2. Exploring Student Language and Culture
I believe that one of the most effective way to help students from a culturally linguistic
diverse background achieve academic success is to explore their language and culture, see thing
from their eyes by entering’ their world’. Through continuous communication students get the
opportunity to practice the English Language. For the past few weeks I have been working with a
student whose primary language is Spanish. The things I discovered gave me new insights on
how to accommodate him in the classroom.
Last week I obtained information from my student’s father. He informed me he grew up
in a community in Mexico City, Mexico. He learned a little English here from some of his
teachers in Elementary school and he learned the majority of spoken and written English while in
high school in the United States. He informed me the little English his son knew he learned from
him as Pre K was his first time in a school setting. During one of the conversations with my
student’s dad he informed me their family is from Mexico City, Mexico and although their
primary language is Spanish some of their words may differ in meaning from other Spanish
speaking countries like Panama, Puerto Rico or Cuba. He informed me for example most
Spanish speaking countries call bug, bicho, but in Mexico it is called insecto. I tried to make
connections as I reflect on this new information as in the United States we say ‘trash can’ and in
England they say ‘bin’ although we are referring to the same thing. My student’s dad told me
that they mainly communicate in Spanish at home, majority of the programs the watch on
television and books they read is in Spanish.
Recently we had a book fair and I noticed my student’s father purchased three books and
all three were Spanish oriented. He bought a Power Rangers book entirely in Spanish, Go Diego!
and a book with words from A-Z in both English and Spanish. I asked him if there is a specific
3. reason in him buying books that are Spanish oriented and he said,’ he wanted his children to
learn both English and Spanish language and he will be exposed to more English books at school
so he is trying to make sure he was exposed to Spanish books at home’. This information helped
me to realize that this student has limited exposure to English text at home thus, I have to ensure
that my classroom sufficient text to cater for his English Language development. It also help me
to realize that he is exposed to Spanish vocabulary at home thus, I have use vocabulary strategies
to help him connect and recognize vocabulary in both languages and understand which is more
appropriate to use on specific occasions. The media segment, ‘Valuing Linguistic Diversity’
states, we will help students understand where one language is more appropriate than the other.
(Laureate Education Inc 2010) There were no implications during my interview with my
student’s father that they use a particular dialect.
I wanted my student to tell me a story about an exciting event in his life for me to help
hi, understand what is expected of him I told him a story about my surprise birthday party. He
also told me of his birthday party. His response was as follows: “Once upon a time it was my
birthday. I got a cake Cars 2. I saw the movie for Cars 2 and I got the cars too. The End”. Thus,
based on his response I believe stage of language acquisition for second language I would say he
is at the Early intermediate stage. Helman, (2009) states, “One of the roles of the teacher is to
facilitate students’ language production across various levels of proficiency”. (p. 49) I have to
find various ways of helping this student develop a proficiency in English Language.
While my student was sharing his birthday story, he was smiling, he did not stop to think
while he was telling me the story. I noticed that he stopped where there would be a full stop. He
also showed me two fingers while he said Cars two. He started his story with ‘once upon a time’
and ended with ‘the end’. My implications for his literacy development would be for him to
4. experience multiple everyday use and practice of new vocabulary, allow him to participate in
picture word association and model communication through discussions, and stories. Colorado,
(2010) states, “Children require multiple exposures to words in order to develop a rich
understanding or their meaning and use”. (p. 1)
In order to meet the IRA standards for Reading Professionals, I will ensure that whatever
content I am teaching I have prior knowledge of it. I want to make sure that I carefully analyze
the curriculum in order to plan effective lessons that meet the requirements of the content
Standards and students’ academic success. I understand that there are students in my classroom
that are culturally and linguistically diverse, thus I will plan my lesson to accommodate their
differences. In making accommodations I will utilize various forms of technology to enhance
lessons and use developmentally strategies to facilitate appropriate literacy skills.
This week I learned about the different ways I can assess students’ literacy development.
The student that I am working with is in my Pre K class, thus when I set out to assess him I had
to take several factors into consideration. I had to take note that he is in Pre K thus my
expectations have to surround this notion, the fact that he is an ELL, he is exposed to mostly
Spanish text and he has no computer access at home.
I learned that autography knowledge will help me understand where my student’s literacy
development is. The media segment ‘Assessing Literacy Development’ states, when you
understand their autography knowledge then you can look at their reading writing behaviors
developmentally. The spelling assessment I administered to this student consisted of words such
as, one, two, three, mat, bat, sat, cat. I started out by telling the student that I was going to ask
him to spell some words and he can spell them the best way he can. I told him some of the words
may be difficult and some may be easy he should write the words he hear or know. Then I started
5. the diagnostic. I said the words once, then I gave him the word in a sentence, repeated each word
then I waited until he was ready before moving on to the next word. The duration of the
assessment lasted for approximately twenty minutes.
After administering the spelling assessment I noticed he spelled cat, correctly, however
the other words were spelt, bta (bat) mot (mat) smf (sat) oen (one) tow, (two) tere (three). This
helped me to realize that this student heard the beginning sound of these words but got lost
where the other letters were placed. Thus based on the figure 5.3 in my course text, my student’s
development level is Emergent (early/middle) stage.
I also wanted a writing sample to see where my student was at developmentally. I started
out by telling him that I wanted him to draw and color a picture of his birthday the story he was
telling me about. He smiled and drew a picture of a cake with four candles on the top and a
picture of what looked like a boy. He also wrote the letters BmksI, I asked him what did that say
and he responded, ‘it says happy birthday to me’. This assessment lasted for approximately five
minutes. I believe based on figure 5.3 of the course text he is at the Emergent stage of writing
development.
Davids, (2008) states, “Assessments help teachers determine if the instruction they
provide students has resulted in adequate student progress”. (p. 1) I was sharing with my
colleagues this assignment for the past couple weeks and they have decided to administer similar
assessment with a student from a culturally linguistic background. We have found our findings to
be very interesting especially with my student. During the spelling inventory he was able to write
the word cat but was unable to write/spell the other words accurately. Davids, (2008) states, “It
allows teachers to identify students who can benefit from a more accelerated instructional
program and those who need more intensive instructional intervention and support”. (p.1) Thus,
6. I have to revisit the curriculum and content standards and formulate developmentally appropriate
strategies to assist this student in gaining academic success. The other thing I noticed in my
student’s writing assessment after I asked him what the letter meant I wrote exactly what he said
and he was able to copy the word ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘I had a Cars two party’. This helped me
to realize that this student was able to model/copy what I wrote but was unable to do so
independently.
Did you know that children learn to communicate best by participating in conversations
and interactions about things that interest them? Thus, will try to build on these skills first, then I
will take the next step in is building his self confidence to communicate effectively. Then, I will
assist him using the different form of technology available to build on his vocabulary and help
him associate picture with words.
7. References
Colorado, C., (2010) 8 Strategies for Preschool ELLs’ Language and Literacy Development (p.
1) Retrieved from: http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/36679/
Davids, V., (2008) 3 Minute Reading Assessments (p.1) Retrieved from:
http://www.blvs.org/gen/blvs/Reading__3Minute_Reading_Assessments_p278.html
Laureate Education Inc (Producer) Assessing Literacy Development [Video Webcast] retrieved
from:
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2F
webapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4066
957_1%26url%3D
Laureate Education Inc (Producer) (2010) Valuing Linguistic Diversity [Video Webcast]
Retrieved from:
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2F
webapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_4066
957_1%26url%3D
