What do you Think?? REFLECT: Strategies 9-12 (14:39 - 20:30) have a common thread around respecting and honoring a student. Gonzalez cites, “They’re doing twice the job of everybody else in the class, even though the result looks like half as much.” What do you think?
I agree with Gonzalez's quote, I think this is something we really need to keep in mind when we have students coming into our classrooms that are new to country or are completely unfamiliar with the English language. They are likely scared and trying VERY hard to learn everything they can quickly. Taking the time to get to know them and respect and honor what they have been through is so important. Since being at Sweet Home I have had quite a few students walk into my room not knowing the language and are from areas all over the world. I've used a lot of the strategies outlined in the podcast along with some great mentoring from our ENL team. Taking the time to get to know these students, learn about their culture, and maybe even learn some phrases or words together can go a long way to help students feel welcomed. Not to mention, its always fun to learn more about people and cultures as well!
Now What?? From the 12 strategies Gonzalez offers, which do you already use consciously? What are the results? Are there any strategies that you connect with and plan to use? How will you know if you are successful? Please explain.
As I mentioned above I've been lucky enough to work with our ENL population and teachers at Sweet Home. I've used many of the strategies outlined in this podcast and have found that these are so helpful. Using pictures, google translate, pre-teaching information using videos has been so helpful. At Willow Ridge we also have a wonderful lending library that has books that include characters, traditions, and cultures from all over the world. I've worked to continue to add titles like these into my classroom library as well. Young kids are also remarkable to watch interact with each other, they typically don't shy away from finding ways to communicate with each other even if they speak different languages. It is really remarkable to reflect on how much, and quickly students can learn another language. I can remember by second year at WR I had a student who came from Mexico with her family, she did not speak any English at all, she was very nervous, just this year she was part of the public speaking team leading community meetings and translating so that our Spanish speaking newcomers could feel more a part of the celebrations as well.
I agree with Gonzalez's quote, I think this is something we really need to keep in mind when we have students coming into our classrooms that are new to country or are completely unfamiliar with the English language. They are likely scared and trying VERY hard to learn everything they can quickly. Taking the time to get to know them and respect and honor what they have been through is so important. Since being at Sweet Home I have had quite a few students walk into my room not knowing the language and are from areas all over the world. I've used a lot of the strategies outlined in the podcast along with some great mentoring from our ENL team. Taking the time to get to know these students, learn about their culture, and maybe even learn some phrases or words together can go a long way to help students feel welcomed. Not to mention, its always fun to learn more about people and cultures as well!
Now What?? From the 12 strategies Gonzalez offers, which do you already use consciously? What are the results? Are there any strategies that you connect with and plan to use? How will you know if you are successful? Please explain.
As I mentioned above I've been lucky enough to work with our ENL population and teachers at Sweet Home. I've used many of the strategies outlined in this podcast and have found that these are so helpful. Using pictures, google translate, pre-teaching information using videos has been so helpful. At Willow Ridge we also have a wonderful lending library that has books that include characters, traditions, and cultures from all over the world. I've worked to continue to add titles like these into my classroom library as well. Young kids are also remarkable to watch interact with each other, they typically don't shy away from finding ways to communicate with each other even if they speak different languages. It is really remarkable to reflect on how much, and quickly students can learn another language. I can remember by second year at WR I had a student who came from Mexico with her family, she did not speak any English at all, she was very nervous, just this year she was part of the public speaking team leading community meetings and translating so that our Spanish speaking newcomers could feel more a part of the celebrations as well.