In this second grade class, about fifty percent was made up of Hispanic children. They all spoke very good English, but when it came down to reading, some had more difficulty than others. As I sat down one on one and read with each student individually I noticed that all they needed help with was pronouncing the word. They knew exactly what the word meant but saying it took a little more time.
One thing that I did was write down the words they needed help with on a blank piece of paper. I helped them continue reading the story but after the story was done, I went back to the words they needed help pronouncing and went over it until they were able to tell me the word without hesitation. I eventually went back to the story and pointed out the words they needs help with and had them read the sentence to me with the word. This helped them tremendously.
The teacher had me continue that with a few different students. On one particular day Mrs. Gagnon sat me down with one student for the whole hour and a half and had me go over about forty site words. We went down the list three at a time. Every time he got the three site words we went on to the next three but didn’t forget about the previous three as we went back to make sure he didn’t forget what those words were.
The boy did get frustrated after a while, but who wouldn’t. I know if I was him and I had to repeat a word many times I would have been very frustrated myself.
Goldenberg presents in his article the research study of English language learners. The study shows that teaching the student in their own language then in English it would help them be more successful. If they learned in their language it would be easier as they would transfer the language across and have a better understand of what they are learning.
This situation is different though; the students are learning in English and are getting all their instructions in English as well. What they are learning must be picked up almost immediately because they will fall behind, which I believe is unfair.
If they do not understand the material and keep getting pushed to learn different material in a short amount of time, they are most likely going to shut down and not want to try. If they are going to be taught in English and that isn’t there original language, that material needs more time to go over. I noticed when I actually spent time to go over the material a little more than what was already explained, they understood what they needed to do a lot better.
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Hey Katie,
ReplyDeleteI can completely relate to what you are saying. I had a lot of trouble with my students too. They spoke pretty well but when it came down to reading they had a hard time pronouncing everything, right down to the word "that." I think writing down the words that they are having trouble with and going back helps a lot with a student. I did that as well. We would read the story three times in a row. The first time I would write down all the words that the student had trouble with. We would then go back and practice them until they got them correct. The second time reading went by much smoother after they got the words right. I think if there were more people who could do the service learning to help students would really be a help a child one on one because would really improve their skills.
The Dolch words, also known as site words, are also a good stepping stone to a childs reading. This summer I worked with an autistic child and this was the first time I was introduced to these words. Therefore, once I got into the second grade classroom that I am working in It all came together why these words were so important.
You also make a good point when you state that "the students are learning in English and are getting all their instructions in English as well. What they are learning must be picked up almost immediately because they will fall behind, which I believe is unfair." I completely agree with you. I understand teachers are forced to complete a certain amount of things in a restricted amount of time, however I wonder if there needs to be a change in the curriculum since so many children are falling behind who are multilingual or children who have learning disabilities. I noticed as well, then when you sit down with a child one on one, and explain to them in a critical way they do end up obtaining the information once it is explained thoroughly.