I think your brother's experience will definitely help you in the classroom as you sympathize with students who struggle with language barriers. As a student teacher, I have witnessed the importance of creating a classroom environment in which the students feel safe, and implementing flexible grouping so that students can hear and expand their vocabulary by listening to others. I believe that it is important to be as explicit as possible and build the background knowledge for the student. According to Ortega(2013), " The source of development resides in the environment rather than the individual." This statement discusses how learning and development must be closely scaffolded. As you discussed, the difficulty your brother experienced in Pre- K involving the language barrier, it was above his zone of proximal development. As he developed his knowledge of the language, with close scaffolding in a social environment, the language was within the zone of proximal development. It is also interesting that you've traveled to so many places. This will aide in great stories to share with students.
Laregilon, I completely agree with what you said about her brothers experience helping her sympathize with her students who struggle with language barriers. Being able to firsthand experience the emotions of someone who has that issue makes you see a deeper perspective. I have a student in my class who can not speak English so she never knows whats going on and is always lost. It breaks my heart because we do not have a bilingual program at my school. To see this little girl struggle and not know what she's doing makes me sympathize for her and helps me understand what I need to do for students like her in my future classroom.
Wow, that is very disheartening to hear. Although that is an unfortunate situation, at least you are having an opportunity to attain the knowledge to close the gap in language barriers seen in the classroom. According to the video, the student is experiencing a silent stage in which she is matching words to context. Being monolingual my entire life, I could only imagine the difficulties with acquiring a new language.
Laregilon, I think you are right about grouping students together according to their vocabulary level. This will help them build their speech and learn off each other. Combining students altogether may cause frustration to students who are not able to follow along with the rest of the class. Putting my brother in an environment where he feels comfortable at may have reduced some frustration he was feeling.
To begin with, you clearly have had a great experience with simultaneous language acquisition having grown up around parents who spoke both English and Mandarin. I grew up in a monolinguistic household where my parents and other family members spoke only English. I have had some exposure to learning Spanish, but have never been immersed in the language for any great period of time. Therefore, I am always amazed and a tiny bit envious at the ease of which so many of my classmates understand, write and speak using more than one language. Furthermore, you indicated that you were never frustrated as a result of your bilingual upbringing. Rowland (2014, p. 178) states that “…just because children mix up their languages in their speech does not necessarily mean that they mix up their languages in their mind”. I know you were very young when you learned to speak both Mandarin and English; however, I am curious about whether or not you recall a time when you were conscious of mentally mixing up the two? And, do you think mentally mixing up Mandarin and English could have been one of the reasons your brother was so “frustrated and confused” in pre-school? Finally, it is wonderful that you take such pride in your family’s cultural background. I sincerely hope that your appreciation for cultural diversity will serve you well in your future classroom.
Hello Emerald, great video and use of pictures. It’s awesome how we both are from California and raised in Texas. You learned your native language and English at the same time but still managed to stay poised and focus. However, for your brother’s second language experience it was much different since he was back in his native language home. You got to practice SLA study in school, which we know it’s effective at a young age. In your case, you fall under the term bilingual acquisition which states in Ortega’s text, “to refer to the process of learning two or more languages relatively simultaneously during early childhood.”
I think your brother's experience will definitely help you in the classroom as you sympathize with students who struggle with language barriers. As a student teacher, I have witnessed the importance of creating a classroom environment in which the students feel safe, and implementing flexible grouping so that students can hear and expand their vocabulary by listening to others. I believe that it is important to be as explicit as possible and build the background knowledge for the student. According to Ortega(2013), " The source of development resides in the environment rather than the individual." This statement discusses how learning and development must be closely scaffolded. As you discussed, the difficulty your brother experienced in Pre- K involving the language barrier, it was above his zone of proximal development. As he developed his knowledge of the language, with close scaffolding in a social environment, the language was within the zone of proximal development. It is also interesting that you've traveled to so many places. This will aide in great stories to share with students.
ReplyDeleteLaregilon, I completely agree with what you said about her brothers experience helping her sympathize with her students who struggle with language barriers. Being able to firsthand experience the emotions of someone who has that issue makes you see a deeper perspective. I have a student in my class who can not speak English so she never knows whats going on and is always lost. It breaks my heart because we do not have a bilingual program at my school. To see this little girl struggle and not know what she's doing makes me sympathize for her and helps me understand what I need to do for students like her in my future classroom.
DeleteWow, that is very disheartening to hear. Although that is an unfortunate situation, at least you are having an opportunity to attain the knowledge to close the gap in language barriers seen in the classroom. According to the video, the student is experiencing a silent stage in which she is matching words to context. Being monolingual my entire life, I could only imagine the difficulties with acquiring a new language.
DeleteLaregilon, I think you are right about grouping students together according to their vocabulary level. This will help them build their speech and learn off each other. Combining students altogether may cause frustration to students who are not able to follow along with the rest of the class. Putting my brother in an environment where he feels comfortable at may have reduced some frustration he was feeling.
ReplyDeleteTo begin with, you clearly have had a great experience with simultaneous language acquisition having grown up around parents who spoke both English and Mandarin. I grew up in a monolinguistic household where my parents and other family members spoke only English. I have had some exposure to learning Spanish, but have never been immersed in the language for any great period of time. Therefore, I am always amazed and a tiny bit envious at the ease of which so many of my classmates understand, write and speak using more than one language. Furthermore, you indicated that you were never frustrated as a result of your bilingual upbringing. Rowland (2014, p. 178) states that “…just because children mix up their languages in their speech does not necessarily mean that they mix up their languages in their mind”. I know you were very young when you learned to speak both Mandarin and English; however, I am curious about whether or not you recall a time when you were conscious of mentally mixing up the two? And, do you think mentally mixing up Mandarin and English could have been one of the reasons your brother was so “frustrated and confused” in pre-school? Finally, it is wonderful that you take such pride in your family’s cultural background. I sincerely hope that your appreciation for cultural diversity will serve you well in your future classroom.
ReplyDeleteHello Emerald, great video and use of pictures. It’s awesome how we both are from California and raised in Texas. You learned your native language and English at the same time but still managed to stay poised and focus. However, for your brother’s second language experience it was much different since he was back in his native language home. You got to practice SLA study in school, which we know it’s effective at a young age. In your case, you fall under the term bilingual acquisition which states in Ortega’s text, “to refer to the process of learning two or more languages relatively simultaneously during early childhood.”
ReplyDelete