blog 24

Introduction:

There is a high increase in immigration for the past few years that has been ignored by educators.  Little is known about the situation of immigrant children and the struggles that teachers go through in the U.S trying to give them a better education. Latino children have different needs compared to the children that were born in the U.S.  Research shows that parental involvement increases students’ success. We want Latino parents to also be involved in their children’s education and need to be informed of what system the school is using to teach. The purpose of this research is to identify how Bilingual Education works and evaluate the importance for the Latino community to be informed on how much it impacts their children.

Research shows that parents are not aware that there are different approaches to teaching English language Learners, and which programs work better than others, there were many older approaches but one of the main ones was “sink or swim”. In this program, repetition and scaffolding are the primary teaching tools. In the approach my interviewee described teachers make checks on whether or not students understand, and take steps to ensure students have resources to move ahead on their own.

In this study, I interviewed a Bilingual teacher who was involved in developing new methods to teach K-3 English Language Learners. Also the study will address the different types of methods of teaching that are being used in classrooms and which one is more effective. We want to know if students are learning English effectively and know what the struggles in the classrooms and home are. The study will be narrowed; it will not generally pick what system works better to teach Bilingual Education because situations are different in all the schools. Also, the study will not evaluate teacher training because teachers across the U.S use different teaching methods and are taught different ways to teach. (This is a case study basically what the study is. It’ll raise question on the teaching methods and how to involved parents.)

****The English-only, "sink or swim" method was a cruel failure for generations of immigrant and Native American children, leading to low academic achievement and high dropout rates. That's why the Bilingual Education. *****

 Literature Review:

“Bilingual Education” by NABE also known as the National Association for Bilingual Education elaborates about Bilingual Education with three important questions. What is Bilingual Education? Why Bilingual Education? And is it effective? To start Bilingual Education has existed for years not exactly the way it is practiced now but it has been around. It is the use of any two languages used in schools but we’re mainly are going to be talking about English and Spanish. Bilingual Education has specific goals and that is teaching English and preserving a minority group’s linguistic and cultural heritage at the same time but it can vary because all schools work differently. It works in many different ways because different strategies are being used in schools and that is depending on the amount of ELL’s are in the schools or how the system works. Usually the transitions to all English mainstream is rapid one to three years or the gradual students it may take to five to six years but once again depending the method the classrooms use that also includes age groups. Age groups are important because if the students are in kindergarten trying to learn English it gets confusing because at home they are learning to speak Spanish and at school English. So if they are trying to learn Spanish the school should provide some type of help to learn their home language because once they are comfortable with one language the students are able to learn a second language which would be English. Bilingual Education still receives criticism it is not as effective because they are just focused in on the students in learning the English language rather than relating both languages. Hundreds of studies over the years have shown that when a well designed and implemented Bilingual Education is an effective approach for teaching second language learners.

Methodology

The type of research study that will be conducted for my research will just be one interview. The identified expert is a teacher from Charles J. Hudson #25. I recorded and transcribed the interview conversation.

Findings

Repetition and scaffolding is an importance in bilingual education. My interviewee talks about that in many different ways without actually pointing that out. Her methods or activities she uses like having the students get a book after they are done with breakfast to expose the kids to text and they can get use too the words.  By that she wants the students to get use to words and be able to read them without a problem because they repeat the same books every day.

B. Ok um how do you plan your daily teaching with them or is it like you plan it in one day or you having previous plans?

E. one person on the table come and get a basket and then they can read silently is a variety of genres and you know different kind of books levels so this is just to expose the kids to the text so they can get use to the word

B. So little by little you guys inject the English part?

E. it helps visually with the reading um then after that we unpack I check their homework they wrote the um homework  in the agenda I we take a book every night home so we switch books one table get one set of books they give it to the other one.

She always describes how she injects the English language to the students in their homework and in their reading. Not only does she give them homework in English but she does a sample with the students so they have an idea of how they can do it home. She starts the students off in a level where they are going to be able to learn simple words and a story where it has some type of rhyming. This is important information because she explains how the program works but also explains how repetition is a key for the students without actually pointing it out.

So little by little you guys inject the English part

6. It is easy homework that they can understand and usually I use the smart board and I say this is going to be your homework this is what you need to do (Repetition)

E. I teach with them reading at their level 1 like the cat has a bowl you know like repetition all this like the cat the cat all the pages have the cat so they are learning the other words so that’s how transfer starts. Second grade is the same thing the teacher starts with the group that is leaving here with the work she continues during centers doing with them English and the whole group Spanish and then in third we are thinking that they are ready exiting the program going into mainstream.

 She also talks about how she checks on their agenda the homework they wrote after they are done unpacking. I think that is a great method she wants to see what student was paying attention because they use their agendas every single day. Now for scaffolding she does a routine in language arts in the morning they review what they learned and remember from the previous day.

E. routine I do language art in the morning languages arts and then um we start reviewing what we learn what remember from the day before what are we studying all the “amazing “words all the concepts (4:20) if were talking about um sequence um how do you how do you relate this to the story about last week and things like that and then I introduce the new day the new day whatever is going to be on that day. (Scaffolding)

She gave an example of how she would ask them to relate a story from last week and then she would introduce the new material of the day. She makes sure the students are remembering and understand the assignment before they move on to something different. For centers to has three groups and she has a guided reading center which is done four days in a week which she sees, they are the lowest group and she never skips them.

Not only does she have repetition with the students but she also involves the parents in the repetition because the need to check their child’s agenda and sign it every night. I think that is a great method because it creates a type of communication with the parents and teachers and the parents are comfortable because they can write notes to her because the teacher knows Spanish. The students may have trouble doing homework at home and she knows that can be a possibility so she uses a smart board and explains to them what they need to do. She also again explains to me that she uses a projector which she didn’t have in the classroom and takes out a worksheet that they are using and explains to them what they need to do. That is also good repetition with the parents because they need to sign the agenda every day and make sure their kids did their homework, doesn’t matter whether or not if they did it incorrectly.

B. Um are you like very involved with the parents?

E. Yes I have good communication, we communicate through the (5:30) planner the kids have planners so anytime that they want to send me something since I check every morning for the planner the parents sign it. -They feel comfortable because I speak Spanish.

Limitations of the study

The limitations of the study include the fact that I was not able to interview more than one teacher. Also, I feel that along with the interview conducted, it would have been interesting to speak to the two different individuals to see how their opinions about the bilingual programs and compare to further evaluate their communication styles.

Conclusion

Bilingual education has been practiced in many forms, in many countries, for thousands of years. Bilingual education has come very far and it can still be improved. Immigrant children have different needs compared to the children born in the U.S because many of them need special classes to even learn the native language of the United States.

There is no exact solution to this problem should be by adding more Bilingual programs in education and more funds to support the programs for the students and also the teachers, the teachers need to be prepared to help the immigrant students. Also, there should be programs for parents so they can also understand and be more involved with their kids, which is very crucial for students. ESL has always been interlinked with immigration and nation-building, and awareness of these connections can help educators understand the importance of their work. United States of America should be able to provide every student with all their needs no matter what their circumstances are.