Reflection #2 Week 7/11-7/15

Reading about language and students that whose primary mode of communication is not English has really been an eye opening experience and I am very grateful that in our discussion about social contexts we include it. Personally, I find it difficult to learn other languages and I wish that I had put more effort as a child into learning Spanish and other languages that were offered. However, I also put part of the blame on our society, which does not put a heavy emphasis on language acquisition. Unlike Europe, the United States encourages the adoption of language onto immigrants and urges everyone to speak English instead of their home language; it is a very ethnocentric philosophy. However, in the classroom I can relate to students who do not speak English at home. Just like I struggled learning Spanish, they must be struggling to learn all their subjects that are taught in an unfamiliar language.

While reading “Trilingualism,” by Judith Baker, the suggestion to teach the three types of English really stood out to me. Whether you are in a classroom with students who do not speak any English at home or are simply not fluent in the “proper” form of English that we tend to gravitate towards in school, it is so helpful to allow students to convey what they are learning in the language they are comfortable with. As a teacher, I predict that I would get much more creative and rich questions and answers in class if students were communicating the way the know best. Perhaps there are certain emotions or ideas that cannot be accurately translated into English. Instead of stifling those ideas, I want my students to say what they think and then we can all work together on explaining what he/she means for the rest of the class. In this way, the individual student can feel like an active participant in the class and the rest of the class can learn from the language differences and maybe even develop somewhat of an education on each others different forms of communication. I as a teacher also get to know students better and foster a safer more comfortable classroom environment and richer discussions.

The only question I would pose to Baker would be if she believes her “home English” would transfer over to families that speak entirely in a different language and if she would be comfortable allowing students to speak in her classroom in languages other than English. I see the challenges in this, but as I said before, I think it would be a valuable learning experience for everyone in the room. It may take up more instruction time than you can afford, so maybe it is something you do with specific assignments or class activities and not everything. The main idea that I came away with is the open-mindedness to different languages and the patience to help children who do not communicate in or understand English easily to be able to participate and accessing all the content.