Reading By [Age] Nine: Mix of Languages Taxes Teachers

The Orlando Sentinel | 9/10/01 | Pamela Mercer and Scott Powers

[Alberta's Child]

The beauty of the English language is that it is so versatile, while most other languages are so cumbersome that they can't adapt to new words.

I actually know the French term for a Sony Walkman. It's actually called a "Sony Walkman," despite the best attempts of their language police to purge French society of all English words.

I once joked to someone (who was French) that the French language is so limited that the French term for a microchip was probably literally translated to "electronic potato chip." The look on her face told me I wasn't far from the truth!

[Jakarta ex-pat]

Speaking and writing in English are two very different concepts.

I see many American trained kids here.

They can't write to save their lives.

[Irene Adler]

Summer, I hesitate to offer my thoughts on research results reported by educators because it is NOT my field. I cannot claim any expertise in the area, and I DO not claim any.

However, I have frequently heard education majors who are acquaintances of mine cite chapter and verse teaching methods from the results of such research as though it is gospel. All too often, in my experience, educational methods, some used in the classroom for years, turn out to have been based on badly flawed, poorly designed, poorly administered, politically biased, and sometimes even completely fake "research" results. As examples I offer: "modern math" (a travesty to which I was personally exposed as a student and which ruined my math skills for years) and "whole language" which replaced the teaching of phonics with truly disastrous results.

Frankly, whenever I hear about modern teaching methods and programs based on current educational research results, I am very, very, very skeptical. It seems to me that such research frequently turns out to be total hooey, far more often than not.

I don't mean to be unkind to you in any way, that's not the point of what I'm trying to say, but this is my experience for many years of exposure to the work of educational theorists and researchers who have dominated the field for at least a quarter century, if not longer.

I have gotten to the point, where I never believe anything that comes from educational research in this country especially if it contradicts my own life experience. Too often it turns out to have been junk science or plain lies.

[Enough_Deceit]

" In the past three years, voters have outlawed bilingual education in California and Arizona through initiatives masterminded by Ronald Unz, a theoretical physicist who is now a Silicon Valley businessman. "

Bilingual education was recently outlawed in AZ. I remember reading the literature that explained the pros and cons of each issue. What really surprised me was the eloquent arguement AGAINST bilingual education put forth by high ranking Latinos in our community. They felt that the bilingual education did more harm than good.

[summer]

Re your post #43 -- I agree with just about every word you wrote!

I think you are not actually aware of my position because of my typing errors: I forgot to place "quotation marks" around the "research" that I was DISAGREEING with, because as I say in my posts: I part ways with some of the experts cited in the article.

And, BTW, I agree with you totally about the bogus new math. YES, I believe kids need to learn to estimate and creatively problem solve. BUT, THEY ALSO NEED TO M-E-M-O-R-I-Z-E "BASIC MATH FACTS" -- AND, TO FIRST KNOW THOSE FACTS!!!

The worst professor I had in my Master's program was the math professor. To this day, I get a headache when I think of that one class he taught -- what a TOTAL waste of time. And, every single other teacher-in-training in the class felt that way too.

Thanks so much for writing. I hope you write to me more, as you sound so interesting. And, BTW, you don't need a fancy degree to: (a) learn from your own experiences; and (b) develop your own very worthwhile opinions. :)

[summer]

actually aware = actually UNaware

[summer]

I think I am going nuts today! -- scratch my post #46 correction, as I DID have it right the first time!

[summer]

What really surprised me was the eloquent arguement AGAINST bilingual education put forth by high ranking Latinos in our community. They felt that the bilingual education did more harm than good.
-----------
Excellent point, and thank you for sharing it. I agree with those Latinos because I think THEY believe, as I do, that:

bi-lingual actually HOLDS BACK ALL KIDS, especially the kids who will quickly pick up the English language like a sponge. Bi-lingual is too low in expectations. Immersion is tougher, but the expectations are higher, and that can only benefit the student in the long run. Thanks so much writing. Hope to hear from you again. :)

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

another student in the class -- who speaks the same language as the student who is confused, will turn to the confused student, say a few words in the native tongue of that confused student, and: the student understands.

But -- I STILL want that CONFUSED student to TRY TO FOLLOW ME IN HOW I AM TEACHING IN ENGLISH. BEcause this kid can NOT have a personal translator with him everywhere he goes in this country

. . . and you make perfect sense. You are determined to help, and the way to help the most is to pass along American culture to the immigrant as efficiently as possible. And that is precisely why your "perfect sense" is opposed by anticonservatives here who object to the transmission of American culture.

To anybody.

[SocialMeltdown]

One of the problems we’re dealing with today is that we don’t have the culturally unifying institutions such as Sesame Street.

Today, ABC new broadcasts a Spanish translations. There is also Univision and Telemondo. MTV broadcasts a Latino version. (As bad as MTV is, at least they would have been learning English. Now, they’re not only getting bad messages from MTV but they’re getting it in a foreign language).

If there was only English programming, I could see the system working as it did in the past. However, it is becoming easier for these kids to simply fall back on the language they know because they are now offered others options besides English.

If we didn’t have all the above, English assimilation wouldn’t be a problem. As it is now, with all the cultural side-streets, children don’t have to learn English simply because they now have the options to circumvent English.

Watching Sesame Street may have worked in the past but today, Sesame is also broadcasting heavily in Spanish.

[Alberta's Child]

The fact that this kid's family came from Spain instead of Latin America had a lot to do with his determination, too. That's not something we're supposed to talk about, though.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

That means actively discouraging the use of other languages in school

You mean like beating those who speak Spanish among themselves at recess. This was done in Texas and New Mexico a few years ago.

In the first instance, disperse the speakers of a given foreign language so that they each are isolated from all others with whom they would be tempted to communicate in that foreign language. Even that is tough love. But an American school must take English fluency for granted, and people for whom that assumption is not initially valid constitute an educational emergency.

You do not treat acute illness with pallatives; you cut the patient open if necessary to reduce the problem to a chronic problem which will heal with time. Bilingual ed is precisely the treatment of an emergency as if it were business as usual. Bilingual ed would be entirely appropriate for a child who would only be in America temporarily. It is unsuited to education for life in mainstream America. And that's what some who support it like about it.

[CBF]

My children are bilingual, speaking both English and Norwegian. At home we always have spoken English, and they have been taught Norwegian in school. I can relate to some areas of what these teachers are experiencing.

My kids are verbally fluent in both languages and can switch in the middle of a sentence without missing a beat. Interestinglingly enough, when changing from one language to another they automatically change their speach structure to account for different sentence structure and grammatic rules. Where I am facing a challange is the reading and writting. My oldest boy, who is 8, is slightly behind his class-mates in writting in Norwegian, and my 5 year old boy is about where he should be for a 1st. grader regarding reading and writting in both languages. I think it has to do with a childs will to learn. My 8 year old is not advancing as quickly as my 5 year old, for no other reason than he lacks commitment and attention, (hopefully something he will grow out of). My 5 year old on the other hand is more dilligent and attentive.

So while I agree with the fact that these teachers face a problem, I agree with many others on this thread who are of the opinion that children will learn what they are taught, if they want to learn and in many cases will advance at their maturity level.

[summer]

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my post, and for your reply, post #49.

I really appreciate your understanding of what I am doing when I am teaching the non-English speaking students in my class.

My very best to you,

summer :)

[summer]

Thank you for your fascinating reply, posted again here:

"My children are bilingual, speaking both English and Norwegian. At home we always have spoken English, and they have been taught Norwegian in school. I can relate to some areas of what these teachers are experiencing.

My kids are verbally fluent in both languages and can switch in the middle of a sentence without missing a beat.

Interestinglingly enough, when changing from one language to another they automatically change their speach structure to account for different sentence structure and grammatic rules.

Where I am facing a challange is the reading and writting. My oldest boy, who is 8, is slightly behind his class-mates in writting in Norwegian, and my 5 year old boy is about where he should be for a 1st. grader regarding reading and writting in both languages.

I think it has to do with a childs will to learn. My 8 year old is not advancing as quickly as my 5 year old, for no other reason than he lacks commitment and attention, (hopefully something he will grow out of). My 5 year old on the other hand is more dilligent and attentive.

So while I agree with the fact that these teachers face a problem, I agree with many others on this thread who are of the opinion that children will learn what they are taught, if they want to learn and in many cases will advance at their maturity level."

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Dear CBF,

Thank you so much for sharing details about your family.

As a teacher, here is what I would suggest you try with your 8-year old, who you describe as very verbal, but, behind in reading and writing.

And, before I make my suggestion, let me this, to address your point, and the point of others on this thread, about a child's "willingness" to learn.

It is true -- some children are naturally more attentive and diligent in their learning. BUT -- and, this is a VERY big BUT -- a good teacher knows that part of the job of a teacher IS to MOTIVATE those NOT AS DILIGENT so that THEY TOO BECOME MORE DILIGENT and ATTENTIVE.

Now, how does a teacher do that? There are many ways.

Here is one way: see the world through the eyes of that student.

I once had a 3rd grader who was intensely interested in picking up various pieces of what others might call -- oh, I'm trying to be polite here -- "nature" and would bring it to school, everyday. So, one morning, he brings me a dead frog he found on his way to school, a broken branch from a tree, whatever.

Well, this kid was truly amazed by the changes in the things around him in nature. That was obvious.

So, as a teacher -- and I was just a long term substitute teacher at the time -- I try to build on his interests.

Then, by doing so, I can slip in what I need to do to MOTIVATE this kid to do MORE writing and MORE reading.

So, every time he brought me something that he "found on his way to school" or whatever, I would go to the library and find for him a book in some way related to his latest "discovery."

Then, instead of letting him just talk about his discovery to the class during show and tell, I would ask him to READ ALOUD part of the book WITH me. Consequently, I read a page, then he would read a page to the class ("buddy reading").

This kid NEEDED to do more reading. He slowly grew more confident, because even though he made some mistakes reading aloud the brief passages I gavce him, he was so interested in the book's subject matter that he got through it anyway. Then, we would all talk about what he and I had read. (I also did this with other students. And, everyday I read aloud to them, just me alone, to model great reading, as a teacher should.) The class needed to SEE THE CONNECTION BETWEEN their amazing discoveries as 3rd graders, AND BOOKS.

Well, eventually, this kid would not only BRING me a dead mnouse or bird or whatever he dug up, but, he would ALSO start to GO TO THE LIBRARY AND FIND A BOOK ABOUT IT.

THIS NEW BEHAVIOR I PRAISED TO THE HILT.

I did other activities with him, and the class, as well, but, this little was truly the "Sherlock Holmes" of the class with respect to nature. If I told you all the "things" this kid brought to school, you would laugh for a week.

Here's one of the other activities, and I think you should consider tryiing it with your 8-year old, so that your child's writing and reading improves:

This method of teaching is called: "LEA" or:

"The Language Experience Approach."

Here what it means:

Little Sherlock Holmes in my class brings me a live turtle today, and wants to keep it in the class. Of course, I say: "OK."

"But," I tell the class, "let's keep track of all the things Sherlock here is bringing to school -- and what you think about it. [Bcause the whole class sees the turtle.]"

So now, out comes an overhead projector, and I ask the kids to think about (1) the sequence of events they saw today (because SEQUENCE is an IMPORTANT reading skill); (2) a description of what they saw today (because their use of ADJECTIVES will make them kid a BETTER WRITER): (3) etc.

As the children raise their hands to offer their responses, here's what I do: I WRITE WHAT THEY SAY. I AM WRITING IN FRONT ON THEM ON THE OVERHEAD PROJECTOR. THEY NOW SEE THAT THEIR VERBAL WORDS BECOME: WRITTEN WORDS.

After I WRITE what they say -- AND THEY SEE ME WRITE IT -- then, we READ WHAT I WROTE.

In short, here's what has happened:

(1) The class experienced an event: Sherlock brought in another whatever today, from the wonderful world of nature.

(2) The class has VERBALLY recounted it to me, BUT I AM WRITING WHAT THEY SAY AND THEY SEE ME WRITE IT.

(3) After I write, we then READ WHAT I WROTE.

(4) The next day, I will give them a real piece of paper with today's chapter in our on-going class book, WRITTEN BY ME AND THE CLASS, called something like:

"OUR ADVERTURES IN NATURE."

Kids are quite amazed to realize what they SAY can become: what they WRITE, AND can become: SOMETHING TO READ LATER.

Try your own version of this, the next time you and your kids take a trip to a restaurant or the store or whatever event you all do together. Get them to TALK, while YOU DO THE WRITING. Then, get them to READ YOUR WRITING, which is WHAT THEY SAID.

They should become MORE interested in WRITING and READING, and you are building on the SPEAKING strength of your 8 year old, so that child should NOT be intimidated by this teaching method. It may take a while to get going, and there may be some resistance at first, but, keep trying. Kids like nothing more than to write their own books, in my humble opinion.

Let me know how it goes.

Best,

summer :)

A FL certified teacher, independent voter and former Dem

[summer]

who you describe = whom you describe

[summer]

let me this = let me say this

[summer]

this little was = this little kid was

[summer]

will make them kid a BETTER WRITER = will make them BETTER WRITERS