The first two authors I connect to are Garcia and Rodriguez. Rodriguez focuses on the separation of home and school languages that force students to leave a language behind to embrace another. During my service learning project I noticed that majority of my class was bilingual but only speak English in class. Sometimes ill over hear some students at lunch or recess talking in Spanish but in the classroom the students only speak English. I spoke to the teacher in my SL class and she said she over hears the students speak Spanish to each other sometimes and when they speak it to her and she doesn't understand, one of the students or the teacher assistant who is Hispanic will translate for her. She also stated that she had quite a few parents who don't speak or understand English so the teacher assistant or their child if possible will translate to her. For some of the students Spanish is their at home language and English is their at school language. The teacher is very accepting of the students speaking Spanish and just has someone translate to her. She makes them feel comfortable to speak both languages. The students and teacher assistant are helping each other communicate in both English and Spanish.
Another author I can connect to is Kliewer. There's a student in my SL class who shows he has a learning disability. The teacher and students don't look at him any different. While myself and other college students the teacher has us provide him extra support with the things he's struggling with. Sometimes while the students are doing independent work at their desks ill see him looking at his table mates papers and copy their answers. He's always so lost. He tries but most of the time, he doesn't get what's going on. The students never judged him. His table mates often try to help him with his worksheets and explain the directions to him. The teacher always tries to get him extra help. She doesn't label him as disabled or defective.
Link to Map the Authors:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ggYKeSZySby3EleiKzQ6zFwYD5hS4kLKjLbsvBMwQE/edit
I also see the connections you are making and how interesting that you are seeing students speaking different languages across spaces in the school. It sounds like you are noticing that students speak Spanish with each other in informal spaces, and they speak English in the classroom -- is that right? Can you say more about how you see Garcia reflected in this observation and also (in different ways) Rodriguez? I think there are some deeper connections you can make here.
ReplyDeleteI'm also interested in hearing more about the "hidden curriculum" you are seeing in the classroom, e.g in rows, with no centers.