As the new school year begins, it is important to think about how we will be an advocate for multilingual learners. Being an advocate requires planning in order to make sure that students have equitable learning experiences all year long. What does it mean to be an advocate for multilingual learners (MLLs)? What actions will be taken? When will those actions be taken? What will the response when faced with resistance?
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One of my biggest pet peeves is when educators refer to bilingual students that receive instruction primarily in Spanish as "monolinguals". It has a negative connotation, because it is saying that those bilingual students have not gained the necessary English proficiency to leave Spanish behind. Sometimes these students have only been in this country 1-2 years, and they are expected to know English at the same academic level as their peers! Furthermore, calling one of our bilingual students "monolingual" sends the message that the goal is not for students to be "bilingual", but rather transition to English quickly. When I hear that term being used, I remind them that our students are "emerging bilingual" students that will learn English with the support of their Spanish. Students will learn English, but it should not be at the expense of losing their Spanish.
A student's first (L1) or native language is one of the best tools they have readily available that can help them support their own learning. If a student's L1 is Spanish, then they will already have a large bank of Tier 2 vocabulary (cross curricular) that they already know. Tier 2 vocabulary is important because these are the words that tend to lead to breakdown in understanding because they are not the the common (Tier 1) vocabulary they used to using with their classmates or the math vocabulary (Tier 3) that is being emphasized during instruction. Furthermore, Tier 2 vocabulary is the "testing vocabulary" that students will encounter on standardized assessments. Sometimes in an effort to increase a student's English language acquisition & development, students are encourage to use English and discouraged from using their L1. However, students can benefit greatly from using their L1 during "self-talk" & thinking time because they are able to focus on content rather than the English language & vocabulary that they should use. I find that when I am tired, I start thinking in my L1 (Spanish) and that is OKAY! I also find that when I am doing computations it is easier to do so in Spanish and that is OKAY! I know two languages and I am going to use switch when needed or use both to support my work & thinking. Our emerging bilingual students need the support & encouragement to know that it is OKAY to use all of their languages.
As the new school year approaches, be it virtual or on campus, one of the most important ways to to lay the foundation for a successful school year is building meaningful relationships (teacher-student & coach-teacher). Teachers and coaches will facilitate "getting to know you" and "all about me" activities. Those activities can provide an overview of basic information, likes, and dislikes. However, I think that a more meaningful relationship can be made when we understand each other's culture, educational philosophy, disposition towards the content taught, and past learning experiences. Students come to school with funds of knowledge and experiences that impact how they receive and participate in instruction. Getting to know students' culture and bring that culture into instruction will make lessons more relevant to students. Students are more likely to feel engaged in classroom lessons and remember what has been taught when they are able to make connections. Are there particular math strategies that students use at home? What are the ways that students share and participate in conversations outside of school? What are the real-life situations during which students will actually use the math concepts they are learning? Are we encouraging students to use their L1 or other languages they know to support their learning? A teacher's culture plays a big part into how they work with their teams and how they facilitate instruction. Their past experiences with other instructional coaches, teachers, campuses, and teacher preparation programs also has a big impact on they approach their teacher role. For example, their culture might be one where being respectful to elders is extremely important and they might be less like to ask questions to some team members. There might be bilingual teachers at a campus that share the same L1, but the dialect is different. My first year as a campus coach, I quickly learned that my "Mexican" Spanish is the same a "Colombian" Spanish, "Venezuelan" Spanish etc! This discovery helped me revamp a few campus initiatives. I also made a point to learn about the mathematical mindsets of my teachers. This allowed me as a coach to set priorities and figure out more quickly how to provide more targeted support that was more likely to be welcomed by teachers.
It is not unusual for conversations about bilingual learners to focus on the challenges and figuring out how to help these students. It is often a deficit based approach and the focus is on trying to "fix" a problem. A more effective way to support student learning is to take an asset based approach. Our bilingual learners have "bilingual superpowers" that they can use to take ownership of their own learning & teachers can activate in order to lower students' affective filter and maximize their learning. Many of our emerging bilingual students are simultaneous bilingual students because they have been exposed to more than one language by the time they are three years old. These students enter school with some BICS (basic personal interpersonal communication skills) and have a foundation in their Language 1 to gain CALP (cognitive academic language proficiency) in their Language 2 (English).
The demographics are changing. We can only do so much…they don’t have parental support at home. This is a great task for my higher students, but not for this group because they have too many gaps. We just need to focus on the strategies they understand. We need to show them step by step what they need to do because if not they will get stuck. These are statements that have commonly been shared by educators during team planning conversations, data talks, and intervention meetings. It is interesting that the changing demographics (the number of ELs & low SES students is increasing), causes educators to want to simplify and reduce content. Just because we need to use strategies to make input comprehensible and content accessible, that does not mean that the standards should not be taught at a rigorous level. All students deserve the respect and right for educators to teach content to its fullest depth & complexity.
What is the best way to help our ELs? What can we do to support our English Learners to make progress? These are the typical questions that I hear from campuses and teachers. One of the first things that I ask teachers, coaches, and administrators to do is to describe or tell me about their English Learners. Many times I have been given weird looks and am asked to clarify my question. Once we talk about the group of students and look into their history, we tend to figure out that there are multiple groups of English Learners. Furthermore, each group has different type of challenges and diverse needs. Newcomers might be new to the US, but have had consistent and high quality schooling in their home country. Newcomers might come from a country where they only had sporadic schooling. Long-term English Learners (L-TELLs) might be Beginners or Intermediates in English Language proficiency, but sound like their grade level peers in social settings. L-TELLs could have been part of a bilingual program or been part of an ESL pull-out program. Refugees could be dealing with emotional distress and anxiety that causes their affective filter to go up. Students with Limited of Interrupted Formal Education (SIFE/SLIFE) are probably not used to being in school every day, every week, and for an entire school year. There are numerous effective instructional strategies that can be used to support our ELs, but they are most effective when we know the story of our ELs.
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