Learning in Two Languages Plan

Bilingual Education for preschoolers with special needs.I work at Nye ECC. This is a SFPS Special Education Preschool Center in abilingual classroom. Because most of my students have been diagnosedwith Speech/Language Impairment in their first language (Spanish) wespeak Spanish most of the time. I use the 90/10 bilingual model. Thesemeans we have a certain group time devoted for reading and singing inEnglish. I also use English in context during lunch time and other socialcontexts.

Learning in Two Languages Plan

Engaging ParentsResearch has proved that parent’s participation at school yells to multiple academic andsocial benefits for students.

I plan to restart the process of engagement next school year with prearranged home visitsfollowed by questionnaires to learn about students and their families. In my previouspractice I have invited parents to participate in the educational curriculum using theirfunds of knowledge by sharing their real world experiences: Parents had come to cook,shared their experiences and talked about their jobs; they have shared their skills andtalents with the students by playing a musical instrument and singing. I would be great fornext school years to have some parents to come to teach children how to play footballsoccer.Since I am myself an immigrant parent, I have felt the need to I tell parents about thedifferences between their home country school system and American school system. I havedone so individually with each parent, but maybe next school year we may schedule sometime to talk about it with a group of parents. Also, I would like to invite parents to a coupleof meetings to talk and discuss together about best practices for helping children to learnat the preschool level and to talk about the educational benefits of preserving nativelanguage at home and at school. We could also plan some family projects that supportliteracy and math learning described in Service of Learning article(by Rahima Wade in ELMagazine May 2011 Vol. 68, Number 8).

Learning in Two Languages Plan

Fostering billiteracy, bilingualism and biculturalismOur school is very open to respect students’ culture and language. Administrators oftenspeak during the IEP meetings about the importance of students receiving instruction intheir first language in order for them to advance in their development; and the school hasrecently adopted a new preschool curriculum with bilingual components. The mainproblem though, is the lack of bilingual teachers. Although all children receive appropriatetherapies in their first language, many of them (monolingual Spanish students withSpeech/Language Impairment) are placed in English only classrooms because there are notenough bilingual teachers.

Learning in Two Languages Plan

Classroom policies that lead to the development of billiteracy, bilingualism andbiculturalism are based on Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and they start with teacher’sright attitude toward cultural diverse students. Second, students should be guided to valuetheir culture and language and use it a tool for learning: In a classroom that valuesbilingualism and biculturalism “students’ cultures become an integral part of theinstruction, rather than merely being added on the curriculum”. Then, they need to learnhow to live in a new culture, or explicitly teaching what the culture of power values, acceptand reject and the cultural capital associated with it. The result expected is thedevelopment of a bicultural identity.

Learning in Two Languages PlanTechniques and methods that promote students’ linguistic, cognitive, academic, cultural and socialdevelopment.

We learned our first language in context and tied to our immediate needs. Accordingly to research, theprocess of learning a second language is similar to first language development.

Beginning learners need comprehensible input provided by a speaker of the target language in such a waythat can be processed by the learner’s brain. In the classroom, this may be attained using visuals, gestures,and total physical response techniques.

Learning in Two Languages PlanFor intermediate students, sheltering and scaffolding language are the best ways topromote L2 acquisition. Sheltered instructions utilizes also visuals like pictures, graphs andcharts to assist in explaining concepts; context embedded instruction (based on authenticexperiences) and communicative opportunities in the social environment. At this stage,students are able to learn language through content and content through language usingwell planned sheltered instruction. Math can be taught using manipulatives to enhancecomprehension and visualization of math operations. Science can be taught using inquirybased approach and cooperative learning (project based, experiments, hand-on activitiesto learn science and language at the same time) and for Social Studies, teachers can useintegration with other content areas through a thematic approach along with culturallyresponsive pedagogy that takes account students’ lives and experiences when learningabout history and social topics.Advanced language learners may be able to receive instruction with mainstream students,but they will continue to needing some support.

Learning in Two Languages Plan

Reyes and Klein in our text book describe additional considerations for teachingbilingual students:-Recognizing and teaching the specialized language of the content area.-Addressing the cultural or experimental and linguistic challenges of texts byreading aloud and paraphrasing passage.-Using a thematic approach to teaching content-providing hands on materials for active learning-Employing graphic organizers for teaching and assessment so as to limit theamount of written text that students have to process.-Using native language where feasible and appropriate.-Maximizing the use of sheltered English when necessary to make the contentcomprehensible and insuring that content area teaching is not delayed untilstudents have enough fluency in English.In my classroom, at the preschool level I use bilingual simple books, bilingualsongs and finger plays to introduce English. I use total physical response withsimple commands and simple phrases during appropriate social situations like“open the door”, “line up” “do you want juice or milk?”

Learning in Two Languages Plan

Books in both languages:I use these books first in Spanish and when children are familiar with thecontent, I introduce the English version.

Bilingual Songs:Children learn the Spanish version first, and later, they learn the English version.

BINGO BINGO

Habia un perro en una granja There was a farmer had a dog

Y se llamaba BINGO and Bingo was his name O

B - I - N -G - O B - I - N -G - O

B - I - N -G - O B - I - N -G - O

B - I - N -G - O B - I - N -G - O

Y se llamaba BINGO and Bingo was his name O

5 MONITOS 5 LITTLE MONKEYS

5 monitos brincando en la cama, 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed,

La cama de mama One fell off and bumped its head

Uno se cayo y la cabeza se golpeo mama called the doctor and the doctor said:

Mama llamo al doctor y el dijo: No more monkeys jumping on that bed!

No mas monos en la cama por favor!

JUANCHO PANCHO TIENE UN RANCHO OLD MAC’ DONALD HAD A FARM

Juancho Pancho tiene un racho Old Mac Donald had a farm

Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay E -I-E-I-O

Y en ese rancho tiene un pato and on that farm he has a duck,

Ay, ay, ay, ay, ay E -I-E-I-O

Con el cuac aquí, con el cuac alla with a cuac-cuac, here, with a cuac,cuac there,

Cua aquí and cuac alla, here a cuac, there a cuac,

Ay, ay, ay,ay, ay every where a cuac-cuac, E-I-E-I O

Educando a nuestros niños:

Todo padre usted aspira un gran futuro para sus hijos. Tal vez ésta fue una de lasrazones que lo motivo a venir a este país. Pero, como pueden los padres lograresa meta? El respeto a la cultura y el uso de la lengua de la casa en la escuela y laparticipación en la escuela de los padres podrían dar respuesta a esta pregunta.

1. Se ha comprobado que para aprender Ingles y aprender en general en laescuela, es necesario que las escuelas tomen en cuenta la lengua y la culturaque los estudiantes traen a la escuela. Existen muchos estudios que pruebanque los estudiantes que reciben instrucción en su propia lengua mientrasaprenden Ingles, avanzan muchísimo mas que los estudiantes que recibensolo instrucción en Ingles desde el primer día de clases.

Incluso se ha descubierto que estos estudiantes bilingües muchas vecessobrepasan en su aprovechamiento académico a los estudiantes queaprendieron Ingles como su primer idioma. También se sabe que laspersonas bilingües son mas creativas para enfrentar problemas, una ventajamuy útil en cualquier área de la vida en el futuro de sus hijos. Existenmuchísimas mas ventajas de conservar el idioma que se habla en la casa.

2. Nuestra escuela les invita a formar parte del equipo que participa en laeducación de sus hijos.Se ha comprobado que cuando los padres participan activamente en la escuela,los estudiantes aprenden y avanzan mas académicamente. Estas son algunascosas que les propongo:

-Les estaré llamado muy pronto para hacer una visita a su casa en la cualllenaremos un cuestionario con preguntas que me permitirán conocerle mejorpara servirles mejor.-Les invito a participar en la escuela compartiendo sus talentos y destrezas con laclase de sus hijos, como venir a leer con nosotros, o cantar o tocar algúninstrumento musical. También puede escoger venir a jugar futbol con los niños ohablarnos de su trabajo y mostrarnos algunas de sus herramientas y como lasusa.-Durante el año escolar tendremos algunas reuniones para hablar acerca delsistema de las escuelas en este país y usted podrá hacer preguntas y darnosideas de como su niño aprende mejor en casa.-Mensualmente tendremos un proyecto familiar en el cual sus hijos y ustedespodrán trabajar juntos para promover el aprendizaje de matemáticas y pre-lectura en casa.-Además de nuestras conferencias de padres-maestros, usted puedecontactarme al teléfono de la escuela y siempre podremos hacer una cita parahablar sobre el desarrollo de sus hijos cuando usted lo considere necesario.

Educando a nuestros niños:

Educando a nuestros niños:

Además de pedirle que participe con nosotros en alguna de las actividades yasugeridas, quisiéramos también pedirle que siga hablando en casa su primeridioma, que lea en casa con sus hijos algunos de los libros que estaremosenviando periódicamente, que les enseñe las canciones tradicionales que ustedaprendió de pequeño y que no olvide el arte de contar cuentos que ha formadoparte de su cultura por generaciones.

Fomentar y fortalecer el primer idioma en casa y en la escuela hará que su hijoaprenda mas rápidamente el Ingles que a usted tanto valora y el aprendizaje engeneral y le dará el mejor futuro que usted espera para ellos.