Blog #6 Bilingual Education in Classrooms

Bilingual Education Act:  Bilingual Education Act, also known as the Title

VII of the Elementary and Secondary Education Amendments of 1967, was the first

United States federal legislation that recognized the needs of limited English speaking

ability students.                                 

                                                            Aria

                                              Written by Richard Rodriguez

Author's Argument:  There are 2 ways a person is individualized.  While one suffers a diminished sense of private individuality by becoming assimilated into public society, such assimilation makes possible the achievement of public individuality.

In this personal autobiography written by Richard Rodriguez, he goes into the painful memories of being forced to speak English in his classroom and also at home when he was a child during 1960's. Rodriguez was denied the right to speak his family's native speaking language, Spanish, in the Catholic school he attended in first grade. Confused by this predicament, Rodriguez states, "Because I wrongly imagined that English was intrinsically a public language and Spanish an intrinsically private one, I easily noted the difference between 'classroom language' and the language of home.  He then remembers his classroom 'silence' due in part because of his inability to speak English. When he did try to speak English, he was teased and belittled by the other children. Because of this, he became silent and afraid to speak in class for fear of being made fun of.  Halfway into the school year, the nuns from his school visit his home. The nuns, who were his teachers, encouraged his parents to practice and to speak only English in their home. They felt this would help Richard become a better English speaker in the classroom. His home life changes drastically after that visit.

After the oppression of their native language at home, the Rodriguez's household changed.  They were no longer this family that spoke to one another in Spanish.  The household demeanor changed from a loving household to one in which no one spoke.  After the 'Americanization' of their children, Spanish words became a thing of the past.  Once outgoing, social, and united, this family changed forever.  They 'lost' themselves as a family unit and lost their heritage. Back when this situation played out, bilingual schooling and classrooms were not a 'thing.'  Not until the seventies did society realize that it was wrong to force children into speaking English; not allow them to speak their native language within the classroom setting. Mr. Rodriguez then goes on in remembering that his 'classroom English' became better and he then felt comfortable participating in the classroom.  He no longer felt like that disadvantaged child with the language barrier separating him from his peers.  This public silence changed his life.  At the age of 7 years old, he realized that he was an American citizen.

Teaching Point #1

This article really made me stop and think of how difficult it must have been for the author Richard Rodriquez and so many others like him who had to live through this type of 'oppression' and discrimination.  I can see this same message/idea in the article The Four I's in Oppression: 

                                        Internalized oppression (socially):

Internalized oppression is a belief that one group is superior over another group.  A 'white dominant' society is what resonates and makes me think of racism and social divides in our society.  This is when another group, collectively or individually feels superior and the 'chosen' one in a particular society.

                                   Bilingual Education, when to start?   Click Here

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Teaching Multilingual Children

by Virginia Collier

Author's Argument:  "One must teach in two languages, affirm the cultural values of both home and school, teach standardized forms of the two languages but respect and affirm the multiple varieties and dialects represented among students in class, be creative and flexible teachers, serve as a catalyst for discovery as students learn to operate effectively in their multiple worlds, be able to mediate and resolve intercultural conflicts, and keep students on task." 

This article was so very different from the first one.  Ms. Collier praises bilingual teachers and the notion of teaching in two languages.  From the YouTube videos we were assigned, some of the inner city schools had several different speaking children in their classrooms.  Wow, as a classroom teacher, I can't even imagine how to manage this and meet everyone's needs.  This article mentions seven guidelines to better understand how teaching English to second language learners can become an 'enriching' experience for everyone in the classroom: 

1. "Be aware that children use first language acquisition strategies for learning a second language (127)."

2. "Do not think of yourself as a remedial teacher expected to correct so-called "deficiencies" of your students."

3. "Don't teach a second language in any way that challenges or seeks to eliminate the first language."

4. "Teach the standard form of English and students' home language together with an appreciation of dialect differences to create an environment of language  recognition in the classroom."

5. "Do not forbid young students from code-switching in the classroom. Understand the functions that code-switching serves."

6. "Provide a literacy development curriculum that is specifically designed for English-language learners."

7. "Provide a balanced and integrated approach to the four language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing."

Teaching Point #2

This article had so many wonderful ideas and a ton of valuable information. For teachers who are in a setting where there is a  diverse population of students from many different ethnic backgrounds, this article is a MUST read!  The author Virginia Collier really emphasized the importance for Bilingual teachers to appreciate the different linguistic and cultural values of every student in their diverse classrooms.  

An interesting idea which I thought to be insightful was that native language -like conversational proficiency generally takes about 2 to 3 years to master.  “It is not intellectually as demanding as school or academic language (128-129).”   My district offers Spanish as a weekly special for my 2nd grade students.  How important this will be for them moving forward to master Spanish in later years.

Teaching Point # 3

I found it interesting when the article mentioned the social bias students who speak a different language feel when teachers don’t fully accept and give complete credence to the different languages and dialects within the classroom. When these teachers are teaching students a second language they must understand the benefits of having multiple ways of talking in a classroom and how this is so very valuable to everyone in that classroom.

Next, another ‘take away’ I had with this article was the importance of code switching.  The importance of allowing students to do this is very important.  This shows that students are proficient enough in both languages to be able to change when speaking between the two. This was seen on the video of the boy and girl sharing a writing assignment with the class.  The boy was speaking in Spanish and the girl was speaking and reading their paper in English.  That was very powerful to see!  A connection I have to this is my Dutch mother’s ability to do this when having conversations to relatives in Holland.  I would listen as she spoke into the phone, switching languages so that her English speaking children would understand. It was magical to me! 

Finally, the last thing that I found interesting was the ‘dialogue’ journal that the teacher of the older grades used within her classroom on one of the videos.  This journal allowed the non English speaking students to express themselves in their native tongue while also being a tool for the teacher to communicate with the student.  This was very powerful.  What a diverse learning environment for everyone that walked into that classroom. Bilingual education helps foster and develop brains in so many fascinating ways!