Policy And Practice In the Education of Bilingual Children - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... The physical environment of the school and classroom Upon entering the school, a large map welcomes people with the sign that read: “Welcome to our school. We come from all over the world and we speak 27 languages”. For each language, it was connected to the country of origin as indicated in the map. This sign gave a very warm welcome to anyone who visited the school no matter what culture he or she comes from. An IT room is available for any EAL learner to use whenever one needs to consult a computer for spelling or grammar or anything that pertains to the English language. This additional resource to support their learning is another indication that the school anticipates learners’ needs and provides them when called for. The classroom observed had a big inflatable globe which represents a wide range of diversity is accepted there. The children can freely explore the globe and search for their own countries and link it to their native language. A trained EAL teacher was employed by the school to help facilitate the cognitive, language and literacy development of foreign children. Adults play a huge role in the language development of children, as they need someone who uses simple language in correct form and is flexible enough adjust his language to suit the child’s (Clay, 1988). Having a good second language teacher is essential to learning the language more fluently. The researcher does not discount the fact that imitation of proper pronunciation and intonation is necessary. Hence, learners should have attentive ears and retentive minds, and of course, cooperative tongues to be able to speak fluently in such language. Children also need opportunities to practice speaking and listening to the second language outside the language lessons, so that...
This paper approves that in EAL, scaffolding comes in three forms, One is scaffolding by adults by making their expectations clear by sharing learning objectives and criteria for success with the students by way of modeling and demonstrating the English language, ‘recasting’ of the children’s language from their L1 and providing them with opportunities to use their whole language repertoire to aid them in understanding their L2. The teacher may also use scaffolding through visual support, via pictures, props, models, frames and language prompts, graphic organizers, diagrams, maps, plans and essentially all the print and picture cues they put up in the environmental setting.
This report makes a conclusion that the numerous issues on second language learning, especially English, only prove that it is creating much impact on the development of children from diverse cultures. More and more people consider its advantages and possible disadvantages. Such amount of attention is worth it because people think up of ways on how to maximize its benefits. Learning another language apart from one’s native language helps children be ready to be highly competent in an increasingly globalized world. However, although they become bilingual, it should not be forgotten that they also become bicultural, and learning of one language and the culture that goes with it does not mean forgetting their original one. Teachers should take into consideration that their non-English speaking students should learn English in both its context and language elements so the students gain a better understanding and appreciation of the English language. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More