Thursday, May 17, 2007
Students Communicating in their L1
On page 14 of our Chapter 1 packet there is an important checklist entitled "Empowering the Language Minority Student in an English Dominant Classroom" and the third bullet quickly caught my eye. What I have observed the past four days of student teaching is how often my students speak in their native language. They switch in and out of it openly and without shame. I have mostly been hearing a lot of Spanish and Portuguese between the students. I even pointed out to one of the students, jokingly of course, that anything she said in Portuguese to the others I could understand. It was funny to see her face suddenly glaze over in shock and then just as quickly a warm smile appeared on her face. All the Portuguese students like to think we share a bond since we speak the same language and we understand our culture. However, more importantly is the fact that they can have that openness in class. They feel comfort discussing life at home or their friends in their native language because it is what is familiar to them. Fortunately, my cooperating teacher, along with the other 8 teachers in the building (as I mentioned previously, it is a small school), also feel comfortable allowing the students to communicate in their L1.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I think it's really cool that the students in your class are able to speak a little bit in their native language. I find it very interesting how you describe the students smiling and feeling good about their native language and culture. It's nice that the students are allowed that openness and comfort in the classroom. It makes me a little sad looking back on my experience student teaching because I can honestly say that I never heard any of my ELL students speak in their native language. I don't think the students were discouraged from speaking their native language, but perhaps they just had no one with which they could share their native language. I had about 6 ELL students in my classes. The native languages included Spanish, Arabic, Korean, Chinese, and Albanian. I wonder if these students felt lonely because they didn't have someone to share their language with. I feel bad that the students in my classes didn't seem to experience the bond that you describe regarding the ELL students in your class.
I also have a few groups of students who speak their native language, and is is interesting how they switch so effortlessly from their native language before class to English during class. It also comes in handy when you have students who speak another language, because they can help you, which in turn helps the class. We are reading West Side Story, and there are quite a few Spanish words and phrases, some I know, some I don't. I consider myself lucky to be able to ask these students what the words mean and how to pronounce them. Not only do they gain self esteem from helping the teacher, and pride in being bilingual, but they also help me explain those words I don't know to the rest of the class, helping me to teach a better lesson.
I think it's great that they're able to communicate with each other in thier native language. This helps the students feel connected to something and in turn feel comfortable in their surroundings.
I like it when students communicate in their native language, it's a great way to keep their ancestors traditions and culture!! but they cannot forget to learn more englishalways everyday. I love it when they are fluent (bilinguals either english and spanish or any other language.)
Post a Comment