Talking Points #5: Rodriguez and Collier Hyperlink

"Teaching Multilingual Children" talks about the best practices that teachers should use when teaching English Language Learners.  In her article, Collier discusses the seven key guidelines to teach English Language Learners.  The guidelines she refers to are:

1.  Be aware that children use first language acquisition strategies for learning or acquiring a second language.

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.

Click this link to view a website with many different resources on how to teach English-language learners.

Overall, Collier speaks mostly about how to teach English Language Learners most effectively and backs her arguments up with the research and studies she has done. 

Click here to see a website created by Scholastic on different strategies to use when teaching English-language learners.



Richard Rodriguez article is very different than Collier's although they seem to share the same beliefs.  Rodriguez talks more about his personal experience as a Spanish speaking student attending an English speaking school.  Rodriguez argues that teachers should encourage their students to continue to use their native language because that is the language they are most comfortable and confident speaking. Although we need to continue to teach English to these students, we also need to encourage these children to use their native language to help the other students and teacher to become more well rounded by learning something about the ELL's native language and culture. 

 

Below is a You Tube Video about Multicultural Education