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Principles and theories of bilingual education
Principles and theories of bilingual education
Principles and theories of bilingual education
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Classroom Observation
For my observation, I observed a first grade bilingual classroom. This first grade class has 22 students who are second language learners. During the time I observe it was only English time, so I was able to observe all the strategies the teacher used to support students.
Physical setting:
The physical setting of the classroom was arrange for a bilingual class because the wall were fill with words, colors, and pictures in English and Spanish. The time I was observing the students took place in the carpet. Students were seated in groups of four. The teacher used hint to help students understand when she wanted students to talk to each other. The teacher also had a word wall only in English. Books were arranged by level and by language. There are a lot of pictures all around the classroom to help support students learning. The tables were arranged by groups and on top of their desk there were a name tag with the number and the colors in English.
Strategies:
Walking around I can observe that student’s population is Hispanic who are ESL. This student’s first language is Spanish and has little bit knowledge of English. They are able to take conversation with their peer with the Basic English they know, but struggle to talk in complete sentences. For example the
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When the teacher was giving instruction to the students she would point to one of the charts to help students understand and practices their vocabulary. The teacher was able to accommodate students by drawing pictures and modeling students when she was explain. For example one of the words on the vocabulary chart was (pilgrims) the teacher defined the word first with a picture to help students understand and activate their knowledge. Then she would write the definition and would use echo reading to help students develop
“Let Them Talk!” written by Wayne E. Wright is an article that focuses on the idea of promoting English Language Learners (ELL) oral-language skills in the classroom instruction time to improve their literacy and academic achievement. Too often are an ELL’s speaking and listening skills overlooked and not given enough attention to, even though it is one of the most important parts of communication. Wright encourages teachers working with ELL students to allow time for the student to adjust, not to pressure them into their language development, respect their various stages, bring them into whole class and small group discussions, correct simple language errors in speaking that impeded comprehension, and have them interact and communicate in the classroom for meaningful purposes.
Recently immigrated parents often learn English from their children. Over 70% of Hispanic Americans in California are English Language Learners (ELL) and are given the resour...
Purcell, J., Lee, M., & Biffin, J. (2006). Supporting bilingual children in early childhood. Learning Links. Retrieved from http://www.learninglinks.org.au/pdf/infosheets/LLIS%2050_Bilingualism.pdf
The technique relies on a holistic approach that adopts instructions that allow students to actively participate in the learning process. This is easier for children that feel that the society appreciates their diversity through bilingualism and biliteracy. The society and parents need to encourage children to take up bilingual classes because they offer a lot of benefit to the society through favoring critical thinking, rationality, and sensitivity to other cultures, empathy, and detached or balanced awareness. However, Sonia Nieto mirrors a society that is made to fake being American and become ashamed of their family. It helps appreciate that it is not by choice that anyone speaks any other language as the first language and that the society and community influence the language of choice. Therefore, bilingualism cannot be detached from any community that freely promotes and accommodate the language spoken by the other community. Children and community members learn each other’s language without disregarding each other favoring effective learning that influences bilingualism and biliteracy in the long
Every year, the number of immigrants in the U.S. has grown “significantly.” Chen predicts that by the year of 2020, public schools will have at least 50 percent of students that are non-English speakers (¶5). This shows that it is important that public schools have a successful ESL program. The purpose of ESL programs is “to enhance” ESL students learning, to help students’ “emotional well-being”, and to accelerate students’ ability to learn the new language. According to Chen, some district schools have failed to support ESL students’ learning. For example, Chen stated that “...[some] school districts [have been] accused of not meeting t...
The number of English language learning (ELL) students in the U.S. has grown dramatically in the last decade. According to a 1991 national study, there are over 2,300,000 students in grades K through 12 who are English language learners (August & Hakuta, 1997). This number has grown by over 1,000,000 since 1984. The majority of these students are Spanish-speakers (73%), followed by Vietnamese-speakers (3.9%). Because the overwhelming proportions of ELL students are Spanish speakers, the issue of bilingual education is largely a Latino one. No other language group makes up more than 4% of limited English proficient students. What complicates the issue of education for language minority students is their low socioeconomic status. 80% of ELL students are poor, and most attend schools where the majority of students also live in poverty and are English language learners. There is some difference in the level of poverty among language groups. Here, again, Latinos are disproportionately represented: 57% of Spanish-speaking families earn less than $20,000 compared to, for example, only 35% of families where Asian/Pacific Island languages are spoken (McArthur, 1993). Poverty has many implications for educational achievement, for example, parents' educational attainment mirror income levels, and parents' educational achievement is highly linked to that of their children's.
“In recent years the Hispanic population in America has achieved status as the largest minority group in the United States surpassing African-Americans (Baker, p.438).” This sudden increase in the Hispanic-American population is monumental when looking at the past few hundred years when African-Americans held the spot as the largest minority group in the United States. Across the United States this sudden and unprecedented influx of primarily native Spanish speakers has become more visible in some areas than others. Due to the rapid growth and migration of this group it can be seen that many migrant children have not had the time or the opportunity to learn English well enough to achieve success at their particular grade level in the public school system. Many of these bright and eager to learn migrant students fall by the wayside upon entering the public school system. Due to the rapid increase in populations of migrant students in various parts in the United States it has become necessary for localized school systems to adopt and implement programs, utilizing assistive technology, to incorporate English language proficiency programs to help teach migrant students so that they might have a chance at achieving success and continuing to higher education taught exclusively in English.
Teachers who work with English Language Learners know that academic language takes longer to achieve proficiency in than does conversational language. On average, ELL students need at least two years to achieve conversational language and, five to nine years to develop academic language proficiency. Many English words ELL students are exposed to in school, they have not yet learned or even heard in their first language, which makes transference of knowledge impossible. The vast differences in the ability to use conversational versus academic language can be a hindrance to these students and have lasting effects on their academics and therefore, their lives.
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.
Communication skills are crucial not only in the learning process but also forging social interactions with others because language helps to express ideas and understand someone else ideas. Children with limited language abilities may have difficulties developing reasoning skills and acquire new concepts. Latino students need to develop strong literacy skills in their own language before they are introduce to a second language. Learning in their own lang...
Monzó and Rueda (2009) conducted a study examining the concept of passing for English proficient in Latino immigrant children. They studied with a group of Latino English language learners (ELLs) in and outside of school. They not only observed these students, but also interviewed them as well. Within these interviews, students opened up about their feelings about their first language, English, and their place in American society. Monzó and Rueda (2009) then found within their data the most common forms of passing for English proficient that these students used.
The population of the United States increased with school age children speaking English as their second language. Strong community leaders and school districts are needed to ensure English language learners attend effective programs that teach them English and push them to graduate successfully (Buysse, Castro, and Peisner-Feinberg, 2010). School districts across America use their own approach to accommodate the learning of English language learners by having a single or combination of programs (Li and Edwards, 2010). Dual language programs allow children to collaborate in developmental levels such as cognitive with tasks in English and Spanish (Pascopella, 2011). English language learners and English proficient students learn from each other.
From my experience, bilingual education was a disadvantage during my childhood. At the age of twelve, I was introduced into a bilingual classroom for the first time. The crowded classroom was a combination of seventh and eighth grade Spanish-speaking students, who ranged from the ages of twelve to fifteen. The idea of bilingual education was to help students who weren’t fluent in the English language. The main focus of bilingual education was to teach English and, at the same time, teach a very basic knowledge of the core curriculum subjects: Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, bilingual education had academic, psychological, and social disadvantages for me.
It has always been difficult for SLPs (Speech Language Pathologist) to diagnose bilingual children. There are several factors that make bilingual children much harder to assess compared to monolingual children. First, the diversity makes it hard to group students together by language spoken because the language used can all be different. A classroom can include a Spanish bilingual, and a Chinese bilingual at the same time. Second, most SLPs are not bilingual.
Participants involved in providing educational services for ELLs were electronically invited to participate in the study. Phone interviews were conducted with 5 school-based employees. To be included in the study participants had to meet the following criteria: (a) employed by a school that offers services to children who are learning English as a second language, (b) worked in a school setting for a minimum of 5 years, (c) provided education services or made educational placement decisions for students who were identified as English Language Learners for a minimum of 5 years, and (d) be a proficient English speaker. Relevant personnel included English as a second language (ESL) teachers, ESL supervisors, and ESL program directions.