Week 1 Reflections.
Upon the completion of my readings this week, I was reminded of my own personal experiences learning English as a second language. I can relate to the “background-school disconnect” (Zwiers 4) feeling that other diversity students mentioned in this chapter had as well. Culturally, I always stood out in my class, and to make matters worse I felt a huge barrier was set between mainstreamer classmates and me because I lacked the language skills to communicate with them. Reflecting back on those moments today, I completely agree with how important it is for teachers to take special notice of the struggles that engulf non-mainstream students in learning English, and to not let them fall victim to their invisible criteria. By developing a solid support system in their school, it provides these students the confidence they need to improve and to help them accept that it is okay to struggle a little before succeeding. It is important for students to improve on their academic English as soon as possible because their struggles in this language could eventually affect their performance in other classes. The last thing any teacher wants to see is their students giving up in science or socials because they can barely understand the lessons. I also believe that parents play a crucial role in this support system. By enrolling their child in extracurricular activities or providing them with educational novels and/or T.V channels, it helps to facilitate learning English even outside of the classroom setting. I was lucky to have teachers who noticed my struggles and set aside ESL class time for me, and parents who provided me with a broad range of extracurricular activities after school. This allowed me to build on my English skills, academically and socially. I definitely noticed a change in my performance and behavior at school after I passed my ESL course. Prior to passing, I was shy and extremely quiet in class. I never wanted to raise my hand and contribute in class discussions as I feared my accent was still obvious, or I would form sentences that were grammatically incorrect. While every student’s learning style and response to strategies is different, school support and extracurricular activities served to be the appropriate combination for me to develop my social, knowledge, and linguistic capital.
My discipline is in the sciences, and I have spent the past few years tutoring in this area. A strategy I have found very helpful in describing complex scientific topics to my students is by relating it something they already know. From this week’s reading, I was able to identify them as the use of metaphors, analogies, and personification. The key to helping a student understand a concept they just can’t grasp or visualize is to find common grounds through which you, as an educator, may start building the connection.