Ensuring Social Relevance, Raising Cultural Consciousness
“No classroom is an island unto itself. Every classroom is
influenced by and is a reflection of the larger society of which it is a part
of.” This quote is the perfect way to start off the chapter because it
personifies what good classroom social relevance should be. Class, gender,
race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, language, and sexual orientation are
some factors in social relevance that teachers have to keep in mind, especially
if they are teaching ELL students. I think it is unfair for “standard English”
to be in our vocabulary, in the past this may have worked but right here and
now there is no “standard American” so the term “standard English” should be
rewritten. The standard variety Kumar is talking about in this chapter refers
to a person with no regional accent, who resides in the Midwest, who have more
than average or superior education, who are educators or broadcasters, who pay
attention to pronunciation and grammar, who are easily understood by all and
use “proper language”. This is not the case with many Americans and it is not
fair to say that one variation is superior to another. Imagine English Language
Learner’s whose teacher refers to their variation as nonstandard or wrong, it
is more than discouraging and it would not make them want to become a better
speaker. American’s have different
variations that is what makes this country so interesting, English in a L1
setting is very different than English in an L2 setting but that does not make
either setting better or worse than the other. When teaching we need to make
this issue personalized to each student and we have to keep an open mind to the
background of each student. It would be appropriate to tap into the unique
linguistic and cultural knowledge that all the learners have in the classroom, connect
with them. Give clear directions and providing simple clear examples and be friendly;
being in an open welcoming environment can make a change.
Culture can be hard to define and hard to maintain in a
classroom. It is upsetting to see learners from other cultures and countries
lose some of their culture when going to school in America. While we want our
students to flourish with the English language and custom it would be a shame
for them to lose their original background and way of life. In order to help
these students preserve their culture we as pre-service teachers have to make
an effort to understand their way of life at home. The classroom should be rich
in culture to make the students feel comfortable being themselves and comfortable
to share their culture with other students.
Social responsibility can be tricky because there are controversial
issues that need to be dealt with, especially regarding ethics. As teachers we
should try to stick with the “universal” moral principals such as love, equality,
tolerance and freedom and not get into the topic of religion or any topic that
can go in the direction of making students uncomfortable or that are
potentially offensive or disrespectful. The classroom is a community and the students
should always feel a part of that community.
For my final
paper I am focusing on the pedagogies and methods used in Early Childhood
classrooms with students who are English Language Learners. I have found some articles; Beverly A. Clark’s
“First- and Second-Language Acquisition
in Early Childhood, Teacher Skills to Support English Language Learners by
Deborah Short, Effective Practices and Principals
to Support English Language Learners in the Early Childhood Classroom by
Vickie E. Lake. Some new questions I have formed form the last time we meet
are: how can programs support English Language Learners and what specific pedagogies
should be in place?, How can we assess ELL’s language without the skills of
reading and writing?
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