Different Languages in the Classroom

¶ … myths that are inherent in involving parents in their children's education (Samway & McKeon, 2007). The chapter begins with the assumption that student achievement is strongly correlated with parent involvement and discusses some of the issues or factors that are assumed to prevent parents from taking a strong role in facilitating learning with their children. These include reasons such as a lack of resources, transportation, time, motivation, English comprehension, and others. From my personal experience, I do feel as if most all parents care about their children's education, to a greater or lesser extent, and many of the issues presented are definitely barriers to their involvement.

Some of the information presented in this chapter seems pretty straight forward and intuitive. For example, if a translator is available for a parent that doesn't speak English, or speak English well, then this is definitely a valuable asset to have for meetings. However, one idea that I had not really considered was the effectiveness of the home visit. Teachers often have hectic schedules and their own personal responsibilities that can make home visits impractical. I also have felt that home visits could be perceived as being pretty intrusive and awkward for many parents. However, the evidence the chapter presents has made me willing to challenge my own assumptions about the home visit.

Chapter 10-11

This chapter focuses on linguistic diversity and the role this can play in diverse classrooms (DeJong, 2011). By making choices about what language that different materials are presented in, this automatically implies the value of different languages through the selection process. For example, if you teach only in English then this could be interpreted as English being the only language of value. However, some innovative teaching strategies have added bilingual or multilingual elements into the classroom which has shown to be a valuable tool in many ways.

For example, the European model has been shown to be effective in language learning by slowly increasing the content delivered in a second or third language. Furthermore, if the context supports it, then there are also other alternatives to choosing a delivery method. For example, in a Multilanguage group, the instruction could be delivered in different languages and then, through a subtractive process, slowly develop to the preferred language. In our case this would be standardized English and the subtracted languages would typically be different local dialects. This chapter helped me to realize the options available for language as well as the value of considering its role in education.

Linguistic Cultural Landscape

1.) One question educators must ask themselves is, whose language or languages are valued in our school? Look at your own school and make an inventory of the "linguistic and cultural landscape" of the school (its an African-American inner city school).

2.) What are some challenges to reaching the goal of language status equalization?

3.) What influence does culture have on student's school success?

In our school the language is heavily dependent on culture. The new phrases and buzz words seem to evolve continuously and some time it is hard to keep up with. Although these can be fun and widely accepted by students, it is also important to have a concept of the standardized form of English. Culture also plays an important role in promoting success and cultural elements that do not have an appreciation of education should be directly challenged.

*Integration, Segregation and Assimilation

1.) How is the idea of integration different from both segregation and assimilation? What does it have in common with these approaches to the schooling of bilingual learners?

2.) What are the benefits of homogeneous and heterogeneous grouping by language ethnicity?