Author: lcburns

Looking back on what we have learned in this course, I feel there are two major themes with which I can most connect: how to integrate academic language into classes so our students can develop language literacy, and how to cater to the special needs of ELLs. During my short practicum I went to an English 11 class, and I was quite shocked to find out the entire class was about a simple grammatical pattern. What was even sadder was the fact some students scored not so well in the mini quiz at the end of the class. I honestly hope that class’s literacy is not representative of literacy of the entire school. Nonetheless, the necessity of enhancing students’ ability to think, write and discuss more academically cannot be emphasized enough. I also felt that although ELLs did get some attention, they simply weren’t receiving enough support which they needed so desperately. One thing I have in mind is that during my long practicum next year I may initiate a special club/tutoring session aimed at ELLs. They may come in whenever they have difficulty with any subject and I will provide as much help as I can. I will also try to get other teachers involved so there will always be some assistance provided.

Personally speaking, I have never encountered any problem of speaking Chinese in school. It could be because I only enrolled in universities where people are more open-minded and mature, or Vancouver is more acceptive of another language, or we live in the year of 2013 now and the events in the play took place in 1996. Regardless, when I rehearsed the play with my group members as Sam, I tried to step into his shoes and let his emotions take over. Then I suddenly remembered our Dean’s words at the start of this semester. He said something about people eating different kinds of food in the building. Instead of saying “oh that’s gross man. I would never eat that”, one may say “hmm, that looks interesting. Can I take a bite?” Language is not exactly the same as food, but the principle does apply here. Of course, my personal belief is no one should ever feel being left out, so if someone else who can’t understand Chinese is present during a conversation between me and another person who can speak Chinese, I think it’s better to speak English so everyone can be included in the conversation. However, if an acquaintance walks by when my friends and I are speaking Chinese, he or she would be welcomed to ask “Hey what are u guys talking about?” and who knows, that person may even add some other interesting spice to the conversation and we may even teach him or her a few Chinese words. Be acceptive, be curious, be ready to better oneself with every tiny bit of knowledge – I think that’s the greatest part of this place. Don’t limit yourself, because you can always learn as long as you are willing to.

One thing I am not entirely sure about is how to effectively integrate academic language learning into less language intensive classes. For example, writing is crucial for students to generate more complex language and discipline their language usage, but it is probably not going to be a significant part of an IT class which I will be teaching next year. After reading chapter 9, I realized that there still other ways to facilitate students’ language building even if they don’t use as much language as they do in a class like English or Socials. Feedbacks, for instance, can definitely play an important part throughout an IT lesson. Assuming I am teaching students basics of spreadsheets, at the beginning of the class I might elicit answers from students regarding their previous experience with Excel or Google spreadsheet. Based on their answers I can ask them to explain in more detail in what kind of situation they used spreadsheet, what kind of functions they got to use, how using spreadsheets contributed to their end product, etc. As the class goes on, when I circulate around the classroom to monitor their progress, I will be able to engage in one on one conversation or talk to a small group. During these conversations I might ask them to explain certain functions they studied earlier, how they plan to use those functions, how they envision their final project, and other creative ways to utilize those functions. At the end of the class, I may ask different groups to present their progress (this also encourages them to be more academic through oral language) and provide positive feedback as to where they did really good. Meanwhile, I may also point out where they need improvement. During this process terminologies and glossaries are exchanged between my students and me. In conclusion, there are always possibilities of building academic language as long as we are constantly aware of its importance and try to find those opportunities.

The short practicum has deepened my understanding of how to facilitate students’ progress of acquiring academic language. We should be aware of this goal at all times no matter which subject we will teach. Even for some of the less language oriented classes such as IT or PE, it is nonetheless important to remind students of correct usage and possible mistakes from time to time. For example, for one of the lessons I taught I used an image which contained “Red Cross”. At first I didn’t realize I forgot to use capital R and C, and my sponsor teacher pointed that out. He also talked about how students in the school, despite the fact they are already in grade 9 or 10, lack the ability to properly use capital letters when necessary. Thus the importance of promoting literacy among students can never be emphasized enough. During my class, when I introduced the image, I specifically mentioned to use capital R and C. Another example to enrich students’ learning would be a history class. The topic was the great depression and economic crisis in 2008. However, the teacher also provided materials about neo nazisism (partly because of the crisis) and occupy wall street. Students not only studied historical events from the textbook, they also divided into groups to engage in debate on different current issues. During this process, new vocabulary were introduced and students practiced to articulate their thoughts using correct, academic language. These are only two of the many examples I have seen in the school. The progress of building academic language actually happens in every classroom every day.

We also face another question: How do we assess students’ acquirement of academic language?  Assessment is definitely easier for English or social study classes since assignments and tests entail heavy usage of language, but what about other classes such as IT or Science? It’s often difficult to assess whether students have acquired academic language based on programmed applications, projects created through software or charts and diagrams. Based on my observation, I find that engaging in conversations with students is a simple yet effective way to assess and facilitate their progress of building academic language. During my IT classes, when students worked in groups and discussed about their projects, I would circle around and listen attentively to each group for some time. I would either encourage them to think deeper if they were on the right track, or steer them in the right direction if they were having difficulty. This process often involved reinforcing their memory of terminologies covered in class, promotion of higher thinking among them, correction of false understanding and sometimes introduction of new concepts and ideas. Thus it was a great way to help them be more academic in the classroom.

A sector of Chapter 5 emphasizes the importance of building background information before classroom discussions. By doing so, students will come up with more thorough answers. More students will be included in the conversation as well.

This reminds me of one time when I taught in China. It was an English writing class of about ten students. Two of them had been to American high schools as exchange students before and the rest had never studied abroad. At one point I briefly mentioned Lord of the Flies as an example of the controversial topic of human nature. The two students, who had been to American high schools before, could relate to the reference since they probably already read the novel as part of their high school curriculum. There was one other student who had read a translated version before and he was able to comprehend after a moment. The others were at a loss. The discussion around the topic, of course, only involved those three and other students were not able to participate. Think back to the lesson, I would have done a better job by providing my students some introduction to the novel, even if it is just a synopsis.

This is very likely to happen in a Canadian classroom as well, especially when there are so many ELLs in schools nowadays. The teacher can certainly enrich the classroom conversation by using anecdotes and references from literature, political events or pop culture, but he or she must do so cautiously because many students may not be able to understand. Various methods can be used to solve this. The teacher can encourage students to watch more television, listen to radios, and read newspapers. He or she can also provide students materials related to the main topic before the class when applicable. Students may pair up or form groups in which native students can communicate with ELLs and help them be more familiar with the English culture. The most important thing for teachers to keep in mind is that classroom discussions not only cultivate students’ academic skills, but also build their confidence to succeed in schools.

To master using appropriate language in a certain subject area, students will first need to learn terminologies and concepts in that subject. It is essential for them to memorize words, use certain sentence structures, analyze unique ideas and express their own thoughts in particular patterns. Part of a teacher’s responsibility is to help them grasp all the above with scaffolding.

However, it does not stop just there. Rather than something used only in classrooms, language is supposed to be an inner ability which one will employ for every aspect of life. When a teacher teaches a subject, he or she should not only consider students’ language growth inside the classroom, but also think about how students can apply this newly acquired language growth in real life situations. For example, in a literature class a student may seem to understand theme and motif quite well, and he can identify these elements for an in-class reading, but one question remains for the teacher — is he able to do this only because there are so many hints and aid from the teacher and fellow students’ comments in the class, or can he actually utilize these concepts when he reads other literature in order to gain bigger satisfaction, reflect upon the social issue addressed in the work, or gain new perspectives for his thinking? Thus the teacher should always keep in mind that ultimately language growth is for helping the student become more competent.

It is also important to remember that language growths in each subject are not isolated. In a historical novel, the author may very well use a lot of real historical figures and events to make the illustration more vivid. Students without the proper language ability in history may have difficulty to comprehend the meaning because of lack of knowledge in background, timeline and social norms of a particular time. The same applies to scientific novels, popular science books, or even trivial things like bank statements (which will include basic math). It is the teacher’s job to remind students that they should constantly try to apply their language growth in as many fields as possible for their own benefits.

Chang Liu