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Multicultural and bilingual education
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Chapter eleven from Language Exploration and Awareness, written by Larry Andrews, puts a perspective on the amount of children that are in the United States who at one point did not speak English. The numbers have produced and are still developing today. For me, the issue of non-English speakers in a classroom is interesting because I come from a small town where everyone’s culture and language is essentially the same. Therefore, while reading this chapter, I asked myself the question, what would I do if I had some students who did not speak English in my classroom, just as Andrews ask this question in chapter eleven.
The first thing I would do is educate myself on the culture and ethnicity of the students who do not speak English. Educating myself will help me relate to the students and use the knowledge I gained to help the students learn. Also, I think it’s a good idea to educate the students that do speak English about the background knowledge of the non-speaking students to prevent culture shock, and to help students become more accepting of non-English speaking students. A good way to educate the students is to teach them hello in the native language of the students that do not speak English. Therefore, the students can properly greet the ELL students and make them feel welcome. In addition, we need to teach the ELL learners
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If the students do not understand the language, then it 's very hard for them to do the assignments that an English speaking student would have. An example of an alternative assignment would be if a teacher gives an assignment for the class to write definition from a book, instead of having the ELL students write definitions, have them look up the word in their native language, so they know what the word is. I believe the key to being effective when helping LLE students learn is to move gradually at a pace that works for the
“Standard English was imposed on children of immigrant parents, then the children were separated from native English speakers, then the children were labeled “inferior” and “ignorant” (Hughes 70) because they could not speak Standard English. In addition to feeling inferior about their second language skills, these students also felt inadequate in regard to speaking their own mother tongues” (qtd in Kanae)
Lisa Delpit’s book, “The Skin We Speak”, talked about language and culture, and how it relates to the classroom. How we speak gives people hits as to where we are from and what culture we are a part of. Unfortunately there are also negative stereotypes that come with certain language variations. There is an “unfounded belief that the language of low income groups in rural or urban industrial areas is somehow structurally “impoverished” or “simpler” than Standard English” (Delpit 71). The United States is made of people from various cultures and speak many different variations of languages. As teachers we must be aware of some of the prejudices we may have about language and culture.
The essay starts off by talking about a common belief shared by many parents now about how students miss out on “a great deal by not being taught their family’s language”(Rodriguez 525). But the author states that this isn’t always true especially considering the children who are socially disadvantaged in any way, they more than likely consider their native tongue or the language used at home to be just that a private language that should only be used around or with the family, he also highlights how odd it was that his childhood classmates
After reading this article, I feel like I have a fresh and new look on how to better spot children who are falling behind in their language proficiency. References: Lippi-Green, R. (2012). The 'Path of the English with an accent (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. Monzó, L. D., & Rueda, R. (2009).
There are several key ideas that are crucial to understanding the best way to teach young, ELL students. The first idea is the importance of recognizing ELL’s feelings of isolation and alienation. When a teacher recognizes this, they are more capable of helping the student feel a part of the class. The student will struggle to participate if they do not feel like they belong with the other students. There is not only a language barrier, but also sociocultural differences that prohibit them from feeling accepted. Tiffany emphasizes the importance of acknowledging this problem and being aware during classroom activities. She suggests that you get a deep understanding of their cultural background, not just a “touristy” one.
Echevarria, J. Teaching language minority students in elementary schools (Research Brief No. 1). Santa Cruz, CA, and Washington, DC: Center for Research on Education, Diversity & Excellence. (2003)
The statistics of those not speaking English could lead to the idea that English is diminishing in certain sections of the United States. An example of this is shown in the article “Why the U.S. Needs an Official Languag...
In recent years, large numbers of immigrants have migrated into the USA from Mexico, Philippine, Vietnam, China, and other counties. As of 2009, immigrants comprised 12.5% (38.5 million) of the total U.S. population (Batalova and Aaron par. 7). In 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau found that 50.4% of children younger than the age of one were Hispanic, black, Asian American, or belonging to other minority groups (Morello and Ted par. 2), and more than 60 million people who are 5 years old and older spoke a language other than English at home (Camille 3). Faced with the cultural diversity brought by immigrants, many nativists worry that the United States will lose the English language as an important core of a common cultural unity. With the help of organizations such as U.S. English and ProEnglish, the English-only movement is experiencing its second resurgence since the 1980’s.
Sociocultural influences on ELL students are very strong; some families feel that their social life is a major part of their culture. The use of bilingualism is someone that is fluent in two different languages. An ELL students home language can be quite different than English. The students’ family may have no desire to speak English. This cause many learning delays because of the lack of practice. The parental and community resources for English acquisition in my area are scarce, but they did locate an amazing website for ELL families. The school district around me can improve their home and school relationship by getting the families more involved in their child’s education.
...l survival in our society. I work as a counselor each summer at a sports camp in Philadelphia, and each summer I encounter very intelligent students who are placed in lower tracks or labeled as ìlearning deficientî because of their language. This disturbs me because as a speaker of both Black Vernacular speech and Standard English, I know that students can learn to use Standard English just as I have. Unfortunately, many students are not privileged enough to have the same educational opportunities that I was given by my parents, therefore, it is my responsibility to teach these students Standard English the way that I have been taught. But I must learn more about teaching students and dealing with the issues that plague the educational system, and I am looking forward to receiving more of this knowledge during my pre-student teaching and student teaching experiences.
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.
This course has provided me with the insight and knowledge to know that English Language Learners are really valuable to our classrooms and that they may become discouraged because they feel discriminated or unaccepted. Through the stories of our classmates I have learned that my role as teacher is very important for these students and that I must work hard to make them part of my classroom and set them up with the tools to succeed in their education. As my classmates mentioned during our discussions, it can be very frustrating and often times discouraging.
In 2009, teachers of a New Jersey school banned foreign languages and stated, “any language other than English will not be tolerated" (Debaron 1). This situation was soon no longer allowed. While over ten percent of the total adolescent education systems contain emergent bilinguals, a whopping sixty percent of those students are educated in only English (Bale). Maria Estela Brisk, a Boston College Education professor, believes, “schools has wasted much energy in the search for a "perfect" model and the best way to learn English” when they could just focus on proving “quality education” to every student in the system (1). Teacher’s main priority should consist of effectively teaching their students to prepare them for the future, but currently there are a lack of certified bilingual education teachers. When students are taught more in different ways, they can educationally benefit their cognitive abilities, involving the brain with “mathematics, problem solving, logic and memory”, can be improved to create an overall better student. Even by learning another language at a earlier age can contribute to __________. Learning another language will be
English language has been rated as one of the most important international languages nowadays. It has been found at primary levels around the world. Teaching English as a foreign language is not an easy task and need a lot of hard work, especially for young learners. However, starting earlier is not the solution for producing better English speakers. EFL teachers of young learners have to follow some strategies and techniques to understand and teach young learners better. YL Students who aged 5-12 can not spend two or three hours sitting on chairs and listening to teachers lectures as adults do. They lose interest more quickly and less able to keep motivated on tasks for long time because these students have short attention spans and are easily distracted. YL Students will be usually learning very basic material but a skillful teacher has to design creative lessons that get students attention and participation during the class, such as moving around and speaking with one another. Interacting with each other improves their communication skills and even building confidence in using the language. In addition, young learners are generally very enthusiastic at this level about songs and games. In order to encourage everyone to participate, it is important to include your sessions with different types of songs and active games to make the lessons relaxed and fun. The teacher should be able to create different activities to encourage and activate students that everyone can enjoy learning in.
Of course, the major issue is the EFL environment itself because there is an overall lack of English speakers for students to interact with. In Nepal the school level to university level are extremely crowed in such way that some students even do not get the seats. If there is no good sound management provisions and the teacher has to take every responsibility to manage the classroom. It is very difficult for the teacher to handle the classroom activities. In almost every classes, the number of students is at least more than 50. The students in the class are the different achievement and proficiency levels. Some can speak English and some cannot. At the same time language teaching is more challenging. It is not the content, the methodology is more important. The teachers get high stress but are paid low salaries. English language teachers are not getting the training according to the changes in the methodologies. Language teaching required an extensive amount of time, but the time provided for the instruction not sufficient. In Nepal most of the schools do not have listening materials like cassettes, CD player, etc. even teachers are not well trained to operate the new technology. The cultural and linguistic diversity of our country is another great challenge for ELT. The roles and status of the teacher and students are perceived