Ramblings of A Subpar ELL Teacher
As I was reading the case studies for this week, and
learning about best practices for teaching ELL students, three specific things
came to my mind. I decided I would devote this blog post to all three, even
though they are not closely related.
When I was read the case study I thought about the idea of
language being taught not as an isolated thing, but as more of an inter disciplinary
learning. The text notes that teaching a language, even from the beginning, is
not teaching the language in isolation. “No language is ever taught in
isolation from content. Even at beginning levels, when learners are working to
gain interactional fluency in everyday uses of language, they are always also
learning something else: how to greet someone how to ask for something, how to
tell about an event, how to enact a culture.” That quote made me think of the
way I was taught Spanish in high school, and the way I tend to teach English.
When I was in high school we learned vocabulary in isolation. I could recite
the names of many things in Spanish, but we never learned what I would consider
the important “stuff,” that is, the cultural context of the words. Flash
forward 10 years and I am in Cuba, where many people do not speak English and I
can barely get by asking for basic directions, let alone carry on a
conversation. Clearly that form of language education was ineffective for me.
However, as a teacher I still tend to teach students academic vocabulary in
isolation and expect them to carry it over in grade level text and
writing.
This leads me to my next thought, which is how the ELL
teachers at my school teach. After being in this class at IUPUI, I realize how
fortunate I am to work with the women I work with. One way our ELL teachers
help students in their English acquisition is through board games. Often the
students play “Guess Who” to help them learn how to describe people and to
learn the English words for common features. They also play a fun game in which
they describe in English where they are, and the Spanish speaker guesses in
English. I have seen students thrive in these games. I think the success of the
exercises come not only from the game itself, but from the relaxed atmosphere
in which the students get to practice English.
My last thought, and the most random of the three, is more
of a question than a thought. We are reading about these amazing ways to teach ELL
students and it makes me wonder “Does the will to learn another language trump
how the language is presented to the student?” We met a middle schooler in Cuba
who was conversational in English. When we asked him how he learned to speak
such good English, he told us he learned by reading the English versions of Tom Sawyer and Harry Potter. Reading these books was simultaneously fun and an
experience of growing in English.
When I was taught Spanish in Middle School, although implicitly it may not have been taught in isolation, the main approach was through vocabulary and grammar. Sometimes cultures were added about Spanish speaking countries. My high involved us a little more with culture in recommending books to read, making dishes, promoting trips to Mexico, and encouraging students to attend get to gathers at an International House. When I went to college I was able to test out of all but one required semester of Spanish, and my attitude was to take the semester and to move on. One regret that I have is that I did not try to learn more or to immerse myself into the language, not just because I didn't have a crystal ball to see how important and helpful it is to be fluent in the language now, but it was a personal enhancing opportunity that passed by. I think that my level of maturity had a lot to do with it at the time also. When I taught social studies regularly and dabbled in math, I had lots of activities to help make the subjects relevant, like role play, simulations, and other activities. Unfortunately, I did not come up with this on my own when I was being taught Spanish and generally, about fifty years ago, this was not the approach. Yet, this is the present, and even as a sub, I see how I can better interact and work with bilingual students.
ReplyDeleteSandy,
DeleteIt appears that you had some excellent instruction in both your Spanish and Social Studies courses. My experiences weren't that engaging. Both courses were basically rote memorization. I am just curious how your experiences helped you as a classroom teacher, even with all of the mandates and standards and objectives that you had to teach?
Sandy, I totally understand that feeling of regret. We were put into Spanish classes in first grade and I took it all through school. What I regret most of all is never taking it seriously. Some of my instruction was pretty poor, but some of my instructors were extremely knowledgable. I guess I wonder how can we help our students understand the importance of learning another language so they don't grow up to regret their decision to not take it seriously?
DeleteWhat I forgot to mention is that your "ramblings" are helpful and relevant additions to a treasure chest of strategies in teaching ELL students. Your efforts and reflections, as far as I am concern, make you far from being "subpar."
ReplyDeleteI took a Spanish class in high school for two years in a row. Much like Dr. Taylor spoke about in our last face-to-face class, we simply focused on conjugating verbs for two years in a row! After two years of Spanish, I know probably less than 50 words in Spanish and can't speak a sentence fluently nor understanding someone speaking Spanish to me. School for every kid, learning a new language or not, has to be seen as fun and exciting/interesting for them to remember the content that they are learning, such as the games you posted about. We have a huge focus on vocabulary instruction within my building and much like you stated, I often times feel like I am teaching vocabulary words in isolation for memorization instead of for true learning purposes. My students often times aren't able to remember the meanings of the words after a week or two. Most likely because they aren't being integrated into the "interesting" content. They are being taught in isolation.
ReplyDeleteThe reading this week about about the Social Studies book was enlightening. I was never good at social studies in school! I never really understood how the verbs and nouns could mean something completely different until the readings this week. Social studies could be viewed as content that is only about memorization of important people and facts, which isn't very engaging, for all students, including students whose home language isn't English.
I understand the felling of isolation in language learning. Although I never been to a Spanish class in the United States, I can image how inefficient and isolate to learn a language by basically remembering words. I am not going to deny the positive effect of learning vocabulary, but i think words are more useful in a whole language learning environment. In the last face to face class, I talked about the English language education in China. I said I don't think our EL system is good enough for me to live in an English speaking country, but I think the whole english language education I took in China prepared a useful language studying foundation to me. In China, English textbook and class contain reading, listening, writing and "speaking". This speaking is basically repeating readings and conversations in the textbook. The vocabularies we need to remember are always in the readings, and our writing homework is always about use new vocabularies to crate a story by you own. It is not as fun as leaning during games, but I think it kind of a systematic language learning mode.
DeleteFor your last question, I think my answer is yes. In Chinese there is an idiom called "interests is the best teacher". In the educational field in China, especially in the young kids education, urban educators advocating for "triggering the desire of seeking knowledge". My own experience of learning tell me that interests and enthusiasm have a dramatic influence of learning. I always see myself as a person that miserable at math, physics, like all number subjects. That is because since elementary school math is always my nightmare. I always got lower score on the math examinations. The reason, to be honest, is because my elementary math teacher. What I can remember about her and her classes are filled with confusion and resistance. I was defined buy her as "do not have a math-brain" and "not very smart as others". I refused to learn math and do homework because of the way she treated me. That is a vicious circle. As the poor of the math learning foundation, in the secondary schools life math was always the short board to me. I think this experience can reflect to the language learning condition. Sometimes an affirmative context means a lot to students who not feel comfortable.
ReplyDeleteYunlu, I completely agree! When we are built up and have positive interactions with others we are learning from with positive critique and constructive criticism rather than put downs and belittling we create an environment conducive to learning!
DeleteI also had a similar experience with math and it's one of the reasons I didn't purse my actual desire to be what I wanted to be when I grew up. I also would say I didn't learn French (I took this in middle school) well because my teacher was anything but happy to have me fumbling over the language in class and the one time I did do well she accused me of cheating! Safe to say, French and I never really got along!
Does the will to learn another language trump how the language is presented to the student? I think that this is a very thought provoking question. Based on my own experience, a lot of people have the desire to learn another language but continuously procrastinate and never invest the time. I ordered the Rosetta Stone Program for Spanish about five years ago, and I still haven't opened the box. I'm so embarrassed. Luckily, our school district offered a free two-month training program for our teachers and staff, and I immediately took advantage. Now that I have the basics, I'm going start using my Rosetta Stone. I feel that how the language is presented is more effective in getting people to learn other languages than just having the desire.
ReplyDeleteLatonia,
DeleteI agree that how the language is presented makes people desire to learn another language more than just a desire to obtain another language. Just as the child in Cuba learned how to speak English by reading English versions of books that he found fascinating, teachers need to allow learning to come alive for children within our classrooms to have an everlasting effect such as that. Learning a new language cannot be simply rote memorization. I haven't seen anyone who is able to immerse themselves into a new language by learning to simply memorize.
I agree, it was a though provoking question! I took three years of Spanish and walked away with the ability to use the words Como te llamas - but put it into a situation where I need it and I can't remember if I'm about to say I eat llamas or what is your name? I have always thought it would be really cool to speak Spanish, but I've never actually had the will to learn it!
DeleteI also believe we sometimes miss the opportunity to learn a language because most of our opportunities come in high school at the earliest. As educators, we all know our students' brains are very malleable at a younger age. I wish we could take the opportunities in preschool and younger grades to really explore language - might even be a great opportunity for our language learners of English and vice versa.
I agree, I think many students do have a desire to learn another language, but the way the content is presented almost makes them uninterested. For me as a kid, I thought learning Spanish was awesome, but when all you do is sing silly songs and learn the colors you stop being as interested. Where do you believe the breakdown occurs? Why do Spanish teachers teach the way they do? Is it how they were taught or how they were taught to teach?
DeleteI also agree. Presentation is the key! I have no idea how long I have had duolinguo on my phone. I am always saying that I am going to learn Spanish, but then I find something else to do instead. I want to learn the language, and other languages as well. I am just not that interested or invested in it. This is how, I assume, most students feel when they are in a foreign language class. I am sure this is also how bilingual students in ESL classes feel,a s well. Does the will to learn trump presentation? I think sometimes it can. I think it just depends on how strong your will to learn that language is. For me and Spanish, apparently my will is not as strong as I'd like it to be.
DeleteI am one that always believes strongly in the power of incidental learning, which is mentioned in the article in terms of L2 research and where the focus of form should be. I believe the power of incidental learning is so important when learning a new language especially after a primary language is already established.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion there are benefits to "structured input" as it is coined in the article and these opportunities need to be a part of daily instruction. I just think if these structured inputs are based on incidental opportunities based on the daily situation of the students will make it much easier to make connections between the established language and the language that is in being acquired.
I feel like this article presents the opportunity for both incidental (in class) learning as well as structured input with the explanation of the verbs meaning in context. I actually think many English as a first (and probably only language) could find these samples beneficial in understanding the English language!
I think that it is interesting that language in high school, or any school for that matter, is taught the way it is. Just like you said, you took Spanish in school, but when you got to Cuba, you could barely ask for directions. When I worked in restaurants, I worked with a lot of Latinos. One of them became a good friend of mine. His name was Eduardo, but we called him Eddie. One of the managers knew Spanish, but he only knew a little. One day he said something to one of the other Latino cooks in Spanish and they gave him a weird look. Eddie started laughing. I asked him what was so funny. He said that he always laughed when silly Americans try to talk to him and his people using "Americanized Spanish" . I asked him what that was and he said "it's that crap you learn in high school." I found out that what you learn in high school is different that what is actually spoken on the streets. It is the same with English or any other language. I mean when you think about it, it makes sense. I don't know anyone who speaks "Standard" English. Just like I am sure the typical Spanish speaker does not speak "Standard" Spanish. So if that is the case, why are we still teaching language this way when it does not help anyone?
ReplyDelete