Teaching Bilingual Students....Practice! Practice! Practice!
Aleshia S.
At some point in our lives, we've heard of the term bilingual. Even though we may not have understood exactly what it meant. Random thought: why is it when we hear the term 'bilingual' now, we automatically think about knowing Spanish and English? I know I'm guilty of this mindset as well.
When I was growing up, I don't remember really hearing other people speak anything other than English. When I was in 6th grade, I had a Spanish teacher by the name of Mr. Burns who was Black and could speak and understand Spanish like it was his primary language! I was like
The video also lists three of the practices that Jennifer Conte and Liz Condon-Kim use in their bilingual classroom:
Bilingualism: speaking and understanding two or more languages.
At some point in our lives, we've heard of the term bilingual. Even though we may not have understood exactly what it meant. Random thought: why is it when we hear the term 'bilingual' now, we automatically think about knowing Spanish and English? I know I'm guilty of this mindset as well.
When I was growing up, I don't remember really hearing other people speak anything other than English. When I was in 6th grade, I had a Spanish teacher by the name of Mr. Burns who was Black and could speak and understand Spanish like it was his primary language! I was like
As a 12 year old who had never heard a different language being spoken before, and to see a Black man who was so fluent in another language, was truly mind-blowing to me. It was in sixth grade that I fell in love with the language of Spanish. I didn't know the correct term for someone whose primary language was English, but could also speak and understand Spanish. I just knew it was so cool! I took Spanish in high school and college. I don't really speak it now, but one of my goals is to pick it back up because it really is a beautiful language😍 Not to mention, knowing another language would be beneficial due to the fast-growing population of Latinx people.
So.......what do the readings say?👀📖
As I was reading the texts this week, I kept seeing the practices that teachers can use to help students who are bilingual. Jiménez, David, Pacheco, Risko, Fagan, & Gonzales (2015) mentions to first "...recognize and
draw on students’ linguistic knowledge
and cultural backgrounds" (p. 407).
Goldenberg (2013) made the more practical practices into principles and noted "...a list of instructional practices
specifically validated by research as effective with ELs would be a short list" (p. 4-5). The principles he listed are:
- Generally effective practices are likely to be effective with ELs (Goldenberg, 2013)
- well-designed instruction and instructional routines
- effective modeling of skills, strategies, and procedures
- active student engagement and participation
- ELs require additional instructional supports (Goldenberg, 2013)
- classroom instruction must be meaningful to students even if their English language proficiency is limited
- using graphic organizers (tables, web diagrams, Venn diagrams) to organize information and clarify concepts
- using pictures, demonstrations, and real-life objects
- The home language can be used to promote academic development (Goldenberg, 2013)
- learning to read in their home language helps ELs boost reading skills in English
- teaching reading in the home language could boost children’s English literacy scores by approximately 12 to 15 percentile points
- ELs need early and ample opportunities to develop proficiency in English (Goldenberg, 2013)
"Teachers cannot create and
sustain the conditions for the productive development of children
if those conditions do not exist for teachers. What this means in
practice is that we must create settings in schools where teachers
have the time and space..." (Goldenberg, p. 11)
I must admit, the "Teaching Bilinguals (Even If You're Not One): Being an Advocate for Bilingual Students" video was very interesting. There was a moment of honesty in which Liz Condon-Kim stated that she was uncomfortable when the students spoke Spanish in her classroom. But she learned to let go and have patience. Instead of being uncomfortable, she decided to try and learn/understand the language.
The video also lists three of the practices that Jennifer Conte and Liz Condon-Kim use in their bilingual classroom:
- Acknowledge students' identities and strengths
- Use literature to build empathy of differences
- Be a co-learner
As for me and my class........
I have been teaching for 7 years and have never had bilingual students until this year. So this is new for me and I love it! I serve 26 talented third graders. Of those 26, four students have a label of EL and come from a Latinx background. Those four students speak English and I am able to understand them when they speak. Three of them cannot speak any Spanish. It wasn't until recently that I discovered one of them can actually speak Spanish! Once he did, he immediately got embarrassed. I told him, "don't be afraid to speak Spanish. Don't hide who you are."
I encourage my students to share their culture. One girl loves to share about her first trip to Mexico. Her parents are from there and she got the chance to visit for the first time.
Discussion
I am interested in knowing your thoughts regarding effective teaching practices for bilingual students. I know after this week's readings, I began to reflect on my own practices and now I feel like
- Do you identify with any of the practices? In what ways?
- What are some practices you have done or witnessed that were effective?
- How can you ensure that you are advocating for bilingual students?
- Does the curriculum you use hinder or help bilingual students you have or may have?
Thanks for reading my blog post! This was actually really fun!
Hi Aleshia, first I want to say great blog post! The experience with your teacher speaking Spanish is very cool and I have personally never experienced that in my education so that was cool to read. Regarding your questions, I am not currently a teacher but I am junior right now and can't wait to get out there to teach once i graduate in 2020. I haven't had much experience when it comes to servicing emergent bilingual students, but from the readings there are definitely some things I look forward to trying out if I have EL's in my classroom.
ReplyDeleteIn the Goldenberg article, he says, "Another set of studies that second-language learners reading comprehension improves when they read material with familiar content." (pg 8) This sentence has connected not only to me personally but also what I've been learning so far in the education program here at IUPUI. I want to have culturally relevant books readily available for my students, so that they see themselves in books and not just the White images I grew up reading about and seeing in my K-12 experience. I think having books and literature written by Black, Hispanic authors that feature Black or Hispanic characters is a big deal and is a very feasible first step for teachers who are culturally unlike their students!
Hi Alexis!
DeleteThat's awesome to hear that you want to make sure you are culturally relevant in your future classroom! There are several children's books that you can get that feature all ethnicities. One thing I try to do in my classroom now is teach about other cultures even if they are not represented in my class.
Great blog, Aleshia! On page 27 of the Garcia and Kleifgen text, it stated that a significant number of Latinx students end up dropping out of school. I cannot see that happening if everyone were to treat their students as you do. Alexis, having culturally relevant materials will help your Els be more comfortable in the classroom and other students more accepting. The challenge to provide these materials is going to be greater for educators, as I received the following news in an email from the INTESOL board:
ReplyDeleteDear Supporter of English learners/emergent bilinguals,
We urgently need your voice in support of English Learner Education.
The Governor’s proposed budget (House Bill 1001) calls for a $2.5 million decrease in NESP (Non-English Speaking Program) funding for Indiana EL programming.
We need a concerted letter writing campaign, calls to legislators, and stakeholders/advocates to speak at the House and Senate committees on education and the budget committee. The Indiana TESOL (INTESOL) Board requests that you contact Representatives Todd Huston and Ryan Mishler and ask them to support an amendment to increase the English Learner funding. We need these contacts to happen ASAP and ideally by Feb. 4, 2019.
This House Bill clearly demonstrates the lack of awareness where knowledge of how students acquire language is desperately needed, and to answer your question about advocacy, I think we need to be aware of what legislation is happening and be confident enough to respond to it.
While doing the timeline, I couldn't help but see what Garcia and Kleifgen describe as the "discursive shift" (p.46) in the use of the word "bilingualism"; however, what you are doing, Aleshia, and how Alexis plans to approach her class demonstrate what the authors say on page that there are efforts in place to revive it. I don't think funding will follow, however, because, as Lopez (2005) was quoted, "Educational opportunities for minority students exist only when the student' interests and the nation's interests converge" (as cited in Garcia & Kleifgen, 2018, p. 47).
Aleshia, do you think the reluctance of teachers to allow their students to use their home language in the classroom has to do with their own insecurities? In a college classroom, it is important for students to speak English; Vygotski shows the necessity of this for those students seeking fluency in rigorous academic settings. These students have language needs that are far different from Els. However, what about at the junior high level or the high school level? Do you think there is insecurity within the instructor or a lack of trust in the students?
To your question: "Aleshia, do you think the reluctance of teachers to allow their students to use their home language in the classroom has to do with their own insecurities? " I would say I am sure there are times that has something to do with it. Like the video that was referenced in the post and the comments, I think it is completely natural for teachers to feel uncomfortable and insecure when students speak their home language. As we continue to read and have discussions in class, I keep wondering how educators can truly support emergent bilinguals when polices and procedures are put in place that a lot of times makes it difficult to do so. Like we have learned, it is beneficial for emergent bilinguals to learn in their home language, but with policies that push English-only learning it seems like a hurdle sometimes.. One of Aleshia's questions was do we think the curriculum can hinder the learning of bilingual students and I think sometimes it can.
DeleteHi Mary Ann!
DeleteYour statement of "I think we need to be aware of what legislation is happening and be confident enough to respond to it" is definitely true. More often than not, teachers are unaware of the changes within legislation that apply to them! This could be due to a number of factors-not reading, teacher's unions, etc. If that's the case, how do we get other educators to be aware of changes in legislation when it comes to education? Who should be responsible?
Personally, I get emails from ISTA (Indiana State Teacher's Association) and they make it a point to put anything regarding legislation in there. I also am a member of my district's teacher's union. Although I understand unions are not in every state or district.
As for the question of 'do you think the reluctance of teachers to allow their students to use their home language in the classroom has to do with their own insecurities?,' I think it all comes to a matter of lack of their own education. Yes, teachers are educated. But I also think it comes from not knowing or understanding other cultures other than their own. I don't think insecurities have a lot to do with it. As the case with the teacher in the video. She at first didn't allow her students to speak Spanish in the classroom because she couldn't understand it (which I think that was an ignorant statement). But once she started to let go, she wanted to learn the language. I think insecurities play a role when one isn't comfortable hearing another language being spoken just because they don't speak that language. I don't think it's alright to go into other spaces in which other languages are spoken and demand they speak English. For example, when going into nail salons, some people get uncomfortable when the nail technicians are speaking in their native language. I think that is an example of being insecure. Because the client may not speak the language, they demand their technician speak English. It's kind of like the statement, "If you're in America, you should speak English." When we know that statement is ridiculous.
First, I want to say that your GiF after the Goldenberg quote about teachers needing time and space made me laugh out loud. I also love that you encouraged your student to continue speaking Spanish.
ReplyDeleteI found the readings, video, and your questions, very thought provoking. It also encouraged reflection on my part. I do identify with some of the practices. My high school classes have ELLearners who also speak Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, and Portuguese. It can be quite a challenge. I have found that acknowledging my students’ strengths have helped encourage my students to open up to me and provided room for growth. Beyond that I know that I really need to grow and change how I differentiate for my ELLs. I was grateful for Liz Condon-Kim’s admission that she was initially uncomfortable when her students spoke Spanish in front of her. It can be hard to accept that, even though you are in charge, you cannot understand what everyone is saying. The first time I felt this way I reminded myself that it isn’t all about me. Even if they are talking about me I like to tell myself that I’m big enough not to let it bother me. Most of the time it’s obvious if they are talking about someone or something that they shouldn’t be. Their body language or the body languages of their peers who understand will give it away. If I think that they are saying something inappropriate I ask in a nonaggressive manner. They know I don’t understand and I don’t want them to assume that I am picking on the because of their language. I would love to learn a new language but of course time is an issue. I try to pick up things here and there and occasionally ask what things mean without inserting myself into every one of my students’ conversations. I hope that my genuine curiosity is not off putting or nosy. I think that most of the time my students appreciate my interest. In reality, this is not limited to foreign languages. I have had some pretty hilarious conversations with students about slang!
Most of the other practices that were mentioned, I recognize that I have not used. Our ELL teachers this year have provided examples of things like sentence reframing and while I always intend to work with my students using this practice, time always gets away. I certainly feel like I am doing them a disservice by not differentiating enough.
One of the practices that stuck out to me in the readings was in Jimenez et al. (2015). The Translation exercise was extremely interesting and I can see how it can be effective. I have trouble, however, envisioning how it would work in my own classroom. I can see using the exercise in a one on one setting or with small groups. I will definitely keep it in mind when working with my ELLearners.
I realize that this is slightly off topic but I actually have a question that I would like to pose to the class. Last week, I had an exchange student from China who gave an oral presentation and did excellent. He knew the material and was able to explain difficult concepts. This was a major leap forward for the student who is extremely reserved and seems to lack confidence. I am extremely proud of him! The written portion of the assignment, however, was completely plagiarized. I have tried, multiple times, to explain to him that he needs to put things in his own words on paper. I have asked if he understands, explained that I am not worried about spelling or grammar, and have eventually penalized his grade. I wonder if the problem is that he doesn’t know HOW to do it. Maybe my examples have not been clear enough? I am meeting with him during tutoring this week and would love some suggestions on how to help him. Any thoughts?
Hi Rebeccah!
DeleteIn regards to your situation with your student from China, I do think a lot of it had to do with him not knowing what you meant when you said to put it in his own words. Summarizing is extremely difficult even for students who are not bilingual. What examples have you used? Have you tried using pictures and asking him to describe what is going on?
First, let me start off by saying awesome blog post Aleshia and I too had a Spanish teacher in high school who was bi-racial. He was African American and Mexican and you would have never known it just by looking at him. Before I took his class and got to know him better, I assumed he was just a light skinned African American man. Talk about mind blowing and must say that was when I stopped assuming that I knew what a person's ethnicity was by just looking at them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with all of the practices especially the home language practice that is used to promote academic development. I agree with this practice the most because I believe that students who speak other languages other than English learn best when they are encouraged to speak their home language while learning and experiencing something new in an educational setting that is least familiar to them.
I can't say that I have had experience with these particular practices or have witnessed the effectiveness of them but I would love to now that I am aware of them. I may have witnessed them being practiced in the past but was not aware that I have. Becoming more familiar with these practices will ensure that I can advocate for bilingual students. I feel as though I will not fully be able to properly advocate for bilingual students if I don't familiarize myself with these practices on a deeper level. However, I believe that teachers should allow their bilingual students to speak in the language they feel most comfortable speaking when learning new things whether it's English, Spanish or any language for that matter.
Rebeccah, the problem with plagiarism still exists in NNES at the college level! The problem is culturally-based: In China, taking another person's words is seen as respectful. There are some great on-line can-you-fix-the-plagiarism tools that target different grade levels. They might be helpful.
ReplyDeleteThis was awesome! You brought up several amazing points. First, I'm glad that you addressed the notion of students sharing their experiences and drawing on knowledge/cultural backgrounds. I remember a term from another class called "Funds of Knowledge". Too often, we limit acknowledging these gifts to just adults, but our students have so much to offer us! I think when we are intentional on having these gifts come to the light, we can certainly know how to better support the students in their learning journey and how we can be better educators. Also, the quote you used about conditions for sustaining productive development and making sure that school settings are available is huge. Just imagine being a teacher that has all of these great ideas for inclusion and allowing students to co-teach in their native language...but the school doesn't support it or have the resources. That could discourage innovation in the classroom. As far as your questions go, how can we better advocate? I think it is important to review the "official" documents that guide the school, such as the School Improvement Plan. When I worked in IPS, this was a Title-1 required document, that parents and educators were a part of creating/ratifying. I think if we can be intentional in creating space for Bilingual learners and other ELL students to be represented in the SIPs and other guiding practices, we would make major strides towards a more equitable environment.
ReplyDeleteHey Brandon! I like that you brought up the fact of how we can better advocate for our students and that you brought looking at the paperwork of our schools and required documents that affect our students. I didn't think of that but that is a great way to help make some concrete change for our students in the entire school building and not just change and provide correct resources for ELL'S within our classroom. Doing both as a teacher I think could really change some things in the education system!
DeleteBrandon,
DeleteI loved the last point that you made in your post. If we work really hard to create safe spaces for EL students then a lot more can be done for them. This will not only improve the education system but it will drastically change the experiences for these students in the classroom. They deserve to have just as an amazing experience in the classroom as any other student.
Aleshia,
ReplyDeleteThis blog was great! I enjoyed all of the content and the cute pictures.
So, I have not been into any classrooms yet because I am only a sophomore. However, I plan to use the strategies and suggestions from the reading in order to meet the needs of my future EL students. I want to make sure that I create a safe space for all of my students. Speaking of that, I loved that you encouraged that student in your classroom to use Spanish. That is amazing and should be a more common practice. This action reminded me of this quote from the Jiménez reading, "[This instructor] explicitly recognized the students’ linguistic knowledge and told them they were the experts.” By you recognizing this student, I am sure they felt so much more comfortable in the classroom and empowered to use their native language. I want to do the same for my students in the future because I want to learn about their cultures and encourage them to not be embarrassed by it. Culture is a wonderful thing and we have all have things to learn from each other.
Great post!! I love that you encouraged your student to be who they are! I substituted last year for Fort Wayne public schools. The classrooms used literature for EL students to connect with. Singing songs in Spanish then switching it to English was another method that I saw. Also, many of the classrooms I’ve been in had a lot of pull out programs for EL students. I actually had to sub for the para that pulled out EL students. The one student I had was a first grader who very new to the class. We had to work on flash card vocab words and they had a picture along with the English word. But nothing in her home language (Spanish). She had them memorized in English pretty well…but I wondered if there could have been more meaningful ways for her to learn that vocabulary. Like some of Goldenberg’s effective practices you listed: real life objects, engagement, or making it more of a well designed instruction rather than basic flash cards. I also wondered if she had any opportunities to compare the English word to her home language. I remember trying to say the English word in Spanish. So when I read Goldenberg's, “Home language is used to help facilitate learning content and skills in English” (pg. 10) it was good to know that I was providing her with some effective instruction!
ReplyDeleteKacy,
DeleteI really enjoy hearing about the singing and learning songs in Spanish and then learning them in english. I believe that using music is a very powerful way to teach kids. This is a very smart idea. I remember in high school we would learn songs in Spanish and then dissect them ourselves but I don't really remember learning how to actually sing them in English. This may have helped me remember more of the Spanish if we had done this. I wonder the same as you about the flashcards with basic pictures. It seems as though real life objects and experiences would be much more significant for any bilingual learner.
Hi Casey! I agree that music is so beneficial in education! When I worked with toddlers and preschool children we also used songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and sang the Spanish version. I never realized though how powerful it was for Elementary students too! The music teachers would do a great job incorporating diversity and having different versions available. But I think that's awesome you had that opportunity! Learning how to sing it I think could of helped too. I'm not sure if this is popular in the Indy area but I know up north and even some schools in Fort Wayne, young students take a Spanish class. I wonder if dissecting songs at an appropriate level would be a more effective and enjoyable way to learn about the language? I am not too sure how instruction is in those Spanish classes, but I hope it is more than worksheets and tests!
DeleteAwesome blog, Aleshia! I love your enthusiasm you have for your students and that you are able to be so excited when learning that one of your students spoke Spanish. It was really encouraging to let him/her know that they could be themselves in your classrooms. That is the kind of teacher I aspire to be in the future.
ReplyDeleteIn Goldenberg's reading, I found a quote that stood out to me. "One ethnographic study
found that young English learners’ writing development is helped when the teacher incorporates literacy activities and materials from home and the community into classroom activities" (Goldenberg, 2013. p.8). From last weeks discussion and from reading this week, I can see myself using this type of approach in the future by doing home visits, seeing what kinds of resources and objects my students have to work with, and what I can do to create a lesson plan guided toward them. I want my future bilingual students to feel comfortable enough to bring in some of their own lifestyles to get the most out of their learning.
Hi Casey! Thank you!
DeleteI think that your approach of doing home visits to build relationships is great! Try making a first 15 days of school plan that you can implement for each student in your class to also help build relationships. During the first 15 days of school, I make a positive phone call home to each student (3 students per day). It helps to get to know the parents as well!
Incorporating literacy activities is definitely a huge practice! Once the student is comfortable enough to bring what they know from home into the classroom, the chances of success can be greater.