ECIS ESL

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ECISESL Mother Tongue Language ForumFeedback

• Geneva, Switzerland
• February 2008

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The aim of the conference

• To promote Multilingual Student identities across
  the Intercultural School Curricula

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A little exercise

• Work in pairs and explain this cycle to your
  partner without using the letter t.

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Outcome

• What did you do? some people avoided words and
  others said the words but left out the t.
• How did you feel? frustrated, amused, a lot of
  effort to think about what youre saying and
  trying to say.
• How do you think this relates to being an ESL
  student? The frustration of knowing that you
  know a word in your MT but you dont know it in
  English. A feeling that youre being
  underestimated.

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The Main Messages

• Take down the invisible sign English Only that
  hangs in many classrooms.
• Allow the child to demonstrate exisiting
  knowledge and abilities.
• Use the strength of the mother tongue to scaffold
  new vocabulary and knowledge in the 2nd language.
• Maintain a strong mother tongue to avoid
  subtractive bilingualism where the 2nd language
  becomes stronger than the mother tongue.

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Research about Mother Tongue shows...

• UNESCO (2000) believes in promoting a
  translingual environment using mother tongue
  instruction to improve the quality of education
• Carder, M. Bilingualism in International Schools
  (2007) research shows that maintaining
  studentsmother tongues while adding a second
  language produces positive linguistic and
  academic outcomes.
• Bloor, T Wondson, T. Language and Education
  (1998) a corollary of liberal respect for
  multilingualism is the view that every individual
  is entitled to education in his or her mother
  tongue.

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Learning Teaching Through Talk

• Use speech as a bridge to literacy
• Model language and think out loud
• Fully develop the spoken written continuum
• Provide scaffolds for technical language
• Negotiate meaning
• Develop spokesperson groups
• Slow down the discourse
• Limit display and initiation response
  questions.
• Encourage explicit thinking.

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Use of Mother Tongue

• To extend knowledge base
• To build bridge between current knowledge and new
  knowledge
• To permit poly-directional language in the
  classroom.
• MT programs should be developed with curriculum
  content objectives in mind.

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Translanguaging What is it?

• Using two (or more) languages to make meaning.
• Maximizes communication and sense making.
• Develop the term emergent bilinguals rather than
  second language learners. Ofelia Garcia
• Whole class use of Mother Tongue?

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Translanguagingconstructing understanding in
multilingual classrooms

• Testing our notions of bilingualism
• Subtractive bilingualism
• Additive bilingualism
• Dynamic bilingualism
• Where are we?
• Where do we want to be?

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From Second Language Learners to English Language
Learners

• Encourage emergent bilingualism
• Respect towards the childrens knowledge and
  culture
• Avoid negative terminology which labels children
  according to what they cannot do e.g. ESL

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Student Image

• Its necessary to gain some background on
  students heritage and culture.
• My overarching goal as a teacher is to uncover
  all that is unknown to me about my student,
  linguistically and culturally. Especially to
  understand the community that they are part of.
  (Lisa Leoni, Elementary Teacher, CA)
• Empower students by finding ways in which they
  can incorporate their personal self image into
  the assignment.
• Encourage ownership.
• Create authentic texts (with scaffolds).
• The limits of my language mean the limits of my
  world.
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Identity affirmation is the key to literacy
  engagement. (Jim Cummins)

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Bilingualism vs Second Language

• Bilingualism carries the expectation that
  students can progress in parallel using two (or
  more) languages to decipher meaning and integrate
  new knowledge into current thinking.
• Permit writing in two languages
• Fuel the transfer between languages.
• Treat them by what they can become and not what
  they currently are. Pauline Gibbons

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How can we develop intellectually challenging
language lessons?

• Provide rich opportunities for applying new
  language concepts (both academically and
  socially).
• include a wide variety of writing opportunities
  as well as speaking, listening, and reading.
• give opportunities to use the skills in real and
  valuable contexts.
• Use real world tasks.

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How can we develop intellectually challenging
language lessons?

• Guide students to speak about abstract concepts
  in the same way that experts in the field do
  encourage and support higher level thinking.
• Dont shy away from technical academic
  terminology
• Transform concepts learned into abstract ideas to
  promote interpretation.
• Encourage substantive questions and discussion.
• Help students develop predictions and hypotheses.
  

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How can we develop intellectually challenging
language lessons?

• Construct an image of the child as linguistically
  talented. They come into your class with a wealth
  of knowledge, it just happens to be in another
  language.
• Promote cognitive engagement on all levels
  (speaking, listening, reading, writing).
• Develop identity texts children write in MT and
  English
• Move from BICS (basic Inter-personal
  Communication skills) to CALPS (Cognitive
  Academic Language Proficiency)
• e.g mumpa Grandmother
• robot stairs escalator
• Video and examples of work from ESL DAL

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Advice from Else Hamayan (private
appointment)How do we move MT into the academic
context?

• Appoint a Mother Tongue Coordinator
• Take down the invisible ENGLISH ONLY signs!
• Start doing IPC entry points in MT
• Start using MT as an integral part of your
  lessons develop a habit!
• Develop the database by finding a representative
  from each language (parents and or teachers)
• Develop a multilingual library from parental
  donations and letters to publishers
• Convince parents that MT is important find a
  parent who understands the concept and ask them
  to promote MT to other parents
• Ask students to speak to parents provide
  evidence of how important it is as an academic
  tool
• Develop more visuals/posters/displays around the
  school and in the classroom
• Use CAS students to support MT sessions both
  socially and academically (needs a training
  programme but its worth the investment)
• Keep a diary of what happens!

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Action to date

• We already promote the importance of MT by
  allocating time to it everyday in a social
  context. We now need to move it to the next level
  to improve the quality of education in our
  school.
• Action since the conference
• ESL and DAL staff make a conscious effort to use
  MT as a tool for learning Dutch and English
• Discuss MT with the children to increase
  awareness of the importance of MT maintenance and
  to inform them that MT is allowed.
• The MT website page has been updated with a link
  to www.mothertonguematters.com Plus this PPP will
  be added
• MT seen as part of Modern Languages (UWCM
  project) and work developed for the project
  acknowledges this unification
• This meeting to promote the issues to staff

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SEN and or ESL?Differing explanations for
observable difficultiesA recommended form to
highlight potential ESL/SEN issues
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Feedback and ideas

• MT sessions during the day children work in MT
  groups across the school to work on specific
  academic subjects eg IPC this will need careful
  language planning and a whole school
  ethos/approach
• (similar to the model at International School The
  Hague)
• If there are no teachers who speak specific
  languages then we need parent reps for the
  languages not represented by staff. Alternatively
  using the ISH model, the parents who are trained
  teachers are employed to teach the MT sessions.
• Approach teaching using English and MT
• Its extremely beneficial to see the children
  performing in their MT and in their cultural
  context because you can observe natural behavior.
  Children are more at ease during MT interactions.
• Implement MT during writing assignments
• We need to be aware of how long the child has
  been working in their MT (regarding reading and
  writing skill development) because this is a
  separate area with separate issues. The Language
  Background form filled in during the registration
  process addresses this issue.
• The concept presented here is to promote the use
  of MT to enhance 2nd language acquisition and to
  respect childs identity within a monolingual
  educational model we are not a model of
  bilingual education, this would again require a
  Language Plan and whole school approach/ethos.
• Be aware of parental expectations some parents
  want MT to be maintained and others want English
  to take priority. As teachers we need to be aware
  of these expectations.
• The native English speakers need the opportunity
  to develop their English however these children
  could also be provided with the opportunity to
  practice another language eg Dutch.

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Cultural Awareness Swiss style!
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