specify the learning goal and plan the activities to determine the final group size. For example, reading would be much more adept to a group of three or four, where there can be more concentration on vocabulary, phonetics and writing. The size of the group gives a chance for a more meaningful discussion to facilitate a positive learning environment. The small group gives more time for analysis and question and answer sessions th...
When visiting just about any school across America, students who attend come from all over the globe. This raises the question across America about bilingual education. This can create many challenges in and out of the classroom. The classroom should be a safe place for all students regardless of what native language they speak. In the essay Lost in translation written by Eva Hoffman, describes a foreign student who tries hard to fit in. Instead, Eva begins to feel angry, hurt and confused because people laugh at her. In Guiding Principles for Dual Language Education by Elizabeth R. Howard, Julie Sugarman, Donna Christian Center for Applied Linguistics Kathryn J. Lindholm-Leary San José State University David Rogers Dual Language Education of New Mexico. Guiding principles gives great ideas to educators to stop kids from making other students feel the way that Eva felt. After reading several articles about bilingual education, it is evident that all children in school should learn English but never lose their native language. When all the students speak one language, students will be less likely to make fun of each other. A good educator should learn enough foreign languages to aid them in effective communication in their classroom although; if an educator does not speak a foreign language, they should recruit within the classroom students to be peer mentors. However, a teacher should be willing to listen and encourage the students. Above all a good educator should be a good role model to their students by respecting their heritage and their language.
Being bilingual always made my life differ as if I lived two lives, speaking Spanish at home and English everywhere outside of home. On the daily basis at my house, my family speaks Spanish. When we communicate we speak very fast, at times we can not even understand one another. After this occurs we all burst out in laughter super loud, no boundaries are enforced in our lexicon. The enforcement changes when entering a different discourse community.
Different learning styles are the talk of many school districts from near and far. The study of different learning styles has gone back since the late 19th to the early 20th centuries. We all know that people have different ways of learning, so teachers try to teach the way their students learn the best. There are different types of learning styles for example: visual, audio, and kinesthetic. Auditory is of or pertaining to hearing, or to the sense or organs of hearing; as, the auditory nerve. Visual is having the nature of or producing an image in the mind. Kinesthetic is the sense that detects bodily position, weight, or movement of the muscles, tendons, and joints. (www.dictionary.com)
...nly achieving up to the teacher’s expectations. If students are placed in a grouping where learning is done at a slower pace and concepts are understood in a longer period of time, then some students may work to that level even though they are capable of achieving more. There is the possibility of pigeon-holding students into how “smart” or “intelligent” they are and some may only work to the level they are grouped in. Even if they did not do so consciously, teachers may treat students in the different groups as superior of inferior based on their groupings, leading to the perception by the students that they are not talented enough to do as well as their peers in other groups. If your school is considering the possibility of using ability grouping as an educational tool, help them to consider the above advantages and disadvantages before making any policy decisions.
My first semester in fieldwork, I observed a fifth-grade class, I am not sure if the teacher implemented different valuables in her lesson for the newly ELL students. However, she did assign peer group while associating that child with learning English word of the body parts, clothing, etc. One of my concerns I have is trying to understand how applying these mini lessons and lesson plan apply to other learners with other special needs and how is that going to
“Schools are changing in ways that, up until a few years ago, we thought unimaginable. Today, schools are more diverse than ever, and those trends will continue into the future. Unfortunately, teachers and schools have not always met the challenge of linguistic and cultural diversity” (Laureate, 2014). We must take the opportunity to get to know our students in order to recognize and value their uniqueness. “Teachers must work to understand the cultures of their students in a meaningful way, which involves recognizing the beliefs, values, and behaviors that characterize the various cultures of their students. Students themselves can be a valuable resource in learning about a culture” (Trail, 2000). Observations are a valuable method of assessment. Through observations, teachers can take note on students’ development, learning styles, students’ needs, and cultural influences. Teachers can use these notes to make better choices that impact student learning. These observations and interactions will also help us learn about other cultures. Having the opportunity to observe and interact with the students will equip you with information that cannot be learned from a book.
As stated before, there are twenty- two students in my homeroom class. Students were placed based on their learning levels. Five students receive English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL/ELL) and ninety- five percent of the classroom population is performing below grade level. As a result, majority of my lessons were written to reflect the learning needs of these students. The use of visuals, graphic organizers and flexible grouping are just some of the strategies that were utilized to help those students acquire the necessary knowledge to be successful in the content area of Social Studies.
As this will be a very simple and basic lesson, it should reach all students, at every level. There will be a new vocabulary to be learned, but it will be introduced slowly, thus giving time for all children to learn. As there are a couple of ELL students in the classroom (both speak Spanish), if possible, teacher will give instructions to these children, both in English and Spanish, as well as model what they will have to do. There is also a student with ADHD, who the teacher will sit next to her during lecture time and use him as a helper in order to keep him engaged in the lesson. During the small group activity, ADHD child will sit on a bouncy ball in order to give him the movement he needs without moving away from the
By using the linguistic culture capital, Australian students can further develop their network with people from the global society, and therefore increase their social capital. Having a second language equip all Australian students to further develop their linguistic cultural capital, so that they will have tools to develop and enrich the social, cultural and economic relations with its neighbours (Welch, 2018). These neighbours including China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and European countries where Australian migrants came from: Germany, Italy, Greece, Eastern Europe and the Arab world (Welch, 2018). Being able to speak another language allows Australian students to communicate and build relationships with individuals who come to Australia with
As a future teacher with an emphasis in ENL, I feel that ,while there are many approaches to teaching ELLs, the best one is a dual language program. Students spend more time in a classroom with students who speak the same language as each other instead of classrooms where they spend more time in classrooms with other language speakers.
When grouping students together I will make sure that I select students with various abilities. This will ensure that the groups that form will be inclusive and diverse.
Students’ classroom learning styles can be viewed as patterns or characteristics in response to the learning contexts, and are usually considered
My classes' abilities range from high to very low. The highest of my students can read, speak in full descriptive sentences, respond creatively, and appropriately to thought provoking questions. Whereas, my lowest students know only a couple letters of the alphabet, have difficulty coming up with meaningful sentences and often answer questions with statements that have no bearing on the subject matter. My biggest challenge when planning for this period of instruction was to find a way to actively involve all of my students and offer success for everyone, regardless of skill level. I decided to have stations where 4 students, at a time, would be engaged in stimulating activities and where there would be very little "wait"...
As time goes by and as the global community develops, the world grows more and more international, making second or third language acquisition become necessary to the majority. With the growing importance of multiple language ability, more and more parents think of bilingual or multilingual education, which means acquisitions of two or more languages, for their kids. In fact, we do have many reasons showing why multilingual education is important and beneficial, such as aspects of interpersonal relationship, employment, brain health, and so on.