Katrina Bell Bilingual Education

Observing and Interacting With Professionals, Children, and Families in an Early Childhood Setting

Advocating for Bilingual Education

 

 

Name: Katrina Bell

Date: February 7, 2013

Name of Program/Setting: Mary Bert Gutman Childcare Center

Who I spoke with: Shelly Bowman

What I learned about … Advocating for Bilingual Education

Two insights, experiences, or quotes that I will share in my blog this week…

 

I had the wonderful opportunity of interacting with the Program Director Shelly Bowman. Ms. Bowman and I had the opportunity to really talk and see what we as educators can do in support of bilingual education. My experience here was wonderful and I am very happy that I chose to do my research on “Advocating for Bilingual Education”. I learned from Ms. Bowman that students in bilingual and ESL classrooms manipulate more than one language and are influenced by more than one culture.

 

Their experiences with these languages and cultures influence their learning. The more we understand the personal, socio-cultural, and linguistic backgrounds of bilingual students, the better equipped we are to provide these students with an effective learning environment. This environment should be one that supports learning in a second language and culture, while fostering a positive attitude and respect for the other language and culture. As you walk around the center you have no doubt that this is taking place.

 

Ms. Bowman helped me to appreciate that the responsibility for English language learning, academic progress, and integration of bilingual and ESL learners into the school community should be assumed by all personnel at the school, not just by the bilingual and ESL staff. At Mary Bert Gutman School administrators make certain that bilingual students have opportunities to integrate both socially and academically with monolingual English speakers.

 

One thing I found very interesting was the set-up of the classrooms. In my mind I thought okay what do you do? When you create a bilingual preschool room this is a great way to teach preschoolers a new language. Whether you include languages all year round or just for topics and themes that include other countries, the children are likely to build up a foreign vocabulary, which is a great basis for becoming bilingual. It is also a good way to make children who speak English as a second language feel much more at home.

 

I also found it interesting that the most common bilingual classrooms are those in which Spanish and English are spoken. At Mary Bert Gutman I can see how the children benefit from a bilingual education. I also learned that for pupils who are unfamiliar with one of the languages spoken in the classroom, they are exposed to a new language at an early age. By using this language daily along with their native language, they learn vocabulary and the use of these words in everyday situations. Pupils whose first language is not English benefit from placement in a bilingual classroom because learning in their native language improves their understanding of academic skills such as reading and writing.

 

Ms. Bowman stressed that some student may not fully understand one of the languages used so they make it a point to provide instruction in both languages, not just one. In addition, we must be aware of the importance of teaching about cultural diversity in the classroom. Though the focus may be on the languages, the cultural differences among the students should be discussed. In advocating for bilingual education it means I need to involve the parents. Involving parents in the bilingual process will help extend the childd's learning beyond school.

 

It is important that we keep parents informed of what we are teaching, including diversity lessons and basic academic concepts. One thing we can do is to provide parents with a list of vocabulary words and basic phrases in each language taught in the classroom. Doing so gives the parents the basic knowledge to converse with their child in the two languages you teach. This will also allow the child to practice each language at home. In addition, we can also provide parents with access to bilingual books so they can read them along with their child.

 

 

One challenge that I had was what I could do to effectively teach the ELLs in my preschool classroom? Ms. Bowman gave me some wonderful suggestions to assist me in what I could do with my students. Three and four year olds seem to be constantly in motion and have nothing but energy. Activities that are action-based will grab their attention and keep their interest. Children of this age group enjoy movement play. Emphasize acting out stories, repeating predictable text, puppetry, chants, rhymes, finger plays, songs, and role-playing. Have students make believe by playing house or pretending to be firefighters. Teach them to play games. Let them run jump, skip, dance and hop. These activities can be utilized to encourage verbal expression and language development. Use what these children love to do in order to help them learn.

 

She also recommended developing oral language skills and teaching young ELLs to speak and understand English first. They need to learn vocabulary dealing with greetings, families, body parts, school and classroom items, days of the week, zoo and farm animals, numbers, shapes, seasons, colors, clothing, and fruit. Teach them commands such as "line up, raise your hand, and go to the circle." Use songs and chants to make learning fun.

 

The insights I gained was that all students, especially English language learners (ELLs), benefit from active participation in their learning. Through conversations and discussions in class with both teachers and other students, ELLs develop their English language skills as they broaden their knowledge and understanding of subject matter. Becoming a role model for the celebration of bilingual education, and establishing a classroom climate of acceptance, respect, and self-appreciation, should be key functions of teachers. I later also had the opportunity of watching a teacher in the classroom as she conducted her lesson with her students. What a wonderful learning experience and one I will not forget. I really learned a lot and this experience really gave me something to reflect on.

 

As a result of my interaction with Ms. Bowman I learned that bilingual education programs help to preserve the linguistic and cultural links between the students and their parents, thus facilitating effective communication and parental involvement in the students' education. If I am going to advocate for bilingual education then I need to have a goal. It is my goal to build successful productive bilingual and bicultural citizens of tomorrow.