Reflections on Ch.1

Chapter I was quite a bit of information to absorb for the beginning of this course. However, I realize all the information as a basic and general foundation for the rest of this course to build on. Obviously, it is very important to be knowledgeable about the Language Learner in classrooms. The book covers so many areas that I will just discuss the factors that stuck out most to me and seemed most meaningful for me as a future teacher.

First off, I love that we discussed "modeling." We shouldn't interrupt children (we should be happy a language learner is even speaking in some cases!) but if they make mistakes we should model back to them what they've told us in a way that they can learn from our language. ie.:

Child: I need going bathroom
Teacher: Oh, you need to go to the bathroom?

When I tried to give an example, I completely blanked out on something a child might say, so I just made up something. The point is, if they say something incorrectly, you model it back to them in a subtle way to help them learn it.

I also believe names are an important aspect of identity as well as a child's place of birth. You should learn the correct order of their names and the appropriate way to pronounce them. You should also take out time to learn the background of a child's country as well as important cultural values to take into consideration when doing lessons that may clash with the child.

Last of all, and just as important to me, use the child's L1!! It is learning for other students as well, but it will help the ELL child to learn English. The use of a L1 will allow the child to build upon that grammar and knowledge to more easily obtain a L2.