My general goal is to gain more confidence with English
Language Learners. Growing up, I didn’t go to a school with too much diversity.
If there were children who were different from me, they usually always spoke
English. Sometimes being around children who can’t fluently speak English makes
me nervous. I always feel bad having children repeat what the say, because I
can’t understand them. On Wednesday, I went into the bilingual Kindergarten
classroom for the first time. It was certainly a new experience. After
completing the module on culture, I was expecting to encounter students who
didn’t speak English very well. Although most of the children spoke English
pretty fluently, they most certainly still had an accent. This was difficult to
understand at some points. In order to reach my goal, I tried to talk with as
many students as I could. I was hoping
that if I pushed myself to be in those situations where I feel uncomfortable,
it might eventually start to feel more comfortable. Some of the children were
much easier to understand then others. We talked about what they were drawing,
what their scientist looked like, etc. It made me feel uncomfortable when I
wasn’t sure what the child said to answer my questions. For example, I talked
to one little girl about her picture. I asked her what she was drawing, and
when she answered me, I didn’t understand anything she said. I tried to look at
her picture to see if I could connect what she said with her drawing, but her
picture didn’t look like a scientist to me. I had to ask her three times to
“tell me again”. During this interaction, another teacher was nearby and heard
what was going on. After the third time I asked, the other teacher told me she
was saying “volcano”. Once I knew what she was saying, I was able to connect
her words with the picture. Her accent was very thick, so it was really
difficult for me to understand what she was saying. I felt really uncomfortable and awkward for
having to ask her three different times what she said. I don’t want to make a
children feel bad about themselves just because I cannot understand them, and I
feel like that’s what happens when I have to repeatedly ask them what they’re
saying. The diverse linguistic module prepared me for this experience, because
I went into the classroom with an open mind. I knew going into this that
Spanish was the second most common language following English. However, since
we learned in the module that Polish was third most prevalent, I thought I
might encounter that language as well. As far as I know, however, that didn’t
happen. Also after completing some of the modules related to diversity, I
expected children in a bilingual classroom to be speaking two languages
interchangeably or regularly. However, that didn’t happen in this classroom. In
fact, I don’t think I heard any of the students speak Spanish while we were in
there.
Exceeds: Will comment on more than 2 classmates blog posts.
Samantha, I was also very aware of what we might be getting into prior to entering the kindergarten classroom last Thursday. I knew from Dr. Osorio that there were students in the class that were English language learners, and I also knew from the modules that students who are learning English often have accents from their native language when trying to say words in English. I’m not sure if knowing this information in advance made me feel more at ease or more nervous. I guess I felt a little of both. I was glad that I knew what I was getting into, but like you mentioned, I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to understand some of the children. I also did my best to walk around the room in order to talk to as many students as possible and surprisingly, there were only a couple that I had no idea what they were saying. I think the times when I had the most difficulty understanding them is when we were together as a whole group and students spoke in a soft, shy voice. Combining that with their accents made it very difficult to understand them.
ReplyDeleteI think that the goal you have set for yourself is a great objective for you to aim for this semester. It is one that I also set for myself. I think that by having a lot of exposure to the students and the English language learner environment, we will automatically gain some confidence naturally. However, it will be important for us to also make an effort to get to know the students and keep an open mind as we continue to work with them and work towards our goals.
Samantha,
ReplyDeleteIt was interesting to me to read your blog post because I have not yet been in the kindergarten room, and I wanted to know what it was like. From reading about your experience, it seems a bit different than the preschool room, but I also noticed some similarities. In the preschool room, we were not expecting there to be any ELL students, but when we went in, we discovered there was one student who does not appear to speak English at all and a few other students who are most likely ELL students. When I heard there would be ELL students in these classrooms, I thought they would all be able to speak at least some English. However, I don’t think that is true anymore. It was hard to communicate with these students because as you said, I could not understand some of them, and I don't think some of them could understand me. I think it's great that you were pushing yourself to talk to these students even if you felt uncomfortable. I think I would feel uncomfortable in this situation too especially if the teacher was watching over me! When I could not understand the students, I was unsure if it was due to the language barrier or if it was just because they were young. I often just told them that their drawing looked great, even if I had no idea what it was. I am looking forward to spending more time with these students so I can become more confident around them also.
Samantha,
ReplyDeleteYou made some great points about some troubling aspects of being new to a linguistically diverse classroom. I, like you, was very uncertain about what we might have been walking into when we got to our classroom last week. As I began to interact with students I noticed that it was easier than I had expected to pick out whether a student was shy or did not understand English natively. I was very cautious about using appropriate language and trying not to ask questions to the students that may involve some higher level vocabulary. For example, I pointed to things on their paper and asked them what it was so as not to put words in their mouths and to give me an idea of where they were at linguistically. I had a couple run ins with students who told me what they were drawing and I couldn't understand them. Because that is an awkward thing and you don't want them to feel bad or silly, I tried to say things in response like, "wow! that is neat... where is that on your picture?" Or something similar to give them another opportunity to show me what they were talking about without asking them to "say it again." I think that this is something that we as teachers will really have to grow and learn about as we gain more experience. It is so tough to know where the boundaries are in asking questions repeatedly to students and I think it will vary based on the student. I don't think there is a set way that works best for all ELL, it is something we have to adjust based on the individual student and their needs!