I'm Bilingual! What's Your Super Power!
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 education has been a scapegoat for everything that "needs to be fixed" this country. After each world war, education needed to be "overhauled" or "terrible" things were going to happen to this country. Also, it is always on the forefront for politicians when they are running for office. They are going to fix education! This is also true for bilingual education.
But, really when you look at the programs that are used today for bilingual and ESL/ENL students, some of them are not doing the students any favors. Some programs are the same programs that they use for monolingual students. These programs were created years ago and are still being used in some parts of the country. I guess, I just do not understand what is the point of having a program that is not effect. They do not help the students, and it also creates an atmosphere of fear for the students to speak their home language. When I taught bilingual students in my class, I was happy to hear them speak their language. As a matter of fact, I encouraged it. They thought I was crazy at first, but I always told them that I thought their language was beautiful and that I wish I could speak like that. And every year, I would have a group of girls that would always try to teach me Spanish. It was funny because I always forgot most of it the following year.
There are some programs that are not bad and are pretty good. These would be described as the "true" bilingual programs. Other programs that are ESL/ENL based are not as good and focus on trying to get the students to speak English by immersion in English. It is almost to the point of burying the home language by not giving it the recognition that it is deserved seeing that it is the language that the students fell in love with because it was their first.
I find it interesting that even though we are trying to be a "global", being bilingual is still frowned down upon, by the policymakers. There is a need for bilingualism when it is needed for a specific purpose. When that purpose is fulfilled, it is no longer needed, or viable.
Some of the things that I have wondered after reading this was:
- What are some ways that we as teachers can effectively advocate for these bilingual students, especially if we know that the programs in our school are not "up to par"?
- How does the failure of some of these programs affect the students personal and home life? How does it affect them in other aspects of school? I ask this because I feel that it would have a negative impact on how these students view school and view themselves as students if they are not getting the language as fast as they think that they should, or even as fast as their teacher thinks they should.
- If there is not a good program at school, is there another way we can support bilingual education in the community?
- What can we do in our own classrooms to help these students? I know there is only so much that I did, but I would love some other ideas that I may not have thought of. :)
- Do you think one of the reasons some of the programs are not as effective could be because there may be a rush for the schools to get students out of the program and speaking English proficiently?
I wanted to end with this video about the differences between ESL and bilingual classes. I am not sure I agree with everything that is said, but I think that it is a good conversation starter. :)
We have a high ENL population at our school and we are often very frustrated by the lack of resources. One thing our school has done is partnered with a Spanish speaking church in our community. It has been an amazing aid to teachers and students. As far as what we can do in our classrooms to help our ENL students I think is giving them confidence. I teach younger students so they are not as "embarrassed" or shy about not knowing English, but when they are confident and just dive right in despite the mistakes they make they tend to learn the language at a very rapid pace.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a good idea that I feel should be implemented across district. The good thing about this idea is that it is free for school districts. At my school we don't have any resources like this.
DeleteOur ENL population is growing and I feel like our school is very open-minded and supportive of language use. Our program has multiple Spanish-speaking teachers and students are encouraged to speak their home language at any time throughout the day. Groups are taught in native language and English. English is the written language, but translated by the teachers. At this time, we don't have any other languages that need interpretation except for Spanish.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sabbath I am often disappointed by the lack of resources and the lack of flexibility to use the resources that we have, especially people. For example, if some multilanguage teachers could work part time if they needed to or come in later and leave early, if necessary. I once worked in an international school where a Chinese teacher, who also spoke Japanese was allowed to have flexible hour, but other teachers complained that this was unfair. As far as students, it was easy for me to encourage and pull in different cultures and to encourage and ask the students of diverse cultures to share. Sometimes I needed to speak sternly to other students when they laughed at something that was different or that they did not understand.
ReplyDeleteI love to see a whole school embrace diversity! I think so many of us - students and staff - can benefit from learning about others and it teaches the students we have respect for them! It can also be beneficial to work with our whole families to have them share information about their cultures. I love reading what others have done or do in their classrooms!
DeleteEven if some programs are ineffective, I think that what is in place should be worked with and made better.
ReplyDeleteYet, after the class discussion, I was reminded the in most instances the barest of effort is put into most of the programs. I have been in a class where a Spanish speaking teacher just gave the students worksheets. However, I think that there might be an inclination to do even less. As Sabbath suggested I think outside collaboration would be great.
In this week's class, i was surprised that testing and evaluation standards are various among different states in America. I can not image how huge difference will occur by different policies. From my own experience, I am an international student, before I applied universities in the United States, I have to pass a test called "TOFEL" and reach a score that various among schools. This test is literally every international student who wants to study in an American college will face with. However, in IUPUI, there is a program calls "PIE" -- program of intensive English. If you get enrolled in this program, you only need to pass a required level, and then you can apply for most of IUPUI's programs without a TOFEL score. See, the thing is, it is much easier to pass this program than get an requirement score in TOFEL test. I believe this difference is only a little part of English language testing, this unequal can make some of English language learners undergo a miserable time of language testing and can not achieve requirement. Some of them, however, overcome the language gap much more easy then may face with the difficulty of studying in a English language environment that they can not understand.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been an amazing experience to work with such a diverse group of students. During my student teaching, I had the opportunity of working with emergent bilinguals to help them develop their English language. It actually was a very fun and rewarding experience knowing that I was making a contribution to their language development. I believe that being bilingual is definitely a superpower and a goal that I hope to accomplish very soon.
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ReplyDeleteAs teachers, we can advocate for students who are bilingual by continuously pushing for better programs that help support bilingualism in the classroom. We can also allow the implementation of their native language into our lessons and the classroom environment.