Acquiring a Second Language When You Already Have One!
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 that knew more than the alphabet walking into the room. I had background knowledge in the idea of visual communication, but was lacking the grammatical components of another language.
I can also relate to being in a place where the language of my home is not the language I’m working/living in. When I started at the Deaf School I was a junior in college and I lived in the dorm where their students lived and was in a classroom daily. Policy was American Sign Language was to be used basically at all times in order to allow language access to everyone - if you’re hearing you can sign (or interpreters were around for those that cannot) and if you’re Deaf you can sign. This was total immersion and based on my tiny cohort - the majority of the time it didn’t work. Most of the students in my cohort did not walk away with better skills than they came in with.
Teaching a language is so much more than just placing kids in the middle of it. It has to be used and applied in a way that makes sense. “For second language learners, it is perhaps most valuable to stage exposure to new vocabulary items in related groups, since many words are more meaningful when they are understood in connection with other words related to the same general topic” (Fillmore, 2000). Placing students in classrooms where only English is learned and support for short periods of time, sometimes only weekly or monthly, does not lend itself to an environment conducive to learning a language. Creating a learning environment where students have the opportunity to code switch between their home language and English by providing opportunities for meaningful times to learn English and have support in their second language during typical academics can provide them with the knowledge they are respected and supported allowing them to learn easier.
Native users of English often struggle with spelling. Words are complex and rules and their many variations in both spelling and grammar pose problems for our ELLs. Understanding the context of words being used and applying a new language in an academic environment can pose an issue. Support has been given to English only programs over the course of the years, especially since No Child Left Behind left the percentage of funding uncapped for English only programming. Students are now taking longer to become English Proficient. In 1991, students suggested it took students 7 to 10 years to learn English, where it used to be 5 to 7 years. However, more recent data has the numbers anywhere from 3 - 10 years. “The public, the press, and many educators have blamed bilingual education for the slow rate of English learning by LEP students, but the problem exists irrespective of the type of program the students are enrolled in.
Questions I considered while reading this article and in reflection of working with students learning or acquiring English…
- What can I do to make them feel safe while learning?
- How does my own knowledge of language impact student learning in the academic areas?
- What can I do to be more clear when students are working and learning English simultaneously with me?
- What are my own language barriers that may impact student learning? (Do I have a dialect? Do I use more slang than standard English?)
- What can I do to make learning a new language more meaningful to my students?
Here’s a little video about second language acquisition after a first language is established.
Sadly, everything is based on "standardized" assessment data in the world of education today. The assessments being used within schools focus only on assessing "standard" or "proper" English. Districts, administrators, and teachers unfortunately are so determined to produce good test scores because of demands set by people outside of the educational realm, that a lot of teaching has became test prep related. I think teachers have a fear of incorporating students' home language into instruction because that won't be on an assessment given by the state, even though the research states that students who are able to use both English and their home language produce better results.
ReplyDeleteThe readings this week were really eye opening for me. I currently have seven emergent bilingual students in my classroom. Since the first day of classes, I have been wondering how to incorporate their home language into instruction. I have collected some real aloud books, but that is so surface-level that it doesn't feel that I was doing all that I could be doing. At my school, we have a big push for vocabulary instruction this year because that is where we see our students struggling the most. I am trying to implement vocabulary into their home language and English, based on the readings. I am open to other strategies that would work for my emergent bilingual first graders!
Brittany, I agree with your comment about the home language not being a part of the assessment. Obviously, we are talking about home language inclusion in the classroom in this blog, but this is something that is across the board as we all know too well. I hear teachers say all the time I would love to do this, but it's not on the scope and sequence or it's not on the standards. So frustrating...and I know we are looking for proficiency of English due to federal regulations, but wouldn't it be nice to see what kids actually know! If we could progress monitor in their home language we would be able to see if they know actual information and are fluent readers!
DeleteI love learning about how we incorporate things into the classroom. The reading discussed the need to teach lexicon. It discussed connecting it to the text as you brought up. On page 18 in the first full paragraph of the page it talked about how to connect vocabulary words to the home language of Spanish. Examples are included and I thought they were great ideas, but not sure the examples in the text are first grade material :)
Standardized testing has taken the joy out of teaching and perhaps, the the joy out of learning. Students are missing out on fun that they don't even know about because it's not allowed to be taught or experienced. When I taught the demands of standardized testing start to gradually increase, I still was adamant about covering what I personally thought was necessary, enriching, and fun, while making sure that I covered what would be on mandated tests ( I once taught a lesson around the song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia.") I didn't want to "short-change" the students in any kind of way. Yet, I found that students, for the most part, were able to function at the standardized level, when necessary, and could transfer knowledge that may not have been directly related to test. I agree that vocabulary is important and having the home language parallel to English is something that I have tried to practice. When I subbed for second grade, for over a month, at a school that promotes bilingualism and multiculturalism, my parting gift was one of my favorite children's books (Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters) in both English and Spanish editions. I notice that in some schools word walls are often required and making them in both English and Spanish or what ever languages necessary still meets the requirement of having one with English vocabulary. Overall, it would be nice to find ways to ease the pressure off bilingual students and other students who are not "standardize", as well as teachers, in the educational experience.
DeleteI would love to hear more about this lesson on "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"! Reading how you used a song in a lesson made me think what a great way to incorporate multiculturalism - through music.
DeleteI think the word wall is a great idea and a wonderful resource for students to learn multiple languages. This reminds me of a lesson I did when I taught early childhood. I used puzzles (the ones with whole pictures such as a helicopter) and would label with the English word. They would also have the handshape (the shape used to make a sign in American Sign Language) to match it to. Anyway, a visual way to support learning of more than one language taking the pressure off of the students and also teaching the English speaking students! I like the idea!
That is a pretty cool idea. I also incorporate song lyrics into lessons sometimes. I've done Tupac on may occasion. I have also found that a lot of the bilingual students that I had love to learn through music. They also loved sharing their music with the class. It tool the rest of the class sometime to get used to the fact that the words were not in English, but it is a good teaching point to remind them that they could be the same way if they did not understand English. Our music would seem like "noise" or "weird sounding", which was some of the things they were saying.
DeleteIt is important to have the home language as a part of the classroom just as you would the English language. It is unfortunate that standardized testing does not take into account that they student might have a higher score if they could take it in their home language. I mean, what's more important the fact that they know the actual content, or that they can speak English?
I am thinking if learning is based on the standardized testing, then the whole class may become an requirement for both student and teacher. And requirement always rises up boredom and resistance. How to make learning happen naturally? Can spontaneous and efficiency be symbiotic?
DeleteI sometimes reflect on how difficult and amazing how it is for students and others who learn English as a second language to not only know the fundamentals of the language but also an academic vocabulary. I think in teaching and working with bilingual and students in general, that any strategy that is helpful should be used. However, the sense of such pressure on the teacher as Fillmore and Snow presented seemed to take a sense of pleasure out of teaching and even learning for students. I believe that it's good for teachers to have a wide range of information or knowledge but that it should be obtained from experience and growth in practicing, not from someone or something holding a big stick over their heads. As for "impatient policy makers", when or they going to take time to examine what is going on in with all types of students and not just with the ones they identify with or are most comfortable. When I taught with a team of teachers, those of us whose subjects were more verbal (for me world history/civilizations) taught our curriculum as we pleased, while covering the bases for increasing standardized tests.We taught elements of various cultures, according to what we knew, and worked hard to have a familial environment. We had an increasing number of bilingual students and our non-bilingual students were considered to be at risk. Although the math teacher seemed to be under more pressure, initially, due to his subject matter, he was fluent in Spanish from doing mission work in the Southwest during Summers, and overall fit well in our team. However, he was not a "warm and fuzzy guy" and struggling math students, bilingual and generally, would come to me for help. I also felt free enough to integrate math into the social studies lessons. Over the past 7 years of subbing however, I have noticed that requirements for standardized testing have become more demanding and teachers in all areas have been required to teach in a more restrictive manner in hopes of higher test scores. Although the demands are great on what a teacher is expected to be 'agent of socialization, "communicator", "educated human being",etc. success in these roles might come from a more natural process of respectful interaction with all students and their culture, while learning and growing in this, instead of contrived formulas that seem to be going nowhere.
ReplyDeleteSandy, you are so right on the slow progression over the years, but in the four years I have been back in the schools I see a significant trend on data. I wish data was reflective and easily gathered so teachers could spend their days teaching and building inquiring minds while utilizing these practices. I agree with you regarding the ability to teach outside of the box being a wonderful way to implement practices supporting bilingualism and multiculturalism.
DeleteThe section about spelling from this week's readings was something that I found very interesting. I have always been a terrible speller and have never understood all of the different spelling rules in English. I can only imagine what spelling is like for someone who doesn't speak English as their first language. In my first grade classroom, I give spelling words every Monday and there is a spelling test over those words every Friday. They are words that go along with our weekly story from the scope and sequence. I must admit that we don't really do anything with the words during class during the week, but students are expected to practice them each night for homework. One week all of the spelling words had the th- digraph. As I give the spelling test, I phonetically sound the words out for my kids. Two of my students spelled every word with a t- and not a th-, both very bright students. Both boys speak French as their first language. I did a little research and found out that the th- blend isn't a sound in French. After, I realized that I picked up on some things that they would say also, such as "tirthy" for thirty. Instead of referring them for a speech evaluation, I understand why they speak and spell words they way that they do. I am sure there are other sounds and blends that are different in my other emergent bilingual students' first languages as well.
DeleteI am actually a great speller (I'd like to think so, anyway), but sometimes the rules for spelling throw me for a loop, even now at 44 years of age. We do not have spelling tests at school, but we do vocabulary words. It is very evident that most of my students are not very good spellers. However, they get 100% on their vocabulary tests. I guess in the end it is all about whether they know the word or not, not so much if it is spelled correctly. Wouldn't that come later? I would think so. Of course, vocabulary and spelling would be equally as hard to bilingual students. They would not know the word's meaning. let alone how it is spelled. I do think that it was really good of you to research your students and realize that it was a language barrier and not a need for special services. Sometimes, teachers will automatically jump to that conclusion instead of doing the research into the student's background, because it is just easier. It's not right, just easier.
DeleteIt's a great success when students are doing well on something! Congrats on teaching them a new language and for doing so in a way that helps them really grasp the meaning of the words! Would you share some of your vocabulary tactics?
DeleteOne of the things that really gave me an "Ah Ha" moment, was in the Filmore articles when she talked about how well do we, as teachers, really know the English language? It is funny that we teach grammar in school, but do we really know it? Do we know the its history? Do we know how it is related to other language? Do we even understand how it has evolved from its beginnings? It is interesting that we can put so much stock in this language being the "correct" language simple because we can speak it better than some of the students in our class. I am not just talking about bilingual students from other countries. I am also talking about students using Black English, or just people who use different dialects than what we are used to. When I was an undergrad, I had to take an English class. The class basically broke down the elements of English. It was the hardest class I ever took. I had no idea that English was so complicated. You would have thought that I never spoke a word of English in my life! I escaped that class with a B-, and I was thankful for that B-. One of the things that the professor told me though, that has always stuck with me was, " There is no real way to speak English "correctly". If you travel to another part of the country, their way of speaking may seem the wrong way to speak, but that is their standard English. Standard English is only the "correct" way to talk, because the people in power deem it so. But, who is to say that the way African Americans talk is not the correct way? Who is to say that the way they talk in the Southern region of the U.S. is not the correct way? As a matter of fact, who even has the right to say that your way of talking is not the correct way? No one has that right."
ReplyDeleteJames that was an interesting story about your English class. I've noticed that English seems to be getting more complicated these days. English was always my favorite subject in high school, but now I don't like it so much. When I took the CASA exam, I failed the writing and English part quite a few times. I was really surprised. I wanted to know who was grading the writing part because I thought it was very well written. I'm sure they could understand my writing so what was the big deal. Then they had these writing passages from the 1700's that you had to edit for correct wording and grammar. You would think that I was going to teach a bunch of scholars, and it was only for elementary.
DeleteOne thing that has been helpful to me as I think about teaching English is making sure students understand how incredibly tough it is to learn a new language. With my ELL students we always conference(with a translator) and we talk about barriers together. I tell my students that sometimes when I am excited I talk really fast and when that happens what they can do to remind me to slow down. We also talk about the importance of "going for it". We often tell the kids to not let vocabulary be the reason they are not speaking English. Our ELL staff encourages kids to switch in and out of languages until they have the vocabulary they need to put full sentences together.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great to hear your students are encouraged to use both languages, especially while acquiring a new one! Love to hear that. Just because they don't have the word in English doesn't mean they just don't know something! Love this!
DeleteYour school seems to do a lot for ELL students - do you have any other great tips?!
I don't know if it is a school-wide thing or if the second and third grade team just has amazing ELL teachers. I would say the only other tips I've learned is board games. Board games are a fun way for ELL's to use language in a laid back setting. Our ELL staff uses the game Guess Who to help ELL students learn how to describe people in English.
DeleteSince I am an English language learner, and I guess I will stay in this role for my whole life, I strongly have feelings of how it is like to learn a new language. As Chinese language system is totally different from English, although I have been studying English since secondary school, I still use English with my "Chinese language logic mind". Which is, as I trying to write down this sentence, I organized it in my mind in Chinese first. And because I use my "Chinese language mind " to think, my English often shows grammar mistakes and sentence doesn't make any sense. However, I am getting better with it, sometimes words come into my mouth by their own without my "Chinese mind". In the blog there says "teaching language is not just putting kids in the middle of it", I part agree with it, but I believe that to learn a language, the most efficient way is "immersion education". I came to the United States almost one and half year, during this period I can tell that my English has a considerable process, especially my listening and speaking. Such improvement can not happen so notable and fast if I was in China. From my perspective, if the acquisition of language learning is for living, placing in the middle of it may is the best way. It is so much more than it if we are looking for an academic acquisition, but it still is a good start and environment to learn language in the middle of it.
ReplyDeleteI agree learning a language can be much faster when in an environment where it is the only option! Personally, my concern comes in the sensitivity and respect some students are not shown with being in some immersion programs :)
DeleteI also love how you talked about using your Chinese Language Logic Mind - I think this is so important for teachers to keep in mine while students are learning English!
That is amazing that you had to learn another language at the same time trying to learn all those subjects. Algebra alone is challenging by itself. At least for me anyway.
ReplyDelete