Virginia Collier "Teaching Multilingual Children"

REFLECTION:
      This reading made me think...a lot. With my service learning project about to begin, just going to the school made me so much more aware of how many students are bilingual. I find it very exciting to think of teachers really trying to educate themselves in order to find new methods to teach children english from different language backgrounds but it also makes me very nervous of the thought of myself having to do so. I am starting to think I need to crack down on myself and learn spanish!
      Back to Collier's article. The first thing that really stood out to me was her saying "the key is the true appreciation of the different linguistic and cultural values that students bring into the classroom." I think this is a very complex and difficult challenge to attempt to overcome but I like how Collier encourages teachers to understand, appreciate, and use the child's first language. After reading Dr. Bogad's blog that referred to her putting this idea into practice, it really makes me appreciate it and believe it can work. Reading further I began to attempt to comprehend all of the seven guidelines. The first guideline was a little difficult for me to comprehend. I had to look up the word acquisition...which I still don't fully understand but I do find it interesting that it is important to not just teach a new language but to look at how the previous culture taught the child's first language. I liked how it is said that "for younger children, it is recommended that the teacher's focus be not eh message- which is the child's focus- rather than on the form of the message." I felt I was able to really relate to this first guideline when I came across the six features of the "caregiver speech". These six features paralleled what I just learned last Friday when I went for reading buddies training for my service learning project. This is especially true with the sixth feature f, when it says that when correcting the speakers focus their attention not on the error, but on trying to communicate well with the child. I like that this is becoming a more popular way of teaching because I do believe that people can learn better when they are in a more comfortable and positive environment, not one that they are scared of being wrong or put down in.  Next this first guideline brings up the fact of how critical it is to be aware of the social and emotional factors which affect the second language learner. I feel social and emotional factors should always be taken into consideration especially when trying to teach someone. That opinion of mine was also true during out class discussion about people on welfare. That is why I agreed with Billy when he said we needed to come up with some sort of institute that allowed them to earn their money while also getting them psychological (social + emotional) help.
   Next I liked both guidelines #3 and #4. Both of these really seemed to encourage the use and reference of the child's first language and to do so in effective ways. I agree that it is important that the children are not told of made feel that use of their first language is wrong, vulgar or bad. #4 says that "teachers must look at the benefits of having multiple ways of talking in the classroom." I think this is wonderful because I am really discovering in life that the more positive you are about something the more positive results you are going to get. I feel this is absolutely true in any learning environment and can see how beneficial it may be when teaching a student to be bilingual. I think it is neat how Collier says "Teachers can affirm the varieties represented by students in class, and as students become older and more cognitively aware, they can benefit from understanding the contrasts and affirming them as language differences not to be looked down on." This entire concept just makes so much sense to me. I do understand the flipside that it may take a longer time for the child to develop "perfect english" but if in the long run they will more easily understand and transfer their knowledge learned in their first language to their second then whey not encourage learning in their first language. Just like it was said on pg. 233 "The most successful long-term academic achievement occurs where the students' primary language is the initial language of literacy" and"Once a child becomes literate in the home language, literacy skills swiftly transfer to second language settings."
   Guideline #5 was difficult for me to fully understand because I am not bilingual. I felt like I was reading a foreign language when trying to grasp what code-switching, language influence, and word borrowing is. I think I have an understanding after reading it fully but I don't think I would be able to articulate what they mean back to someone.
   Although I had trouble with some parts of this reading and I also became very nervous/ insecure about the possibility of me facing this challenge as a teacher someday, overall I really liked Collier's positive approach to teaching multilingual children and would like to talk about positive reinforcement in class. I really love her end "In sum, language is enchanting, powerful, magical, useful, personal, natural, all-important"(181). The reasons to use this whole range of activities in the classroom is to eliminate boredom, raise awareness, and make language teaching as well as learning as culturally relevant as possible for students. In this manner, it is hoped that the larding process will not only enrich the life of the student, but also that of his or her teacher." I feel I will probably come back to this reading again and appreciate it more over time when I can fully relate to it and learn from it.

Adding to this post:

         http://www.dmg-associates.com/resources/teach_multi.pdf

I found this link interesting - its a Teaching "ESL" Students new faculty workshop from 2008.

                                                    I loved this video! Its short and sweet : )