Discuss the role of emotional language in your L1 and L2. Which language is emotionally richer. As your learners acquire (participate?) in their new speech communities do you see a change in their emotional language behavior.
Definitally my emotional language is my L1, Spanish, everything that has to do with the heart or religion I do in L1. However, like I mention in class I am very passionate about our social issues with immigrants and second language learners, and I don't know if is because the audience that I want to reach are English speakers, is why I relate this part of my life more to L2. Or on the other hand, maybe because all my academic learning about bilingual education and immigration issues has been in L2 is easier for me to express my thoughts and feelings in that language.
I can see my students in the classroom, when they are talking about family and things that are close to them, they use their native language, but when they will talk about a subject that is not directly related to them, they use the language that they were expose to the subject in. For example, Spanish speakers, if they will talk about going to visit grandmother, and family reunions they will talk in Spanish, but if they will talk about the movie Spiderman, they do it in English, even when they know how to say it in Spanish. As I mentioned before, language is our identity, but that doesn't mean that we cannot relate interesting and emotional issues to both or all of our languages. I think this is as brown presented in the book, there are several factors that contribute and influence the use of L1 or L2, not necessarly because I want to talk about a topic I have to exclusevely use certain language. That is the beauty of bilingualism, been able to communicate in whatever we feel comfortable with and when we need to.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Response #8
Reflection # 8
Okay. What is it going to be form-focused or communicative or a combination of both. Back up your thoughts with some of the studies in LS Ch. 6
I believe that when instructing ELLs there is not a set of structured programs or techniques that can be chosen just because research shows they are effective. The most important factor to implement certain kind of approach is to meet the needs of every student and to make use of available resources to do so. As we all know year after year, our classroom population changes, and what was effective one year may not be the most appropriate for next. We have to realize, as we been talking in the classroom and reading from the text, that there are several factors that contribute to students' learning; SES, background, culture, proficiency and academic levels in L1 and L2, reasons for learning, etc. So, if teachers want maximize instruction, they have to take what works better either from structure or communicative based approaches. There are features in both from which our students can benefit, as well as to meet their needs.
In my case, because I teach both group of students, English and Spanish speakers, I use a lot the communicative approach to engage students in meaningful communication and to develope their oral language skills. However, I cannot leave structure-based out because I teach kinder and they need the basics to develop strong writing and reading skills.
Okay. What is it going to be form-focused or communicative or a combination of both. Back up your thoughts with some of the studies in LS Ch. 6
I believe that when instructing ELLs there is not a set of structured programs or techniques that can be chosen just because research shows they are effective. The most important factor to implement certain kind of approach is to meet the needs of every student and to make use of available resources to do so. As we all know year after year, our classroom population changes, and what was effective one year may not be the most appropriate for next. We have to realize, as we been talking in the classroom and reading from the text, that there are several factors that contribute to students' learning; SES, background, culture, proficiency and academic levels in L1 and L2, reasons for learning, etc. So, if teachers want maximize instruction, they have to take what works better either from structure or communicative based approaches. There are features in both from which our students can benefit, as well as to meet their needs.
In my case, because I teach both group of students, English and Spanish speakers, I use a lot the communicative approach to engage students in meaningful communication and to develope their oral language skills. However, I cannot leave structure-based out because I teach kinder and they need the basics to develop strong writing and reading skills.
Friday, June 15, 2007
Response #7
Many of you work with children. What are some of the issues concerning motivation with children? How do address motivation in the classroom? Can you motivate them or does motivation come from within?
Imagine entering a place where you never been, the people in there are strangers for you, and the person in charge is talking to you in some words that you have never heard. Well, that is how some of my students feel when they get to my classroom (kinder level).
As we read in Brown (ch. 6) self-esteem is one of the most important factors that influence the learning process of an ELL. So, if they feel insecure about their environment, the people, the language, etc, they will have very difficult time digesting all the information that they hear and see. Besides the factors that I already talked about, which are in our control, there are many factors that are out of our control such as; Lack of parent involvement in the learning life of the students, socio-economic situations that prevent students to have access to a diverse of experiences that other students do, rich experiences and interactions with people from other cultures and languages, etc. All these factors are out of teachers’ hands; however, there are many things that we can do to assist in improving these conditions.
Motivating students in the classroom is not easy, especially when we don’t want to use extrinsic motivation. Motivating students in an intrinsic manner is a process; yes we use rewards, stickers, prizes, etc. However, throughout the year students learn that not everything they do has to be rewarded externally, they know, especially ELLs that there are many reasons why they have to perform well; They learn to have pride in their bilingual skills, their culture and themselves.
Imagine entering a place where you never been, the people in there are strangers for you, and the person in charge is talking to you in some words that you have never heard. Well, that is how some of my students feel when they get to my classroom (kinder level).
As we read in Brown (ch. 6) self-esteem is one of the most important factors that influence the learning process of an ELL. So, if they feel insecure about their environment, the people, the language, etc, they will have very difficult time digesting all the information that they hear and see. Besides the factors that I already talked about, which are in our control, there are many factors that are out of our control such as; Lack of parent involvement in the learning life of the students, socio-economic situations that prevent students to have access to a diverse of experiences that other students do, rich experiences and interactions with people from other cultures and languages, etc. All these factors are out of teachers’ hands; however, there are many things that we can do to assist in improving these conditions.
Motivating students in the classroom is not easy, especially when we don’t want to use extrinsic motivation. Motivating students in an intrinsic manner is a process; yes we use rewards, stickers, prizes, etc. However, throughout the year students learn that not everything they do has to be rewarded externally, they know, especially ELLs that there are many reasons why they have to perform well; They learn to have pride in their bilingual skills, their culture and themselves.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Response #6
Re the Whorfian hypothesis: Are there concepts or ways of saying things in one of the
languages that you speak that can not be said or expressed or the meaning changes in
another of your languages? How do you address culture in your classrooms? Do you go beyond the "holiday" model of culture?
Referring to the Whorfian hypothesis, is very common that ELLs make substitution in L2 with the intention of one meaning and the message gets distortion in the process. The use of slang is a very good sample of Whorfian hypothesis, because in different cultures and regions people uses slang words to refer to something, when the same terminology is translated, it doesn’t make sense. In Spanish we have many “dichos” that make sense when the person is familiar with the everyday language. However, if the same sayings are translated literally they lost the meaning. For example “El burro hablando de orejas”, this means that somebody is criticizing something and that person is making the same mistake. If we translate that phrase in English, “The donkey talking about ears” the meaning is totally lost. The same is for English; first time I hear “Is raining cats and dogs” I went to the window to see that, I didn’t know the meaning of it until they explained it to me. Another thing that comes to mind when reading Whorfian hypothesis is cognates or in this case false cognates, just because the word sounds and written almost the same that doesn’t mean that it has the same meaning.
Integrating culture in the classroom is something that as bilingual teachers should be considered in every day lessons. Living in a country where we have students from all over, and having so many languages and cultures integrated in here, it is absolutely necessary that we bring diverse cultures and traditions into the classroom. Exposing students to different forms of life will create in them the respect and value to other cultures and at same time it will instill pride in their own heritage, language and culture. In my classroom we not only celebrated the holidays, we read about different cultures in the world, even if we don’t have somebody from that culture in the classroom. My students learned how to appreciate different cultures, languages and people. During the year we learned about “Dia de los muertos”; we made “Calaveras” little skull, we placed an altar in the hall, with the cooperation of many staff members and other students that brought pictures of their love ones. We also celebrated Christmas in different ways and learned about Hanukah. Another celebration we learned about and my students were fascinated by it, was the Chinese New Year. The contrast of all celebrations and cultures made students comprehend better differences among people and how we can all work together to make life better.
Just to let you know, parent involvement and bringing families into the classroom is very important in all this process. Don’t forget, when parents are aware of what is happening in the classroom, and teachers make them part of that learning community, there are more probabilities that students get support from home and as consequence they can do better in school.
languages that you speak that can not be said or expressed or the meaning changes in
another of your languages? How do you address culture in your classrooms? Do you go beyond the "holiday" model of culture?
Referring to the Whorfian hypothesis, is very common that ELLs make substitution in L2 with the intention of one meaning and the message gets distortion in the process. The use of slang is a very good sample of Whorfian hypothesis, because in different cultures and regions people uses slang words to refer to something, when the same terminology is translated, it doesn’t make sense. In Spanish we have many “dichos” that make sense when the person is familiar with the everyday language. However, if the same sayings are translated literally they lost the meaning. For example “El burro hablando de orejas”, this means that somebody is criticizing something and that person is making the same mistake. If we translate that phrase in English, “The donkey talking about ears” the meaning is totally lost. The same is for English; first time I hear “Is raining cats and dogs” I went to the window to see that, I didn’t know the meaning of it until they explained it to me. Another thing that comes to mind when reading Whorfian hypothesis is cognates or in this case false cognates, just because the word sounds and written almost the same that doesn’t mean that it has the same meaning.
Integrating culture in the classroom is something that as bilingual teachers should be considered in every day lessons. Living in a country where we have students from all over, and having so many languages and cultures integrated in here, it is absolutely necessary that we bring diverse cultures and traditions into the classroom. Exposing students to different forms of life will create in them the respect and value to other cultures and at same time it will instill pride in their own heritage, language and culture. In my classroom we not only celebrated the holidays, we read about different cultures in the world, even if we don’t have somebody from that culture in the classroom. My students learned how to appreciate different cultures, languages and people. During the year we learned about “Dia de los muertos”; we made “Calaveras” little skull, we placed an altar in the hall, with the cooperation of many staff members and other students that brought pictures of their love ones. We also celebrated Christmas in different ways and learned about Hanukah. Another celebration we learned about and my students were fascinated by it, was the Chinese New Year. The contrast of all celebrations and cultures made students comprehend better differences among people and how we can all work together to make life better.
Just to let you know, parent involvement and bringing families into the classroom is very important in all this process. Don’t forget, when parents are aware of what is happening in the classroom, and teachers make them part of that learning community, there are more probabilities that students get support from home and as consequence they can do better in school.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Response #5
What is CAH and what are the differences between it and CLI? How can some of the concepts talked about in the Chapter (Brown Ch 9) be used in the classroom, e.g., error analysis, CLI, Stages of learner language development, fossilization.
Well what I understood by contrastive analysis hypothesis is that many of the mistakes ELLs make in the L2 are the same mistakes they make in L1, the theory is saying that we don’t leave the bad habits in L1, but we carry them over to L2. On the other hand, cross-linguistic influence says that one language affects the other one in two ways, facilitating or interfering the learning. Well, in the classroom we have to make use of every aspect of students’ language, positive or negative, we have to build on their accomplishments and improvements, praising, reaffirming, step it up to next level, etc. However, we also have to take in consideration their errors or mistakes so we can address their needs and work in the areas that need improvement.
As we saw the different stages of learner language development are very important because we have to plan instruction according to the needs of our children, not only in the individual and group instruction, which most of the time we use to focus on individual needs. During whole class instruction we can also differentiate these needs and create a nurturing and trusting environment where all students feel comfortable with their abilities and perform at their maximum potential. Let me give an example; Reading aloud a book about apples and how a family works in the field planting, picking, and selling them. S1 is in the presystematic stage (beginning), I wouldn’t ask him to tell me the process of planting or how do you grow apples, this would frustrate the students and that would prevent student’s participation. On the other hand if I ask a question that student is able to respond and elaborate on it, this would give student confidence and interest to predict, infer, and participate in the discussion because he knows that we are celebrating his knowledge and not pointing out his faults.
It is very interesting how when we are reading the chapters we see everything so technical, but when we analyze the same information and how we would use it in the classroom everything changes and we center all our learning on providing the best education and how we can serve our students in the best way.
Well what I understood by contrastive analysis hypothesis is that many of the mistakes ELLs make in the L2 are the same mistakes they make in L1, the theory is saying that we don’t leave the bad habits in L1, but we carry them over to L2. On the other hand, cross-linguistic influence says that one language affects the other one in two ways, facilitating or interfering the learning. Well, in the classroom we have to make use of every aspect of students’ language, positive or negative, we have to build on their accomplishments and improvements, praising, reaffirming, step it up to next level, etc. However, we also have to take in consideration their errors or mistakes so we can address their needs and work in the areas that need improvement.
As we saw the different stages of learner language development are very important because we have to plan instruction according to the needs of our children, not only in the individual and group instruction, which most of the time we use to focus on individual needs. During whole class instruction we can also differentiate these needs and create a nurturing and trusting environment where all students feel comfortable with their abilities and perform at their maximum potential. Let me give an example; Reading aloud a book about apples and how a family works in the field planting, picking, and selling them. S1 is in the presystematic stage (beginning), I wouldn’t ask him to tell me the process of planting or how do you grow apples, this would frustrate the students and that would prevent student’s participation. On the other hand if I ask a question that student is able to respond and elaborate on it, this would give student confidence and interest to predict, infer, and participate in the discussion because he knows that we are celebrating his knowledge and not pointing out his faults.
It is very interesting how when we are reading the chapters we see everything so technical, but when we analyze the same information and how we would use it in the classroom everything changes and we center all our learning on providing the best education and how we can serve our students in the best way.
Response prompt 4
Why do you think that it is so difficult for researchers to agree on the CPH (Critical Age Hypothesis). Give explicit examples from the readings. Also give examples from your own experience.
I think is difficult because as we have study results in the studies are in many cases inconclusive, there is not a definite answer. As s our readings presented, many researchers believe that there is a biological disposition in an individual that predicts if the ability is not learned at a certain age, with the correct stimuli, it will not be acquire. However, studies also show that many people who “over the hill” as Brown put it, are able to acquire the language at later age. There are successful ELLs in all age levels and there are other factors that play a role in the learning of L2. Brown talks about how experiences and background help people in their learning and how their schema can be an advantage to make connections and to use L1 strategies. In my own experience as ELL, I have always made use of my prior knowledge and experiences to build on them and to comprehend and extent the new information. On the other hand, in many cases my prior knowledge has interfered with the new information, and that is because I have mistakenly use vocabulary words in a different context.
Well, let me put it this way, which is the way I see learning language at different ages. Let’s say that a child who is learning a language for the first time is a blank canvas, the new information, accent, syntax, etc. all the factors that comprise language are place in the canvas for the first time and little by little they will be arrange to form the master piece, which in this case is the language. On the other hand, when a person is learning a language as their second one, he/she already comes with a variety of items in that canvas, the master piece is already finished and the new components will be integrated or accommodated to the old ones, as a result the piece will be an integration of the old picture and the new items from the second one. If we use that analogy with the CPH theory, then the theory would not be correct. To integrate new knowledge into the old one, there is not a time limit, if the theory was true, then adult ELLs would not be able to learn an L2.
I think is difficult because as we have study results in the studies are in many cases inconclusive, there is not a definite answer. As s our readings presented, many researchers believe that there is a biological disposition in an individual that predicts if the ability is not learned at a certain age, with the correct stimuli, it will not be acquire. However, studies also show that many people who “over the hill” as Brown put it, are able to acquire the language at later age. There are successful ELLs in all age levels and there are other factors that play a role in the learning of L2. Brown talks about how experiences and background help people in their learning and how their schema can be an advantage to make connections and to use L1 strategies. In my own experience as ELL, I have always made use of my prior knowledge and experiences to build on them and to comprehend and extent the new information. On the other hand, in many cases my prior knowledge has interfered with the new information, and that is because I have mistakenly use vocabulary words in a different context.
Well, let me put it this way, which is the way I see learning language at different ages. Let’s say that a child who is learning a language for the first time is a blank canvas, the new information, accent, syntax, etc. all the factors that comprise language are place in the canvas for the first time and little by little they will be arrange to form the master piece, which in this case is the language. On the other hand, when a person is learning a language as their second one, he/she already comes with a variety of items in that canvas, the master piece is already finished and the new components will be integrated or accommodated to the old ones, as a result the piece will be an integration of the old picture and the new items from the second one. If we use that analogy with the CPH theory, then the theory would not be correct. To integrate new knowledge into the old one, there is not a time limit, if the theory was true, then adult ELLs would not be able to learn an L2.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
.JPG)
