Conversations: Robbing the Key to the Heart!

Teaching Multilingual Children

Collier 

Quote: “How do you teach standard English in a way that respects and affirms the multiple home languages and dialects represented among students in class?” (223). 

Textual Understanding

My Connection

My answer to the question: TRANSLANGUAGING! The why and How

If you were told that you couldn’t use your home language, how much could you produce?  Why/how can we expect students to produce without using all the tools in their tool box?  At first you may see more of their L1 in their writing with just a few words from their L2, that will eventually shift ... .we don’t need to understand everything at all times!  We need to know they are thinking and producing.

Quote “If English has to be taught in a speedy fashion and students have to acquire the language rapidly enough to survive academically, how can teachers do this?” (223). 

Textual Understanding

My Connection

I feel that it is an unrealistic expectation to push beyond the basics of conversational English and assume that students will be able to get the academics without that base.  BIC & CALP

I have been learning Spanish for 10 years and I don’t think  that I could survive a college course in Spanish. I can be a part of a discussion if there are not too many technical words and I am familiar with the topic, but if not, I would be lost!  Just because students can have a fluid conversation with friends, don’t assume they understand 100% of what is happening in class.  Teacher: “You talk with your friends just fine at recess, why can’t you talk now?”   Me: NNOOOO!!!!!       🤦 I literally have heard this!

Point 1

Be aware that children use first language acquisition strategies for learning or acquiring a second language. 

“Children acquiring second language will self-correct their own utterances ver time as they progress through the various stages of second language development, which are similar to those experiences by a child learning her and his first language (128)” (p 224)

Textual Understanding

My Connection

This reminds me of teaching in the Dominican Republic. A very common phrase my students would say is “borrow me this, miss” for can you let me borrow this? Or can you lend this to me please.  I also had a second grade student in my first year of teaching say “Miss, he is MOLESTING ME” to which my heart dropped into my stomach. I remain composed and said while holding my breath: can you explain to me exactly what he is doing to you please? To which she replied: “He is poking me with a pencil!”  “OHHHH he’s bothering you!” PHEW! I truly learned Spanish by engaging with my students!

Point 2: Do NOT think of yourself as a remedial teacher expected to correct so-called “ deficiencies” of your students. 

 (p. 226)

Textual Understanding	My Connection
“Moreover, eradication has been tried and proven to be effective only to turn off students from schooling” to which I say OF COURSE!!!! Who wants to be somewhere they can’t be themselves?	My question is which language is considered the  “stigmatized variety”? I thought it was any language other than English but when reading this it seems that there is a different school of thought that just wanted to rid of some languages. I would like to know more about this.

3 and 4 really go together:

3. Don’t teach a second language in any way that challenges or seeks to eliminate the first language.

4. Teacher the standard form of English and students' home language together with appreciation…..

“Since children code-switch spontaneously, teachers must understand the functions of code-switching in a bilingual setting to determine how best to respond to it in the classroom. ….it can occur at the word, phrase, clause or sentence level. Code-switching is considered by linguistics to be a creative use of language by bilinguals who know both codes (languages) well. 

Textual Understanding

My Connection

There are various types of bilingual programs:  transitional, maintenance, two-way enrichment.  This takes a lot of planning! While the teacher needs to plan the exact language and stick to that language, students should be allowed to dance between the two languages as needed,

In my classroom, it is hard for me to stay in one language because my students are so young and it’s their first time in school. I tend to use their L1 to connect with them when they are new, when I feel they need to capture deeply what I am saying (like why we don’t hit and why stealing is not okay). I tend to sandwich the sentences to support their understanding.  Our model is 50/50. I teach in English 3 days a week and 2 in Spanish and then flip the amount the next week.

5. Do not forbid young students from code-switching in the classroom. Understand the functions that code-switching serves

Pg 229

Textual Understanding	My Connection
	Reading about code-switching made me feel good about myself as I tend to float in and out when I am around bilinguals and always felt that it was because I wasn’t good enough in one language!

6. Provide a literacy development curr. That is specifically designed for English language learners.

pg 233

Textual Understanding

My Connection

“The most successful long-term academic achievement occurs where the students’ primary language is the initial language of literacy….second option developing literacy in both languages simultaneously, is far better than the third option, literacy development in the second language before the home language. “ (pg 233)

I never remember learning that specifically before now but it seems intuitive. If my students don’t know how to spell their name in their L1, that’s what we work on first before English. If they are having a hard time understanding a math topic in English, I explain it in Spanish A LOT! And I mix in some English to expose them, but I use their heart language to connect with them first.  If I am targeting Spanish, but a student who speaks English is having a hard time with the concept, I switch to their heart language of English and then doubleback. I don’t understand how anyone can think  that learning another language without the support of ones heart language makes any sense! I wonder if those believers have learned another language themselves that way!!!  If not, have they even considered what that experience may be like?  It’s crippling in EVERY way - mentally, emotionally, physically. Literal headaches and deep exhaustion occurs when thrown into another culture -WIth supports! Imagine without!

Aria 

Richard Rodreguiz

Pg. 34

I understand what the author here is saying about being delayed if  not fully  immersed and forced to learn English as he was. I learned the most Spanish when no English was around. I had no other choice but to make myself be understood or stay silent and observe. It is uncomfortable physically, emotionally and mentally, but diamonds are made in the crushing! There is value in the effort and pain that occurs when there is no other option.

I am not sure that anyone in society previously put themselves in the others’ shoes. This action is 100% the audacity of the culture of power that is in place. Speaking English is one of the rules of power and this family knew that and assimilated. But at what cost? 

(pg 35).

I see this in my students. I remember a few years ago that I had a student named Evans.  He refused to speak English. He would stare me dead in the eyes and refused to repeat anything. The look of sadness he had daily and the set look of defiance at other times was palpable. He would light up and be lively when speaking Spanish but if approached in English, he shut down as if I flipped a switch. And why wouldn’t he? He had just crossed the border, left his father and was now in a culture completely different with the pounding of English in his ears.  

(pg 36).

I can’t help to think how he is now finding his place in his new home and I can relate to the weight lifted at the idea of being able to flow in and out of conversations - feeling part of society again…but then thinking at what cost? I know so many students who can’t speak with their families. Who understands most of what their mom is saying but replies in English to which she doesn’t understand. By the time there are grandchildren, the family is just awkwardly staring at each other in silence.

pg. 37

This is the weight of the sacrifice that the parents made when submitting to the rules of power in their new home. Is it worth it? Why can’t they have both? Their heart language and English. We should be ashamed for breaking families apart like this and leading parents to believe they are helping their child by NOT speaking their home language. It’s an injustice for sure! Yet this author seems okay with it…..I see so many kids who can’t communicate with their parents. They are living with strangers. Our greatest influence and strongest connection should be with family and the language barrier inside of families is keeping the fundamental key locked. 

(pg 37). 

This reminds me of Evans. If he was not allowed to speak Spanish, he would not be able to be himself. He would remain locked up…and yes, when he learns English, he will be released once again,but at what cost? Will he be able to talk to his father in Guatemala? Will he continue to guard the key to his heart or render it to societal pressure….what’s the trade off? Is it worth it? Can he have both? I think so! 

Pg 39

I think this author has just decided that fitting in with the crowd is more important than keeping family connections and it irritates me! 😮‍💨Is he not deeply saddened by the loss of connection with his family? What was the payoff? I had a student in the DR named Denny who I was hired to teach English to - he was 4 at the time. He told me defiantly in Spanish: I am not going to learn English.” I got him to see the value of speaking English by responding with “That’s fine but I will have more friends than you because I speak TWO languages and you only speak ONE!” His one little eye brow went up 🤨 and he said “No, I will learn and have more friends than you!” 

While I was “forcing” him to learn and use one language, I was not telling him to get rid of the other. I was showing him there was value in both. His parents saw the value of learning two languages and he is now fully bilingual.

We need to respect and hold tight to every aspect that makes us us and to what makes others them! There is power in the struggle of assimilation, but we should not be erasing what’s in the heart and creating familial division.