Learning English isn’t hard if you have a library card
There was a lot of emphasis in the article “A Focus on Vocabulary” on the importance of reading and being read to at an early age when learning a new language. This triggered reflections for me on the many ways my parents taught me language. From a young age mom wold take my sisters and I to the library on a weekly basis to take out as many and whatever books we wanted. My parents would then read to us every night before bed. I grew up with a love of reading and enthusiasm for learning. I am sure this can be largely attributed to these early routines in language learning. I feel very lucky that I had these positive experiences with language.
Lehrer et. al. mention a statistic based on socio economic status and language learning, “Hart and Risley (1995) found, for example, that 3year-olds in higher socioeconomic status (SES) families had vocabularies as much as five times larger than children in lower SES families” (p. 6). This statistic made me slightly uncomfortable in reading it. I think it is partly because I hope it does not perpetuate stereotypes of lower SES families as being illiterate or uneducated. Poverty should not always result in “word poverty”. I also think it made me reflect on the privileges I have had in my life. In regards to students who’s parents are ELLs as well, how can students improve their English outside of school without the aid of their parents or reinforcement of English at home? It is clear to me that it is not an easy task if the learner is older and does not have the advantage of rigorous language training and picture books that come with early childhood.
Through reading the article I was relieved to see a long list of concrete strategies that teachers can put into practice for their ELLs.
Some strategies that I see working for me include using synonyms, concept maps, dictionaries, word consciousness, and teaching about cognates. As a future art teacher I have never previously thought about making language learning an active focus in my classroom. Through these readings and class discussions I have realized how important it is. I also feel confident that I can work some of these strategies into my teaching without making too much of a sacrifice from other tasks. In the long run, I believe it will enrich classroom discussion and the life long success in learning for my students. I may even take them to the library…
The title of my post is a reference to the song in the television show Arthur. Here is the link to the song:
http://youtu.be/lg516PSgG5I