One of the things that I really like about my VIPS school is that most of the students are bilingual. While I was observing my classroom before the class started i realized that many of the students were speaking in spanish. I had originally been a little thrown off by it since most of the time students speak english in school, whether its their first language or not. So for me to hear the students speaking in their language it made me quite happy. The teacher didnt say a thing about it, like asking them to stop, or telling them to speal english like most teachers would. He continued to go about getting ready for class and almost didnt even seem to notice the conversations going on in another language. He was extremely accepting of the fact that his school is multi-cultural, and multi-racial, which leads to the different languages being spoken in his classroom.
I think that by being so accepting about the students having linguistic and sociocultural differences, my VIPS teacher has gained a great amount of respect from his students. Luckily enough his students are old enough to have had enough time to know two different languages so that it's not like their being bilingual causes any problems when it comes to teaching them things. Goldenberg believes that people who learn to speak and read in their native language are going to learn their second language better. Goldenberg also believes that bilingual children are an asset to have. Goldenberg also stresses the point of transfer where they learn and apply what they know in their own language, to their second language being learned. I'm not sure if the students in my class are ESL students, but even if they are are, they have been accepted as bilingual speakers in their classroom. I believe I've been very accepting of the linguistic and sociocultural differences since I have grown up with other people who have linguistic and sociocultural differences. This is an advantage to me since most other people aren't used to such differences that are present in my home city or in my VIPS school. I'm thankful for being in such a respectful and accepting school system with teachers and students who are the same way.
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It was actually pretty funny to me, one of the days that I was a tutor, an announcement came over the speaker, and it called for a custodian to the main office. Several minutes later (after apparently the custodian had not arrived) the same announcement was made over the intercom, except this time it was said in Spanish. Within the classroom, over a dozen of the students exclaimed a translation of what was said in the announcement. Two of the students that I tutor made sure that I was aware that I knew what the message said, and I thanked them for their helpfulness. For the remainder of the class, these students (who were working with counters that day) counted the numbers in Spanish. My spanish is limited, but I can count up to one-hundred, so I joined in. When the teacher came over, one of the girls who was in my group and fluent in Spanish, continued to count, to which the teacher, who had been handing out worksheets, stopped and listened. I believe that the girl counted all the way to 32 in Spanish, and the teacher stood there, smiling. The teacher told the girl that she didn't know that she spoke Spanish, to which the little girl, proud of herself, smiled and nodded back.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is extremely important for all teachers to be accepting of other languages, but not only accepting, it must also translate into promotion. Teachers should embrace that students are bilingual.
Nice connection to Goldenberg, Christina. You see the heritage language of your students as an asset, not a liability. Such an attitude will advance your cultural competency.
ReplyDeleteWell done,
Dr. August