I found chapter 7 from the Fox book to be very relevant in my main placement. In my classroom there are 7 ELL students. Three of them have Russian as their first language and four have Spanish as their native tongue. I consider my classroom culturally diverse and I think it truly enriches each of my students in multiple ways. I am also lucky that I get to work with ELL students in my class. When speaking with my master teacher about teaching reading to ELL students, she agrees with Fox: what works for ELL students is really helpful for native speakers – no matter what their level.
One of the things that this chapter didn’t mention is that Spanish is pronounced as it is read, unlike in English, where we have a silent e at end of words, p can sound like /p/ but when with an h can sound like an /f/ and so on. I notice that one of my students is having difficulty with this. I explained to her that in Spanish she is correct, but that English is a bit different. I am thankful to have that knowledge and am really looking forward to learning Spanish at some point so that I may be able to help with making a connection to Spanish again. I think that it is so important for a teacher to have taken a foreign language, that s/he might know what it is like to learn a foreign language just like her/his students.
One of the things chapter 7 touched on was trying to find words that are similar in English and in their students’ native tongue. The one thing it didn’t point out was to be aware of false friends. There are a few in French. For example: Sold. In English it is the past tense to sell. In French it means on sale.
Two of the ELL students in my classroom are at a lower reading level (G). My master teacher is working with them on rhymes and rimes. The word work that they are doing (word families) is showing to be a huge success for them. They are starting to see a connection to similar words, which they weren’t doing back in September. The great thing is that the word work is great for all the students in the class.
In our future classrooms, we’ll have students from different backgrounds. At home, our students could have family members that speak only one language (English not being it). For those students that have parents (caregivers, family etc.) that speak both their native language and English, will those students pick up the mistakes they make? For example: Chan on page 229. The book said that the word “wanted” was in print and when he retold the story, he used want. Was that solely based off of his knowledge of Vietnamese or do you think his parents speak to him that way and it sounded correct to him?
I like this chapter too! Like your mentor teacher, I think that by focusing on teaching clearly for ELL students, you teach better for all students. One thing that I've read and noticed in classrooms is that using visual aids is very helpful! Although the student in your class didn't know the word 'carpenter', a picture possibly could have helped her make a connection.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that teachers really should try to learn a new language or at least go somewhere where English is not the primary language. It is a humbling experience!
I had never thought about 'false friends'. Great thing to be aware of!