FOCUS: Teacher’s perceptions of bilingual learners. Pupil’s perceptions of a bilingual learner. Attitude’s towards having a bilingual speaker in your class. Mind set of monolingual speakers towards bilingualism.
QUESTION: In what way does having a bilingual learner in the mainstream classroom benefit all learners?
As an EAL teacher, I use the document, ‘Learning in 2+ Languages’ to ensure the inclusion of my bilingual learners. However I don’t feel that mainstream class teachers are made aware of this policy.
It aims to help staff understand better the strengths and development needs of Bilingual learners and to address them more effectively within the mainstream classroom. It states, ‘Inclusion, race equality, cultural diversity, bilingualism and effective additional language provision must be considered by all educational establishments, regardless of their current ethnic composition.’
It has checklists and guidance to ensue establishments are providing an inclusion and supportive environment that will benefit all pupils, not just bilingual learners.
You can find the document on the education Scotland website: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/Documents/modlang5-learning-in-two-plus-languages.pdf
While researching the subject of the perception of EAL learners, I came across a paper entitled ‘Scholarly writers who use English as an Additional Language: What can Goffman’s “Stigma” tell us?’
It highlights the disadvantage EAL writers experience within publishing and explores the idea of stigma (Goffman’s (1959, 1968)). The paper ends by pointing out that EAL writers and English L1 writers should come together to promote an understanding and tolerance of the predicament of the EAL writer.
This is something I try to foster in school: a community and attitude of understanding and cultural awareness. Celebrating our differences rather than letting them alienating.
My head is buzzing ideas, some more challenging that others….
1. Playing with your food…..
Recently a colleague and I were discussing play based learning and using multi sensory approaches to help our very young bilingual learners with their phonological awareness and phonetic knowledge. We made a list of things we could use:
shaving foam, paint, mud, pasta…..
At this point my colleague stopped and said “You know one of my nurseries is against using food as a play medium’
At first I was questioning this as I’ve always made play dough with learners, used spaghetti to hide letters, and even jelly to make brains at Halloween! After some further discussion, she told me the head teacher’s reasoning was that in our very deprived area, the children are exposed to food poverty and she thought it sent a bad message. That we, the staff, had so much food, we could afford to play with it.
This made me pause. It made me uncomfortable. I had never even considered this to be a possibility even though I keep spare dinner tickets and biscuits for children who come to school hungry.
I decided this would be my first ‘itch’. I searched twitter and googled.
Many of the points raised in the above article are valid and I’m still deciding how I feel about using food, especially from a Learning for sustainability view.
2. Teachers attitudes to bilingual learners……
My second came from my day to day teaching. As an EAL teacher, I know the benefits of being bilingual and the richness a multicultural schools provides for all pupils. However recently, I’ve heard unhelpful comments and some very disappointing statements from class teachers. Does this come from fear of the unknown or pressures to produce and have child on track? How can we make a more welcoming ethos?
So much to think and ponder………
