Chapter nine points out that, “a
language is a dialect with an army and a navy” and that reminds me of the
saying, “history is written by the winners” because both statements point to
some of the issues with dominate languages. Dominant languages came to b so
because someone conquered someone else or because someone broke free of someone
else but even with, maybe especially with, Standard English there are cultural
ramifications of its status as “proper” or “standard”, just ask a Native
American, Native Hawaiian or Native Alaskan. Teachers must be aware of the
current culture and history of their students but also the historical culture
as well.
I love that this chapter is all
about bringing a student’s home language into the classroom and not about
making sure their Standard English is flawless. Teachers are trained in
multiple ways to improve the Standard English skills of conventional students
but often ELLs are forgotten or passed off as dumb because teachers do not know
how to help them become fluent in English as a second language. It is the
second language part that is important. Learning your first language is done at
your family’s knee and happens almost unconsciously but it takes a serious
effort to learn a second language even at elementary school ages.
The chapter points out that
students must learn to “play the classroom game” and I agree with that to some
extent. They have to learn how to behave and what is expected of them but they
should not have to give up their home culture to do it.
Teaching ELLs is very similar to
teaching a foreign language. I teach Latin half the day and Advanced Reading
the other half and I believe that teaching a foreign language has prepared me
to better assist ELLs in the classroom. I find myself using similar lessons and
similar tactics to help with vocabulary and grammar. I will definitely be
bringing some of the books teaching suggestions into both of my classrooms.
I already provide text in other
languages, mostly Spanish at this point, for my students. I have a complete set
of the big three young adult series (Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger
Games) in both English and Spanish and hope to pick up a copy of them in
Mandarin and Korean as well. My students love to compare these books to the
English counterparts and the few students I have that are native Spanish
speakers really get to come to the forefront and show off while we compare
them!
I was reminded while reading this
chapter of a serious misconception I used to have: before I got into teaching I
thought that all standard tests were given in a student’s home language. I was
floored when I found out differently. I am still aghast at the blatant
ridiculousness of testing a student in a language they have only known for five
or six years. It would be like giving to ACT to my upper level students
completely in Latin, they may be able to pass but they are not going to do as
well as they would have if it was in English. I am sure that the lack of
bilingual testing materials is completely about money and it bothers me that so
many students are being set up to fail so that the district can save a couple
hundred dollars.
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