Okay, so now that we’ve got an introduction to the “language and culture” conundrum lets figure out why this matters. I’m from Durham; I was born here, I grew up here and I hope to spend a very long time working here in the school system (assuming I survive the mountain of readings and the sleep deprivation of grad school) so I’ll focus on foreign language and the DPS system.
I remember the first person I ever met who didn’t speak English. I was in 6th grade and the idea of someone who didn’t speak English completely baffled me. I remember thinking how brave she was to come to school every day, sit in class, and have no idea what the heck was coming out of the teacher’s mouth. English as a Second Language (ESL) classes hadn’t made it to my middle school yet, so she would sit in the back of my Spanish class and do busy work. Bless her heart (as we say in the south) she could have fallen through the cracks and lost all interest in school but luckily for her, the bus we road was full of kids who were bound and determined to get her speaking English.
Now we can’t take all the credit, since she was one of 9 children, 5 of whom were in the middle school we went to, so they got an ESL teacher rather quickly to accommodate their learning. And however many years later I can say that she learned better English than I speak today. But she was lucky; she had a 5 to 1 student to teacher ratio, a community of peers who wanted to help, and a church community backing her up along the way. Not all ESL learners have that kind of support system.
I did a little research. Durham Public Schools has over 90 (primary) languages spoken by 6,080 students; 5,316 of those students speak Spanish at home. And 651 students are classified as “recent immigrants” which from what I can tell, translates to ‘don’t speak a word of English.’
Then Durham distinguishes between ESL students (those in the process of learning English) and English Language Proficient students (those who have a working knowledge of the English language and are in standard classes). Of the 6,080 students who speak, as a native language, something other than English 4,565 are ELP students. Which means that 1,515 students are currently in the DPS ESL program.
DPS employees 79 ESL instructors, so that’s roughly a 20-1 student to teacher ratio. Not bad you say? I mean yeah, that’s a better student to teacher ratio that I’ll ever see in anyone of my math classes. But, if the majority of the class is spent learning the English language (because lets face it, its complicated and confuses ME and I’ve been speaking it for almost 25 years) how much of that time gets spent on content material.
Think about it: I will venture to say most of you took a foreign language in High School. How long did it take you to read a page in Spanish, French, German or Latin? How much of that time did you spend actually understanding the material? I’ll bet none of it. You spent most of your time reading trying to understand the words, and the meaning tends to get lost along the way, or takes you twice as long to get.
Having served in the Peace Corps for 2 years I can say immersion is the best way to learn a language, but its hard as hell and extremely frustrating. I understand why ESL programs are put into place, but I just can’t help but wonder if there’s a better way.
I hear rumors of content-level ESL programs starting in DPS, where (since Durham has an ever increasing Latino population) classes start off in Spanish, and work there way into English. What’s that? Immersion math class! Now there’s an idea I am on board with! Content material first with English as a side effect—it’s a win-win in my book.
Now assuming that we get the ESL students up to ELP standards, and they are in your class. Do you think everything that you say will be understood? I bet not. Think about English, we have a lot of words that to the untrained (or newly trained) ear sound alike or look alike.
Read (he reads the book)
read (I read the book)
through (I almost didn’t make it through)
threw (he threw the ball)
one (as in the number)
won (woo we won!)
Take the following video for example; it’s of a class of ESL students demonstrating every day frustrations with the English language. Keep in mind they’re elementary school kids with a video camera, so they’re a little shy, but I think they prove my point, not everything we say as teachers gets communicated effectively:
Still not convinced that English is tricky, take a look at this one:
Now, let us ignore that it’s a commercial for an English language program, the point remains: English is hard to learn, and we may think our ELP students are getting what we’re saying (“sinking”) but they may not be (“thinking”).
The moral of the story-- well, I’m not sure if its as cut and dry as this, but I’m going to say it anyways: think about what you’re saying and make sure its being understood by you ELP and ESL students. Follow up when you notice confusion, and please don’t do what the “teacher” did in that first skit and choose coverage of material you’re your student’s understanding.
To change up the gears a little, and just incase you thought I’d forgotten about the Language and Culture relationship, I found another interesting video. It’s of an Arabic class in Israel. Yep, you got that right, Israeli kids are learning the Arabic language AND in the process, a little respect for the Arab culture as part of the “Language as a Cultural Bridge” program:
As Dadi Komen says in the video, “the main goal of [the] program is not just to teach Arabic as a language. The language is a bridge to the culture and the culture is part of the language.” In this program Jewish students are able to better understand their Palestine neighbors. If there are more programs like this created on both sides, maybe one day, armed with a better cultural understanding and able to effectively communicate (i.e. no miscommunications or language goof-ups) there will one day be peace.
Just food for though.
**DPS ESL figures were taken from the DPS website: http://www.dpsnc.net/programs-services/esl/esl-quick-facts
Coming from a school that had no ESL students that I personally knew, this is really helpful to me. I'd love to know if you have any more specific tips on how to help ESL ELP students in our class other than just noting confusion and trying to explain more in depth. Also, I liked the commerical with the German guys. It illustrated the point nicely.
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One thing I've noticed when speaking to people with limited English (and also when finding myself in situations where I don't speak the language being spoken) is that smiling and nodding does not indicate understanding! I'll use myself as an example: Just last week my boyfriend and I went to Katie Mae's house for dinner. Katie Mae, her husband Camilo (who is Chilean), and Matt (my boyfriend) were all speaking Spanish, which I don't speak a word of. Every time they laughed, I laughed. I nodded. I raised my eyebrows in surprise when it seemed appropriate. And none of this was intentional! I think we don't realize, until a foreign language is introduced, just how much of our facial expressions and body language result from others' non-verbal cues, and NOT from what they're saying. Any ESL student would rather nod than stare blankly. We shouldn't assume that means they understand.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, I really enjoyed your post! Coming from California where so many students are Latino I completely understand how hard it is for students when they don't completely get what is going on in the classroom. I totally agree with you on the idea of immersion rather than ESL courses, however, one thing that I always question with that is what if the teacher does not speak Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc in the immersion classroom? Would it be fair to group students according to the language they speak? Do schools today have those kind of resources? :( It's tough, but the idea and research shows immersion is a great solution.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Where I am from, there was a high hispanic population, but not many of them were high school aged. For the few students that were ESL in my high school, each one had, essentially, a personal tutor/translator. What are your feelings about this kind of set up? In my experience, it seemed to be effective since the students were getting the extra help they needed. I also agree with you on your ideas about immersion, though. And, I enjoyed that you tied everything back to culture, once again.
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ReplyDeleteLove this post! I didn't go to a high school with a high Latino population, but nearby schools did face challenges with large portions of their student body not speaking English. Recently, an elementary school in the area started a dual language immersion program. Half of the kids in a class are native English speakers and half are native Spanish speakers. The language subjects are taught in switches halfway through the day. It's really cool to watch. What do ya think?
When I was an undergraduate, I tutored in a after school program of Burmese refugees (a.k.a. little to no English). I quickly learned an important lesson: guesturing is extremely important but must be FOCUSED on. What do I mean by this? Well, if we gesture as we normally do (yep, gesturing in conversation is normal), then we can easily mislead students who are using the gestures to help with comprehension.
ReplyDeleteHowever, gesturing is a very good tool and should be used! When used though, each gesture must be specific, constant, and express meaning. Modeling is also especially important in math. Keep these things in mind if you ever get a Burmese student or any other student for which you do not speak their language. Great post, I love this blog.
In 6th Grade, I had a science teacher named Mr. Gemzik who would periodically translate keywords in his lesson into Spanish. I think this was helpful to ESL students in our class (better than all English, perhaps), but I think it would have been more helpful if those students had been in a class that started in all Spanish and transitioned to all English. Win-win, as you said. Unfortunately, the same thing would not work with students whose native language *isn't* Spanish, as there probably aren't enough of them in a given language at a given school to bring in a translator, a separate ESL teacher, or a separate content area teacher. Alas, no win-win for them :(
ReplyDeleteSide note, I'm a fan of dual immersion, as I apparently learned English by being immersed in an English speaking Vacation Bible School for a week (*shrugs* it's effective), and I think America should work on being more interculturally competent. However, we have a long way to go in terms of setting up these programs at the different levels (currently in Durham / Chapel Hill, they only exist for *some* elementary schools).
Thanks for reminding us to be more interculturally competent in our teaching, and thanks for an informative, fun-to-read post!
Loved your post! I so agree that it really is all about culture. I've been researching bilingual education for my RB, and several studies have found that one fundamental aspect of a successful bilingual program is that students feel that their culture is accepted, both in the social acceptance of the culture at the school and the prominence of that culture in the materials used in classes. I think that this last bit especially is something that we as teachers can do to help our ESL students. Learning English is hard even when it isn't associated with the idea of abandoning your culture.
ReplyDeleteA great tool, and one that i'm thinking about incorporating is the use of bilingual texts in English Classes. At Northern HS, the predominant learners of English speak spanish, and there are a plethora of authors who have written in both languages, and sometimes both in the same work. Using those texts allows native Spanish speakers (for instance) to have the opportunity to help their English speaking classmates, therefore building community, and giving them more confidence.
ReplyDeleteTo piggyback off Connie, I am all about FLIP programs; I was in one in elementary school and it was not only fun, but built pathways that are still viable today
Thanks for bringing light to some startling stats -- 90 languages and over 1,500 ESL students? Amazing. I'm glad that I get a chance to improve my "Spanglish" during my first "tour of duty" this fall at Jordan H.S. -- my Algebra class. I agree -- immersion seems that way to go. I hope I get a chance to speak with you more about teaching math in Spanish, because I'll need your help. Thanks again for a wonderful post!
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