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Acquiring a Second Language is No Small Task! Especially while learning math, social studies, and science! Acquiring a new language is tough, or it can be for most people especially if done after you’ve acquired a first language.  But imagine being responsible for learning all academics in that new language at the same time you are working to acquire it.  I grew up learning a visual form of communication in my own school with friends that used a form of visual English. This is not the same as American Sign Language, which I learned later.  This form of visual English was acquired easily for me - it was a secret way to communicate with friends in class without being loud and it also followed the same grammatical structure as English.   Fast forward to college and I’m sitting in my freshman American Sign Language class thinking “I got this!”.  Guess what, I didn’t...I didn’t understand much of what was happening and I was one of the lucky people...

Bilingual AF As I sit at my computer preparing for my day, I receive a most unwelcome email. Before opening it, I look at the subject and feel my heart began to sink. The subject line reads, “New Student.” As I open the email I think to myself, oh please be a well-behaved student. I am already under so much pressure.” I open the email and read. “Ms. M you will be receiving a new student, Cruz Lopez (name was changed) who speaks only Spanish. He will be a car rider.” My heart sinks further. I look for another teacher to vent to. “I’m getting a new student who is ESL,” I say to my colleague. “Oh boy,” she says with a look of sympathy. “I sure hope not.” These conversations take place among many teachers at my school, including myself. It is so interesting that when many monolingual teachers get new students, we are secretly hoping for a mirror of ourselves and of the students we think we like most: monolingual, well behaved student. After all, hanging over as teachers i...

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My first year teaching, my principal at the time told me that she was going to put the ESL kids in my class. I told her that I did not speak Spanish. She said that is was fine, and that I would be okay. Then she smiled and said, "Besides, not all of them are Hispanic. You will have one Japanese girl and a Haitian boy, so think of the wonderful experiences you'll have!" She said this with a sarcastic tone. But, I will say that I learned so much that year. I learned that these kids are tough, creative, talented, and look at being bilingual as a "super power" that only some kids are privileged to have. The readings this week talked about the different ESL programs and talked about the history of those programs as well as the history of knowledge and the understanding of the philosophies of knowledge. As I read the article "Learning Theories and Historical Events Affecting Instructional Design in Education", it just reminded me how much educatio...

My biggest take aways from this week's readings were the different types of ESL or ENL programs that are offered and all of their differences and also the laws surrounding bilingual children. As we all know, most policies and laws are created by middle-class men who are privileged in society. The policies and laws usually further oppress marginalized groups. As prevalent with the shift to English-only laws for emergent bilingual students, policymakers and lawmakers have been very open and upfront about who and what language is viewed as valuable. A quote that really digs a the heart of the issue from the text states, "the possibility that non-English-speaking children would be in the same classroom as other children." This, to me, shows that any student who doesn't speak English is viewed negatively and not as an equal to their peers. The TV commercial that stated, "force children who can barely speak English into regular classrooms, creating chaos and disrupt...

What's so funny about another dialect? I mean, I guess the better question is why is it so easy to laugh at or correct someone's dialect when they are not speaking the "standard way of speaking"?  Most people who speak a different language or dialect try not to speak in front of people because of the fear of being ridiculed. I was one of those people. I grew up on the southside of Indianapolis in an area which would be described as "the ghetto". I used a lot of "slang" when I was with my friends, as well as when I was at school. It wasn't until I got in fourth grade when my teacher, who was one of my favorite teachers, and still is to this day (shout out Mrs. Apple :)), told me that if I ever wanted to go anywhere in life "you cannot talk as if you do not have an education!"  Needless to say that made me feel very uneasy about my language and how I perceived the world and my place in it.  My mother told me that I had to "p...