Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Prompt # 6
In the first grade ESL classroom that I help in I am a reading buddy for four students. For these students English is not their native language and they struggle when trying to read. Some ways the teacher has demonstrated sensitivity to their sociocultural and linguistic differences is by dividing the room into different stations and labeling them in English. This is good way for students to learn because every time that they see the station they see the sign that goes along with it and become more familiar with the different vocabulary. A lot of times I notice that when I ask for the first sound in a word the students sometimes will give the first sound of the word in Spanish. I have only noticed this a couple times because I don’t know too much Spanish. When I realize what the student has done I let them know that it is correct in Spanish and then I will help them with the correct sound in English. In Claude Goldenberg’s article “Teaching English Language Learners” he states that when students speak in their native language it helps them in learning English. Goldenberg has done a lot of research in proving that using their native language will help students to learn English. Goldenberg also states that when learning academic English it is more abstract, complex, and challenging. The students I tutor don’t seem to have that much of a problem speaking to me or to their friends but when they have to speak academic English it is a little more challenging for them. I have noticed that after many weeks of tutoring these children they have progressed a significant amount. The students are now more confident in reading and I notice they really do want to learn.
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It think its great that you are involved in the ELS system with these students who don't speak english naturally. This must sometimes be extremely frustrating and often challenging but as you hint at the end, your students are making great progress and that has to be rewarding beyond belief.
ReplyDeleteThere are two points in your post that really caught my eye. The first was when you talk about how your students often start a word in spanish. I worked with kindergartners and for the most part we were focusing on the alphabet. I too often found that the ones who spoke spanish where often tempted to sound out a letter, or even a sequence of letters in spanish first and then transfer it over to their english knowledge. You do a great thing by pointing out that they are correct in spanish. The second thing that i liked in your post was how the students had no problem talking in social english to you or their peers. Great observations.
Your connection to Goldenberg, Lisa, is quite relevant here. You represent his conclusions accurately. I appreciate your discussion of the difference between social and academic English.
ReplyDeleteWell done,
Dr. August