Welcome to My Blog about Diversity

Negotiating identities by Jim Cummins focuses on the challenges educators face in adapting to classrooms where cultural and linguistic diversity is the norm. My interactive journal discusses ideas and thoughts that the book shares as well as what I have come to experience in my classroom as a first year Spanish teacher. I touch base on the bilingual aspect of my classroom as I teach a second language. I also discuss the struggles that come with understanding academic language in a second or third language for students. 

Chapter 8: Collaborative Empowerment at the Preschool, Elementary, and Secondary Levels

The Bilingual Mini-School in East Harlem

“The mini-school was founded in 1973 in response to Latino / Latina parents’ requests for a bilingual program that enhanced students’ knowledge of their own language and cultural heritage together with teaching them English and other core subjects . . . All of the teachers are bilingual. The school transitions students into greater amounts of English instruction over the course of elementary school but maintains a strong focus on developing students’ language and culture” (N.I. 242).

Giving students the opportunity to learn through their native language is essential especially in elementary. If a language other than English is the only language they know going into school, I don’t think it is fair to students to have be thrown in a class that solely speaks English or solely speaks Spanish. I understand that children are able to acquire a second language at a faster pace than adults, but if they aren’t being allowed to use their first language, they will eventually lose it. By allowing students to continue their education in a bilingual setting, educators are empowering them by giving them a head start in the real world where many languages are spoken on a daily basis. The Bilingual Mini-School in East Harlem didn’t just teach core subjects in Spanish, they integrated both English and Spanish in there lessons and slowly reduced the amount of Spanish they used to educate students, which I find is the most beneficial and empowering way to go about educating students who are bilingual.

“empowerment is generated only through interactions that affirm students’ identities and extend their conceptual horizons. The creation of power in these interactions is at the core of genuine educational reform” (253).

As stated, empowerment is generated through interactions that support students’ identities. I personally am a strong advocate of allowing students to use their native language to make sense of new material because it’s the only way to help them become successful and give them the opportunity to acquire a new language. Teaching Spanish to high school students can be difficult because most of them have not had any previous exposure to Spanish other than the slang they hear as they walk around the school campus or the little Spanish they hear in commercials or in movies. I allow my students to make sense of the Spanish material they are given in English. I believe that this is a way to empower them and help them become successful in learning a second language.

Chapter 6: Bilingual Education: What Does the Research Say?

“The pattern of research findings suggests that the level of proficiency attained by bilingual students in their two languages may be an important influence on their academic and intellectual development (Cummins, 1976; 1981a). Specifically, there may be threshold levels of proficiency in both languages that students must attain in order to participate effectively in instruction and avoid falling behind academically and a second, higher, threshold necessary to reap the linguistic and intellectual benefits of bilingualism and biliteracy” (170).

Research shows that if a student is able to demonstrate proficiency in more than one language, he/ she will most likely be more successful in their academic and rational development. I notice that students who constantly ask questions, and intellectually challenge me, are the ones who are most likely going to retain a lot of Spanish. They are taking learning into their own hands by asking challenging questions about the language as well as what it means in comparison to English.

The Thomas / Collier (1997) Study

“They report that the amount of formal schooling in L1 that students have received is the strongest predictor of how rapidly they will catch up academically in L2. This factor is a stronger predictor than socioeconomic status or the extent to which parents may or may not speak English” (N.I. 181).

This study shows how important it is to consider the students’ backgrounds as well as their life outside of the classroom. Some students do not have any other exposure to Spanish other than the 60 minutes they spend in my classroom, which I have to take into account at the end of the year when they aren’t fluent in the second language I have been teaching them are year long. I also have to keep this in mind at the beginning of a new school year—that is, there is a possibility that after the end of the previous school year, they might not of have been exposed to the language. Some parents do speak both English in Spanish, but does that mean that the student is being exposed to it at home? What if the student doesn’t communicate much at home? These are all factors that need to be considered when determining the level or time it should take a student to become proficient in another language.