The concepts that really caught my attention were those relating to multiculturalism in the classroom. Since we already discussed these in general, I am going to focus on the language aspects. There are many dialects of English that are spoken among students. Likewise, there are a great number of ESL (English as a Second Language) students in America today. That being said, it is imperative that teachers are sensitive to dialects and to the needs of bilingual children so they are able to instruct and assess them accordingly. Given that there are so many dialects within the English language, there is really no absolute form of standard English to teach (Woolfolk, p. 186). For ESL students, since English is being learned, their language development must monitored differently than monolingual, English speaking students. Woolfolk really delves deeply into these concepts in chapter 5 of our text.
With regard to dialect, it is amazing just how many ways there are to say the same thing. Regions can determine how things are said, regardless of ethnicity. Woolfolk uses the example of different ways to refer to carbonated beverages, such as “coke”, “soda”, and “pop”. For example, people may use the words “home”, “crib”, or “pad” when referring to where they live. Additionally, there are many cultural differences in dialect. For example, the word “crib” is commonly used by African Americans when referring to the place they live, vs. “home” or “my house”. Since such differences exist, it is important to be aware of them and accept them as valid language, while teaching the more “Standard English” to prepare students for the professional world (Woolfolk, p.p. 186, 187). Comparative writing and speaking activities can be done to allow students to express their thoughts in their own dialects, while gaining exposure to other dialects in the process. Students could then go on to take the different dialects, and translate them into “professional English” dialect.
When teaching ESL bilingual students, there are so many concepts that teachers must be mindful of when constructing lessons and assessing achievement. For example, teachers must know the appropriate time frames for achievements and normal errors in new language use, otherwise a child could be incorrectly assessed as having a language disorder. There is a great chart that explains this in the text (Woolfolk, p. 185). Another aspect of this, that had honestly never even crossed my mind before reading the text is this; there is “contextual” language and “academic” language. When taught well, contextual language takes 2-3 years to master at a basic level, while academic language takes 5-7 years to master (Woolfolk, p. 184). This means that an ESL child, who is able to hold a full conversation in English, will still struggle when hearing and reading academic words that are found in textbooks. What a concept!
There are so many things to take into consideration when becoming a teacher in today’s America. I just hope that I can meet the needs of all the students I will be teaching. It sometimes seems to be a bit overwhelming. Is anyone else feeling this way?
Hi, Lisa!
ReplyDeleteI like how you addressed that there are so many different dialects of English, and how difficult it is to pin down a standardized English to teach. You discussed ESL students.I couldn't imagine coming here from another country and having to learn English. Even within the same state, there are several dialects spoken. I think it's so important as teachers that we take into account the daunting task for our ESL students of how difficult English is to learn.
Lisa P.
Thanks Lisa. I know, English is so tricky and inconsistent with word and letter pronunciations already. I never realized this until studying Spanish and learning that they have a very consistent language without the tricks. I could only imagine how difficult it must be as an ESL student.
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