Research Article #1
Linguistically
Diverse Parents and Early Childhood Educators
This week, I read the
article, “What linguistically diverse parents
know and how it can help early childhood Educators: A case study of a dual
language preschool community” by Sara Michael-Luna. This article focuses on bilingual and
multicultural students. Furthermore, assessment and parental contribution is
discussed as a way to help propel these students while learning different
languages.
Our country has many students that fall into this category and multilingual students are on the rise in the United States. Because of this, it is imperative that we follow suit and learn how to provide lessons and assessments that will help all of our students communicate in a global way.
Parental contribution of multilingual children is heavily needed as we transition into this new area of diversity. For instance, parents have questions about how their children are progressing in the classroom. Parents often believe that their child could be left behind in their studies because they are bilingual. However, this is not the case. For example, some multilingual students will turn in their work written in a combination of the languages they currently speak. It has been assumed that the child is not in fact completing the assignment “correctly”. Instead, we should assess that the child understands the assignment in different languages and can produce a response to demonstrate that fact. This may not always be the case. However, as teachers, we should ensure our parents that their students have a great platform for learning no matter how many languages they may speak. Thus, we will do what we can to help each child learn how to complete his or her schoolwork successfully without abandoning any of his or her known languages.
On the other hand, if parents are concerned with their child’s progress, we can ask them to give us an idea of how the child’s language is developing at home. Not only can this knowledge provide insight for future lessons in the classroom, it can give the child a since of safety and community while learning in both aspects of their life.
Although, we are aware that our multilingual population is growing, all assessments and teaching tools have not yet blended these aspects to lessons. In fact, it is now that we should focus on discovering more beneficial ways to assess multilingual children.
Our country has many students that fall into this category and multilingual students are on the rise in the United States. Because of this, it is imperative that we follow suit and learn how to provide lessons and assessments that will help all of our students communicate in a global way.
Parental contribution of multilingual children is heavily needed as we transition into this new area of diversity. For instance, parents have questions about how their children are progressing in the classroom. Parents often believe that their child could be left behind in their studies because they are bilingual. However, this is not the case. For example, some multilingual students will turn in their work written in a combination of the languages they currently speak. It has been assumed that the child is not in fact completing the assignment “correctly”. Instead, we should assess that the child understands the assignment in different languages and can produce a response to demonstrate that fact. This may not always be the case. However, as teachers, we should ensure our parents that their students have a great platform for learning no matter how many languages they may speak. Thus, we will do what we can to help each child learn how to complete his or her schoolwork successfully without abandoning any of his or her known languages.
On the other hand, if parents are concerned with their child’s progress, we can ask them to give us an idea of how the child’s language is developing at home. Not only can this knowledge provide insight for future lessons in the classroom, it can give the child a since of safety and community while learning in both aspects of their life.
Although, we are aware that our multilingual population is growing, all assessments and teaching tools have not yet blended these aspects to lessons. In fact, it is now that we should focus on discovering more beneficial ways to assess multilingual children.
What linguistically diverse parents
know and how it can help early childhood Educators: A case study of a dual
language preschool community
Sara Michael-Luna
Early Childhood Education Journal, 3 March 2013
Sara Michael-Luna
Early Childhood Education Journal, 3 March 2013
Resource:
No comments:
Post a Comment