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Margaret M. Williams's Blog
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Mar 11, 2009
Posted by Margaret M. Williams
I teach first grade. About a third of my class are students for whom English is their second language. I’ve had students who spoke zero English at the beginning of the year and who became quite proficient socially by the end of the year. I have students who are very proficient socially but struggle when we get into the academic language required for math, science, and social studies.
One student went through several months of the “silent” or listening stage, saying nothing, but absorbing receptive language. It was a discussion of money and piggy banks, based on an article in a Time For Kids magazine that caused this little Rawandan boy's hand to shoot up in the air. The first words came out, halting, hesitating, but earnest. And the flood of language did not stop. It is fascinating watching and listening to young children try out and play with the English language. But one thing I’ve learned working with a “cluster” classroom--which is a mix of native speakers and ESL (ELL) students--is that even the native speakers are still learning English. The native speaking students often make the same mistakes, or similar types of mistakes, as the ESL students. They hear words and phrases incorrectly, and repeat and learn those words and phrases incorrectly thereafter. They are constantly building new vocabulary, concepts, and language constructs. Native English speakers need the same kinds of language building activities and lessons that ESL students need. Many of the articles that I have written and will be writing in the future are based on activities that I’ve use in my own classroom. They are especially important for the ESL students, but they are also good for all students. Here are some articles describing ESL strategies and activities to peruse:
Jan 16, 2009
Posted by Margaret M. Williams
Konnichiwa!
I may never be able to speak more than one language fluenty (though I'm always trying to learn!), but it looks as though I will have bilingual grandchildren in my future. At least I hope so. Now, to be sure, I am not rushing my son and his new wife, a beautiful young woman from Japan; but it seems that down the road children are inevitable.
The happy couple are currently living in Japan. He speaks both English and Japanese. She speaks Japanese and is learning English. They hope to move to the U.S. sometime. When they have children, what will the kids speak? My fervent hope is that any children they have will be able to speak fluently to both sets of grandparents. That is why I am doing my research now.
What language should a child in a bilingual (or even multilingual) family speak? (I vote for both!) When should the child start learning the second language? (My research says at birth.) What are the best strategies? (Turns out there's quite a variety of strategies. And tons of resources, both online and in print. ) Those are just some of the questions that parents (and grandparents!) have when they plan to raise their children to speak more than one language.
So you can bet I will be devoting numerous articles to the subject of raising bilingual children. Here are my first two:
I am fortunate to know many people who are raising their children to be bilingual. So I'll have lots of personal stories and tips & suggestions to offer. But I'm also checking with the experts (okay, yes, parents are experts, but I'm talking here now about linguists who do research). Now I had better get back to my Japanese Rosetta Stone.
Sayonara!
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