Veronica Santos

ECED 1224 Preschool Math, Science, and Social Studies

Diversity Journal Article Review

In the article ” What Parents Have to Teach Us About Their Dual Language Children”. It says
that though teachers may have questions about how the learning of the child
(specifically the language development of the child) is affected by them being bilingual,
they often fail to ask the very people who would know ( the family).
The article then goes on to tell one of the difficulties for bilingual children being that they
experience different things in different environments. This is a difficulty because in one
environment they learn or experience something and they know how to explain it in the
language they were speaking or hearing when they had this experience but then when
or if they try to explain it in another language they may not have learned the words they
need to explain it and this can make it very hard for the child’s language skills to
develop because they are needing to learn and remember in both languages. As a child
that has been raised in a bilingual household, I have had to experience this same
difficulty. In my household, I have had to learn and remember words/phrases in both
Spanish and English. When I am with family I often speak Spanish and I normally try to
use English only when I’m out in the community with other English speakers or if I fail to
remember a word in Spanish. Speaking both languages has been beneficial because I
have been able to connect with more people but it has also made it a bit more difficult
because I often find myself trying to remember a word in the opposite language or
struggling to explain even simpler things in the other language than the one involved
with the experience. Something just turns out to be so hard to find the words for that I
give up and I lose the experience to share that information with others or I find myself
discouraged or anxious about sharing.

The article later on shares four points that by the educator knowing can help them help
their students. The first point is knowing when a student would be using each language
normally. This is helpful because as talked about earlier knowing what experiences the
student may be experiencing in one language may help us to provide them with
experiences that can grow similar vocab in the other language. The second point stated
is that it can be helpful to observe the family’s language and behavior at the home. This
can be and often times is done through home visits. For families that speak another
language, there are interpreters to help with conversation between the teacher and
family and can even help with the observations. Language and literacy practices that
take place at the home is the third point that can help teachers by knowing. This helps
the teacher to know more of what parts to focus deeper on and what parts to branch of
or “tweak”. Knowing that some parents speak only speak a language other than English
can help the teacher because then the teacher knows when sending home letters or
information for the parent or task for the family to do together the teacher can send
copying in their language. The fourth and last point is knowing if the family has
questions, concerns, or assumptions, or input about the language learning. This is a
part of the important communication that needs to take place between teacher and
parent so that both are on the same page since both play a big role in the life and
learning of the child.
My favorite part of the article is when they talk about how in the beginning of language
development children tend to switch between languages and even give and example of
an observation that was made about a family how I mid-conversation at the table they
switched languages with no problem and seemed to understand just the same. People
often for Spanish speaker who will do this say that they are speaking “Spanglish” At my
home and throughout my day I will constantly be switching between the languages and I
won’t even notice at times because I don’t have to stop and think about the meaning
behind each word. It’s simply become a habit. Even in my writing at times I can catch
myself switching languages. The Article also states on page 44 that “A teacher’s job is
to
help children produce the language of the classroom while respecting the home
language.” I believe this is important because more than likely in a classroom at least
here in the U.S the classroom language will be English because it is the main language
spoken in the country but the article didn’t just say forget about their other language it
simply said teach them what you must but keep in mind and beware and respectful that
they do have another language.

To summarize this all up the article is trying to say a key to language development is
working together with the families of the bilingual children you are teaching and get
them as involved as possible it may be tricky but it is possible and let the parents have
input and ask questions. By learning about how the language is used outside of the
classroom teachers can find ways to help the child in the classroom with their language
development. The past few weeks I have been attending my first practicum at Belmont
Elementary and I’m already picked up on a few bilingual children and specifically one
Spanish-speaking child. By knowing he speaks Spanish I have been able to find ways
to help him learn. Like with reading a book. I started reading a few books with him. The
first I read completely to him and the second he wanted to read to be when he didn’t
know how to say a couple ting in English and I will admit speaking Spanish gave me an
advantage that some teachers may not have, I was able to understand what he was
trying to figure out and was able to help him get the words. I also feel that apart from
him being able to get help with words he feel as though he can somewhat relate to me
and that makes him feel less shy. I feel this way because the second I walk in the room
he’s the first to notice me and smile and during choice time he always wants to be near
me and was to speak with me and though I love speaking Spanish I do try to speak
more English because as a future teacher that will be my job to teach the main
language of the classroom which is English.