Saturday, June 2, 2007
Teaching English Speaking Children
We've talked so much about how to effectively teach English Language Learners in various ways. What about teaching the English speaking children a different language? I know many classrooms teach all of the students Spanish in many grades; but what if there was a child who speaks Chinese but they'll all learning Spanish. I think it is a very good idea to teach the language of ELL student to the rest of the class. Therefore the students are able to communicate with that child and not be afraid to talk to him/her. When I worked in a day care center we had many Chinese children who didn't speak English, however the parents did. The other teachers and I asked the parents to teach us some key words and phrases in order to communicate with the child and make him/her feel safe and comfortable. There was one child in particular who was larger than the others and much stronger. He would get physical without even realizing it and other children were getting frustrated because he wouldn't listen to them when they told him they didn't like it. We then taught the other children some phrases in Chinese so that they were able to effectively communicate with the English Language Learner.
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3 comments:
I think that you make a valid point. I was in a school in Union for my sophomore field observation last semester. There was a new student in the class from Poland. He didn't speak any English, but he was able to communicate simple phrases with the teacher and some of the other students. The teacher learned to say simple phrases to him in Polish, such as "It's time for lunch”, or "Do you have to go to the restroom?" The teacher told me that some of the other children in her class were very interested in learning Polish words. She had a few lessons where she taught the class to say some Polish words so they could communicate with the student.
I remember when I was in elementary school there was a child in the class who spoke only Spanish. Our teacher taught us several words in Spanish so that we could talk to him a little and help him to learn English words. It helped us to be friends with the new student when we otherwise would have probably ignored him.
There was one child in my Junior Field who had just moved to America from Poland at the beginning of the previous school year. She was only three years old. As I have said before, the school I did my Junior Field at had a duel language program where students were learning English and Spanish. This little girl, by the time I got to her classroom, in the middle of her second school year, was speaking Polish, English and Spanish fluently. It was really amazing how much she had learned.
I work in a preschool where we have many children who speak different languages. In my class alone there are children who speak French, Spanish, Chinese, and Hebrew. We have taught the children simple words in all those languages and they think its fun to use other words especially ones that their older sibilings may not know.
This also made it more welcoming for a Chinese student who came to us last summer. She spoke only some English and when she spoke Chinese the other children always wanted to know what she was saying. It was usually water, kiss, hello, or goodbye.When we taught them these words in Chinese, they would go up to the girl in the morning and say hello, in Chinese, and then they would ask for a kiss also in Chinese. The children thought it was some type of secret code so they loved it and the little girl was so much more relaxed when she was welcomed in such a friendly way.
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