PDG+Reflection+308

Kelly Nolan ELD 308 Dr. McKool November 8th, 2011

Professional Development Reflection
Throughout my life I have had very limited experiences with students who’s first language was not English. Until very recently the thought that I may have students in my classroom who do not speak English, or speak it in a very limited capacity, had not even crossed my mind. It was not until I entered the West Windsor-Plainsboro school district that I began to wonder how it is we teach to students who do not speak our language. After reading //English Language Learners: The Essential Guide// by David and Yvonne Freedman I feel that I finally have some ideas on how to work with these students and how their second language develops.

There are many things that I did not realize about ELLs before reading this book. I had no idea about the different ways districts accommodate these students and I also did not know that there were so many different types of ELLs. The three types of English Language Learners are those with adequate formal schooling, those with limited and/or interrupted schooling and long-term English learners.

English Language Learners with adequate formal schooling come to America with literacy in their first language and a strong educational background. These students also often have parents at home who speak both their native language and English. Students with adequate formal schooling very often are the most likely to succeed in the American schooling system.

English Language Learners with limited and/or interrupted schooling usually have a more difficult time then those with adequate schooling. These students are not literate in their first language and have not spent much time in a formal school setting. They are most often the children of migrate farm workers or come from other situations where the focus is on survival and working rather than schooling. Their gaps in education make it difficult for them to catch up to grade level. These students need to learn both conversational and academic English at the same time. Not having an academic background in their first language makes this very hard. To further complicate matters, most of these students have not been in a formal school before so they are faced with the daunting task of learning how school works and what they are expected to do.

Finally, long-term English learners are those who have been in American schools for seven or more years and have received inconsistent support throughout. They may achieve passing grades but usually do poorly on standardized tests because they are below grade level in areas such as reading, writing and math.

When we are working with ELLs we need to understand the student’s background in order to better tailor our instruction to meet their needs. Currently at the early childhood center I am placed in almost all of my students are ELLs. I would consider them all to have adequate formal school because they have received instruction at home both in English and in their first language. Many of them also attended daycare or preschool in their home country and they received some sort of instruction at home. They are all being raised in families where speaking English is valued and a great emphasis is placed on schooling. I believe that these students, if they stay in America long enough to enter public school, will excel. It is a shame that this is not the case for all ELL students, but as a teacher I know that it is my duty to make sure that I know enough about each of my students to be able to meet there educational needs. Knowing about the different types of ELLs will allow me to make instructional decisions so that my students can excel.

Another thing that Freedman and Freedman talk about is designing curriculum around big ideas. This differs from units about objects in that there is a clear way to relate the question to each subject and the teacher does not have to stretch to find a commonality within subjects. When we ask a big question we can use each subject to explore possible answers (science), read about it, write about the answers (language arts) and study the effects this question may have on others (social studies). For ELLs this big question curriculum is beneficial because it makes transition from subject to subject much less stressful. These students are not spending the first 10 minutes of each period trying to figure out what they are learning about. Also it allows for repetition of language. If students are hearing the same kinds of language in each subject they are able to pick it up more quickly due to the repetition.

In my own classroom I have often thought of using object or animal units to help keep some continuity between my lessons but after reading this book that seems so silly and useless. Why create units around an object when you can create it around an important question and these questions can be directly related to the standards they are expected to learn? There is so much exploring and learning that can take place and so many other questions that can arise when you are trying to answer these questions that the possibilities seem almost endless. I am very excited to try this out in my own classroom, not just for my ELLs, but also for my native English speakers. It seems to me that this strategy can be beneficial to everyone.

Freedman and Freedman also discuss the impact that a students’ knowledge of their first language influences second language acquisition. They say that students need to have a solid academic base in their first language and they need to understand the linguistic cuing systems in their first language in order to be able to master English. Students need to understand letter-sounds relationships (graphophonics), the order that words are using in a sentence (syntax) and the meanings of these words in a sentence (semantics). Students should first understand these suing systems in their first language in order for them to apply this to learning a second language. In order to do this we must encourage students to continue to use and strengthen their first language while they are learning English. There background from this native language is an important foundation in the acquisition of a second language.

This is also discussed in Cummins’ Theory. Cummins’ says that “when students are taught in and develop proficiency in their first language, that proficiency will transfer to the second language assuming they are given enough exposure to the second language and are motivated to learn it” (pg87). This explains why students with adequate formal schooling seem to do better in school once they arrive in America. Cummins’ also talks about the differences between what he calls basic interpersonal communicative skills and cognitive academic language proficiency. He uses the term basic interpersonal communicative skills to describe conversational language. Most ELLs are able to pick up conversational language very quickly and easily, usually within a few years of them coming to America. What he calls cognitive academic language proficiency, or academic English, is much more difficult for students to grasp. Students who have had primary language instruction are much more likely to have subject matter knowledge to refer to as they study the concepts in English. Knowing this it is my opinion that bilingual education is key for student’s success. These students are not going to grasp the content concepts in English if they do not have something to refer to in their first language. Many ESL programs in schools are focusing on teaching students conversational English. This seems unnecessary to me if the student is able to acquire it on their own. In this case we should refocus our attention on academic language. In my own classroom I will try to work with an ESL teacher or a bilingual paraprofessional to give these students the academic language they are struggling to learn.

Overall, I feel that through reading this book I have developed an idea about how to teach to ELLs. Before this book I could not even imagine having a student in my class that did not speak any English but I now realize that this is a very distinct possibility especially in the primary grades. I hope that through my reading of this book and may other books in the future I will have a solid foundation from which to approach ELL students.