Building Language Awareness

In this video, we are able to see a variety of activities and multiple intelligences displayed by the students. I was very impressed by the teachers/facilitators in this video because they used activities that would allow students to actively engage in the learning process. In addition, all of these activities could have been used for a different subject, but could have been part of one thematic unit. For example, the skit about the Pilgrims coming to the United States could have been a fine arts lesson, the discussion afterwards could be part of language arts, and using travel brochures to find information could be used for social studies. These sorts of lessons and activities are great examples of the types of lesson that I have been learning about in my education classes, especially my bilingual education classes. Allowing the students to make connections to their own personal lives is one way to help students better learn and understand the material. Also, including kinestetic activities in the classroom is especially helpful to ELL students because they are able to learn through movement. Also, going back to making personal connections is one way for teachers to incorporate cultural diversity into the classroom. Since the lesson was focusing on the Pilgrims journey to the new land, teachers could allow their students to talk about their experiences leaving their home countries and coming to America, just like in the video. This gives a student a chance to practice their language skills and share a personal story and it allows others in the class to learn more about their peers. Overall, I found this video to be a reinforcement of what myself as a future bilingual educator should be doing in my classroom as well as a great tool as to how I can incorporate cultural diversity into my curriculum.

Cultural Diversity: A Reform Worth Fighting For

"To commit ourselves to the work of transforming the academy so that it will be a place where cultural diversity informs every aspect of our learning, we must embrace struggle and sacrifice" (Hooks, 7). Bell Brooks has some really insightful commentary towards the topic if integrating cultural diversity into the everyday classroom. Her words were very powerful and inspiring because I feel that so many teachers and pre-service can become discouraged when attempting to incorporate cultural diversity into the classroom. Sometimes they may feel as though they try and try to bring cultural diversity with little to no success.

I believe we can all take something away from Hooks chapter 2: A revolution of values. Within this chapter, she compares the struggles and difficulties one may face when trying to create a culturally diverse environment in the classroom to the civil rights movement and even to feminism. Advocates for civil rights and women's rights did not just give up when things seemed difficult or almost impossible. Instead, they embraced the fight because they knew that in the end, the fight was completely worth it. In the end, we would all be better people and we would all have so much to learn. We would all learn something along the way as well as after the change had occurred. Now, as we fight and commit ourselves to transforming school systems by including cultural diversity into the many different aspects of education, we need to brace ourselves for the struggles that lie ahead, and find the strength and endurance to push through these times. Although we may have a goal set in our minds, the final outcome can be even greater than we can even imagine. This change will not occur over night. It will take time, but when it does happen, the future generations will benefit that much more.

Language Awareness

The English language. For some, this is a person's native language and it is easy to acquire. Others, English is their second language and is extremely challenging to learn. In my opinion, Stephen Pinker had the right idea when he described English as, "a zany logic-defying tongue" (159). Although the complexity and trickiness of this language is not recognized by many of its native speakers, the English language can truly be a hard language to master. Like Kuma stated in this chapter, there are so many difficult rules and words to remember when learning English. For instance, "there are atleast nine different spellings for the sound of the vowel [I:] in English: believe, receive, people, key, leave, machine, quay, be, and see" (159). I think being aware of how complicated the English language really is and how often the spelling of the words is nothing like the pronunciation of that word is very important; especially when dealing with English language learners. Being aware of the rules and factors that can make English learning difficult, can help people be more understanding towards those who are not "naturals" at acquiring the language. In other words, learning English as a second or even a foreign language is not as easy as some people make it out to be. Even native speakers have difficulties with the pronunciation of words based off of its spelling. Take Illinois State's very own Schroeder Hall. People who are visiting campus or are just not familiar with the building may pronounce the name as [shr-oder] because that is the way it looks like it should be pronounced. However, the correct pronunciation is [shr-ay-der] hall. Even though they might be native speakers, they are looking at the spelling to assist them in the pronunciation, which is not very helpful in this situation.

Overall, I think Kuma brought up a great point when he discussed the importance of being aware of a language. Knowing the complexity or rules behind a language can be very insightful and help an individual. This knowledge can help a person be more understanding of another person who is learning the language as his/her second language, especially when it comes to English language learning.

Trilingual Programs

I was very intrigued by the section in the chapter that discussed the trilingual classroom. Being a bilingual education major, I have been exposed to the different types of programs, materials, and preparation needed to create a successful classroom, but I have never thought about those aspects for a trilingual classroom. I cannot even begin to imagine how a school or a teacher would go about developing the curriculum or deciding which language to use for the different subjects. One question that did arise while I read about the trilingual school was, "Do the teachers need to be trilingual themselves or would there be three separate teachers; one person responsible for knowing a language?" My previous experiences in my bilingual classes have taught me that many bilingual programs do not reach their full potential because the teachers are not adequately trained or prepared. Therefore, I wonder, what is the preparation and training for a trilingual educator?
Another aspect about the trilingual program that caught my attention, was how each language had a "wing." Within these wings, the materials, books, spoken language, etc. was all in that designated language. In other words, the students would enter a full immersion environment for a short period of time. This concept caused me to think once again because I have learned that sometimes full immersion is not always the most successful for students. At times, a child may need the materials presented in their native language as well as the L2, or in this case the L3, to help them fully understand the material, but if they are in a classroom where these materials are not provided, issues may arise for the student.
In addition, I was wondering if there is ever the opportunity for students to make connections between the three languages, or are the languages kept separately? If the languages are kept separately, I wonder how successful the students are with being trilingual. Although I have not learned in a trilingual setting, I feel as though I might keep those languages very separated from the others and fail to make connections between all of them.
By no means am I trying to say that trilingual programs are not effective. What I am saying is that I have questions about the format, function, and development of the programs and I would love to learn more about the programs. More specifically, I would like to learn more about the challenges teachers as well as administrators face in a trilingual setting. Also, I would like to learn how the curriculum is set up and implemented in the classroom. From my experiences in bilingual classes, thematic units can be very beneficial to bilingual students; therefore, I wonder if the same is true for trilingual students, or would they learn better using one of the other curriculum designs mentioned in the chapter.

Discovering is Learning

As I think about Kuma's chapter, Activating Intuitive Heuristics, I cannot help but feel conflicted because I think of the readings and points brought up from previous class discussions and readings. In other words, his chapter has caused me to have an internal debate. The reason I am struggling so much inside is that I feel as though allowing students to discover grammatical rules and structures on their own can be very beneficial when trying to teach a class English. On the other hand, I think to myself, what about all of the other teaching methods and approaches we learned, such as Grammar Translation and Direct Method? I remember reading about how these techniques are more beneficial in other classrooms and in other cultures.

In my mind, self-discovery is one of the more effective teaching methods. Self-discovery, from my point of view, is more beneficial because I believe that I can better understand a concept if I am first presented with examples or  questions/activity to think about, and then I am slowly introduced to the main concept/focus. Then again, I have grown up in a particular environment and in a specific culture where self-discovery has been encouraged and more likely used by teachers and school administration. Maybe my feelings and reactions would be different if I grew up in another culture, or even during a different time period in the US when a different type of language learning approach was used.

Another point in Kuma's reading that caused me to think about the different teaching methods and which approach to use, was the part on the deductive method of grammar teaching. Kuma mentioned that, "many adult L2 learners, particularly those who bring an analytical approach to language learning, would like explicit description and instruction of grammatical rules for language practice and for error corrections" (pg. 184). Looking at this quote more closely, leads me to think that Kuma is illustrating the point that sometimes learners, especially adult learners, prefer to learn a language when the teacher presents the rules and the facts of the language, instead of the students "discovering" the different aspects to the language. However, he later goes on to say that the deductive method only has limited use and refers back to how the self-discovery method is more useful. Again, I cannot help but wonder, if this applicable for a variety of different classroom settings? Or is this specific to classrooms in the United States? Or even just in the Western Hemisphere?

Overall, Kuma brings up a very insightful way of introducing a language teaching method called the self-discovery. Within this method, the teacher serves more a facilitator who provides students with the necessary information and materials to encourage them to figure out the rules/facts on their own. However, I cannot help but wonder, is this approach universal? Or would it be more productive in a cultural setting like that of the US? For now, I believe that I still need to assess the needs of my students at that particular moment in order to determine which teaching method would be most effective whether that is the self-discovery method or another approach.