Teaching of Bilingual Children Observed in a School Setting - Coursework Example

Teaching of bilingual children observed in a school setting s Submitted by s: Introduction The work of Cummins identifies the significance of first language in the learning of children as well as the manner in which they acquire any more languages (Gordon, 2007, p. 168). The people who have been able to achieve cognitive and academic proficiency in their first language have a capacity to transfer most of this learning to any more languages they learn. In the process of children increasing their knowledge in their first language and as they start learning how to use it for their tasks, which are cognitively demanding, they achieve linguistic proficiency that is common to all the languages (McKay, 2006, p. 46). Children moving into new language settings at an early age may benefit significantly if they are accorded opportunities to continue their development of their language together with English while using the two languages for tasks that are cognitively demanding. There is significant evidence demonstrating that bilingualism can be beneficial to intellectual progress where the two languages will develop alongside each other and the children will feel as though they are adding English to their language range. The feelings children have concerning their languages and what they consider as their attitudes of their teachers towards their languages is highly important (Tokuhama-Espinosa, 2003, p. 205). Even in the cases where adults or peers share their first language with the child, it is imperative that the child becomes aware that his or her skills in their first language are valued and recognized. In the event that bilingual approaches are used, it is essential that the first language be not employed only when communication has stalled or as an interruption to occasional difficult words (Bernstein, 2015, p. 250). In order for conceptual development to take place, children should be given opportunities use and hear extended stretches of their language, additionally; it is sound educational practice to develop on what the children already know and have an ability to do. When applied to the use of bilingual strategies, it should build on the language the child already knows well while planning for the children to encounter newer learning in their strongest languages. General, it is more supportive to move from the language that is familiar to the child into English as the children who already have broad knowledge of what they are going to hear in their new language will have hooks that they will use to hang what they learn. Through paying careful attention to contexts, bilingual learners can be assisted to meet the demands placed upon them in their classroom environment. Therefore, tasks can become supportive subject to the extent to which they have been entrenched in a supportive situation. Various ways of making circumstances more supportive include making sure that the children have an ability to build on experiences they got previously, support tasks and provision of opportunities that are carefully planned to listen and speak in a broad array of environments across the entire curriculum. Language mixing Language mixing is a phrase that is employed to describe the communication phenomenon through using two languages as if they are one (Cantone, 2007, p. 56). Literature available concerning childhood bilingualism does not contain the precise definition of the phrase language mixing with various sources making the definition imprecise and puzzling. Nevertheless, language mixing can be considered to refer to the manner in which young children mix both languages in the same utterances prior to the child getting awareness of the two languages they have in their environment. This explanation of language mixing clearly demonstrates that the mixing takes place among children at the time before they are able to distinguish and separate their two languages. This mixing is usually unconscious and is employed by the child without thinking about the appreciation of the speaker for the two languages. The children simply use words, which they have been able to acquire in the communication of their needs at any particular time. The phrase language mixing is also employed when referring to adult bilinguals; however, in this case, the definition is completely different (Ardila and Ramos, 2007, p. 69). When it is used in explaining the speech phenomenon of particular adults, language mixing can be considered as a conscious usage of a combination of two languages where the speakers understand both languages. For instance, the Puerto Rican community that resides in New York that entails mixing of English and Spanish is an example of language mixing in an adult context. On the other hand, language mixing is not supposed to be confused with language switching, as it is a completely different aspect. The misunderstanding that surrounds the definition of language mixing originates from the misapplication or perversion of the phrase by researchers in the language acquisition field. Bilingual development models Various researchers have tried to develop models that explain the processes involved in the concurrent acquisition of two languages for small children (Dickinson and Neuman, 2012, p. 175). The most detailed attempts can be associated with Baker and Taeschner, but the model created by Taeschner in 1983 is seen as the most influential (Li and Moyer, 2008, p. 6). This model concerned with early childhood bilingual development proposes that children go through three stages in the entre process of language acquisition. Even though every stage entails particular characteristics, the lines between these stages are distinct. The age of children in every stage varies along with the characteristics, as some of the children may remain in a specific stage for a longer time compared to other children, while some features may spill over into the next stage. During the first stage, the child who is bilingual possesses one philological system that represents the two languages that are being acquired (Hoffmann, 1991, p. 64). In the cases where pairs of words from the two languages have the same meaning, the child is not able to make this distinction. Typically, the child uses the two words in a manner that implies that they have very different meanings. Furthermore, in during this stage, children usually combine words from two different languages to become one word that has a particular meaning (Hoff, 2014, p. 202). In the second development stage, the child is starting to differentiate and separate the varying vocabularies and begin employing the suitable language for each parent. The child is able to separate pairs of words into their corresponding languages rather than blending them into one meaning. Nonetheless, the language of the child continues to demonstrate a single grammar system. During the third stage of development, the child has acquired almost comprehensive separation of the two languages and has developed a high level of awareness that they have two different languages. Furthermore, the child has the ability to speak to other people in the most suitable language while at the same time being able to distinguish between the two grammar systems that are associated with their languages. It is important to note however, the development of this process may take a number of years in some cases. The bilingual development model that was created by Taeschner is convenient for observation of the stages that are likely to take place in the process of the child acquiring the two languages (Cenoz and Genesee, 2001, p. 16: Li, 2000, p. 345). With this in mind, I observed a number of bilingual children while in school to understand various aspects including if they can be placed within this model. Teaching of bilingual children observed in a school setting This essay will consider policies as well as the application of theories in practical setting while referring to the observation that was carried out to develop recommendations on the manner in which the work can be improved. In the observation, the observer was allowed to witness two classroom environments with two differing settings of year two and year six students. Even though on this specific occasion it was snowing, it should be acknowledged that there may have been some element and strategy of teaching that could not be utilized as a result of the limited number of children as some of them were absent. In this essay, the key part of the observation will cover the year two setting as it had more students of English as addition language than the year six class. The interaction between the two teachers and their classes was good even though observation of the two classrooms revealed varying settings. Since the weather was not conducive, the number of children in the classroom was less than usual and the teachers were forced to adjust their styles of teaching for that day. The primary school that was chosen was in London and was had well manner pupils who were also well rounded. In addition, the school was extremely welcoming and friendly and all the people who worked there were quite willing to respond to any questions that had to be asked. In the year two class, the children were given opportunities to speak in their own languages while the teachers also spoke to them in their languages. This assisted the children through making their communication more efficient as they were able to comprehend the tasks and activities that were given to them. Almost all the children moved to the table where the teacher and formed a group. However, the problem was that the main teacher had the ability to communicate in a more effective manner than the EAL teacher did since the main teacher was capable of speaking more than one language while the EAL teacher was only proficient in English. Even though the two groups were engaged in similar tasks, the environment at the teacher’s group was more friendly while the other group appeared more professional. This implies that it is more beneficial to employ teachers who have an ability to speak several languages or the schools should provide training courses where the staff will be provided with the opportunity to learn different languages. The main aspect that was observed was the Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills where the embedded context was evident. The teacher employed facial expressions as well as body language through usage of hand gestures to assist the children to comprehend what was required in the tasks. Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills is important for the children in to understand as it assists them to during communication and this was also observed in the classroom in terms of context (Egan, 2009, p. 159: Thompson, 2000, p. 59). In the EAL group, children could be observed working on tasks from the book, however, there was an emerging issue. Although one of the groups had visual aids while the other utilized books, it appeared as though the classroom had been divided into two sections with no interaction whatsoever, between the two groups. However, conclusions cannot be drawn on this aspect, as there is a possibility that they always interact but they were not interacting only on this day. Basic interpersonal communication is considered to take place when there is existence of contextual props and support for the delivery of languages and face-to-face context embedded in situations like non-verbal feedback such as eye contact. On the other hand, Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency is considered to occur in the context of reduced academic situations that require higher levels of thinking. The other strategy that was observed in the year two setting was that the children took pride in their linguistic heritage as various pictures from different regions were displayed and this made the classroom appear more colourful and appealing to the children who studied in them. Nevertheless, when compared to year six, the classroom had a more professional feeling and made it seem like the occupants were young adults rather than children. Furthermore, there were posters all over the classroom in different languages including numbers and months of the year in different languages. Various cultures were identified through the different pictures that were created by the students themselves and hanged on the walls. In the process of observation, inquiries were made on whether there were any interactions and contribution from parents in the school. According to the teacher, more interaction from parents was evident in the lower sections of the school where teachers typically sought the assistance of the parents. The parents were required most to assist the students whose mother tongue was not English and were given dual-language books to as support when they were making their contribution. This may be linked to the threshold theory developed by Cummins that supposes that bilingual needs are needed in order to achieve a high degree of linguist proficiency so that bilingualism can work towards the promotion of cognitive development (Lyon, 1996, p. 57: Baker, 1988, p. 175). This aspect may be applied in the classroom since according to the threshold theory; it appears that the reason why the children were at level two was their age as this is where they were capable of coping with the curriculum while still needing some degree of assistance. Through this, the parents have the opportunity to enhance the ability of the children through reading with them every day and assisting them to comprehend the aspects they do not understand. In addition, the parents are permitted to take dual-language books that are accessible from the school as they greatly assist in improving the ability of the children to understand. Nevertheless, some parents are not sufficiently proficient in English and in such cases, it is recommended that they get someone who has the ability to translate to assist them and get the children to assist their parents in the process (Paul, 2007, p. 190). According to Cummins, when children work together with their parents, the child is able to support the proficiency of the parents and assist them to communicate in a more effective manner. Furthermore, this creates and fosters better partnerships between the parents and the schools. Even though bilingual children are a commonplace occurrence, it should be noted that particular policies and expectations from the government are difficult to fulfil and are often not able to reach the target (Alladina and Edwards, 1991, p. 25). For instance, in regards to the criteria employed for assessment, the school was prepares six exams and teacher emphasize on getting specific marks rather than providing an inclusive education. The younger children are being prepared for assessment, and according to the teachers, if an EAL student comes into year six, the main emphasis will be the SATS exams and the outcome. On the other hand, students in year two get more support from the teachers in terms of assistance to speak with all the student in the class being considered equal and needing the same degree of help. A different aspect observed at the school was that the children used their first languages along with English in their learning and often code mixed and code switched their languages while communicating with their friends. Code switching along with code mixing entails children speaking in both languages to assist them learn, and comprehend the words being taught. These aspects greatly assist the children understand what they are learning and the teachers sometimes employ code mixing as a means of encouraging children to comprehend what the given tasks require. However, an issue that developed was that the class had two children who did not speak the same language and this resulted in a bit of confusion since they only understood English but could not comprehend if the teacher was speaking to them or the children who were sitting beside them. The children continued to speak and switch their languages in the process of communication amongst themselves or in the group and the teachers continued to encourage them to speak in different languages so that they could get a better understanding of what they were communicating. In their endeavour to assist the children become proficient in the languages they speak, the teachers can attempt to inspire the children who do not speak English fluently by assigning them a partner who effectively speaks the language to encourage building of vocabulary and speech (Taylor and Ryan, 2004, p. 110). This would therefore imply that the children would have a chance to assist each other while encouraging peer interactions. Furthermore, judging by the manner the teacher teaches, it was observed that she appeared more maternal and thus made the children feel more comfortable through acknowledging them whenever they got an aspect right. This approach affected the children positively and allowed those who were in the teachers group express themselves more actively, but the other group was more serious with the students simply talking to their teacher with the teacher encouraging them through verbal feedback such as ‘Well done” (Kington, Sammons and Brown, 2014, p. 76). All at the same time, the facial expressions were more professional and were less encouraging and touching. A different issue that had initially gone unnoticed was that the teacher had planned on preparations for the task in advance, and from observation, the EAL teacher and teacher had planned out an activity through discussing between themselves about posters on the tasks they performed during the observation. This provided the opportunity to understand the preparation procedures and what was needed so that the plans could be successful. As a consequence of the policies enforced by the government, the teachers are supposed to attain a particular level of the curriculum even though in some instances this is impossible since the children have varying abilities to learn (McCulloch, Helsby and Knight, 2000, p. 21). Furthermore, the children find it difficult since assessment is done all the time making it challenging them to comprehend what is going on and how they can develop their languages. Conclusion It appears that the children who are bilingual have extra opportunities to learn when they are in an environment with younger children compared to the ones who are in the upper levels of schooling (Harris, 1992, p. 501). Currently, children get more opportunities to learn since schools provide books such as dual-language books that they are allowed to take home so that their parents can assist them in additional learning while at the same time teaching themselves for the parents who cannot speak English themselves. Through the use of visual aids and facial expressions on the children, they appear to be more encouraged towards understanding what the teachers require of them and comprehending what the tasks ask them to do. Additionally, as a consequence of less parental interaction associated with the upper years, the children may not get the benefits that they may require and thus they would be forced to seek more support from the teachers (Piper, 2001, p. 18). In the event that there was parental assistance, these would decrease some degree of the responsibility of the teachers and the child would be capable of getting more one-on-one support. It should be considered that numerous things happen in and out of the classroom and thus this essay should be taken as a short account of what happens in the classroom and that the teacher along with the support staff have additional information that should be covered. Bibliography Alladina, S. and Edwards, V. 1991, Multilingualism in the British Isles, Longman, London. Ardila, A. and Ramos, E. 2007, Speech and language disorders in bilinguals, Nova Science Publishers, New York. Baker, C. 1988, Key issues in bilingualism and bilingual education, Multilingual Matters, Clevedon, England. Bernstein, D. 2015, Psychology, Houghton Mifflin Co, Boston. Cantone, K. 2007, Code-switching in bilingual children, Springer, Dordrecht. Cenoz, J. and Genesee, F. 2001, Trends in bilingual acquisition, J. 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