Ladybugs Ch 6-10

On page 96, I wish they provided more information more about biliteracy, instead of giving examples of students’ experience. I recently learned a second language; and I am very interested in how children learn two languages or more at a given time. The authors decided that, “...separation of language is essential...”, but what exactly does that mean? They follow this statement by saying that although ‘separating languages’ is very important, using both languages in written work is appropriate. Why would someone keep languages separate except when writing? Also, if a student speaks more than two languages, should she or he write in all of them in one document? If the student knows four or five languages, the work can get very confusing. Should English be separated from the other languages or should each language be thought as separate in class? Since Ladybugs, Tornadoes, and Swirling Galaxies  is about teaching to students learning English, one would think there would be more information on this topic.

More questions I have come from page 144, where the authors mention recording individual presentations. I’m wondering if that puts extra pressure on the students, making them nervous. Giving a presentation in a language other than one’s native language, in front of one’s peers, while a teacher is grading the performance can be very difficult for most students. So, how about putting a camera in that student’s face? Even if reviewing the performance can beneficial in some ways, the disadvantages to the students outweigh them. Additional stress factors damage the innate love of learning, just like forcing a student to read lots of boring books kills one’s love of reading. In my future classroom, I will ask each individual student if he or she would like to be recorded during their presentation. Of course, for the students who do want to be recorded to be able to review themselves, I will provide the opportunity.

However, On p 152 I like the idea of a “Blank Schema chart” (“My schema about ___________ is growing and changing. I learned...”). Something noteworthy about this chart is that it includes the idea of schema growing and changing. It is important that students recognize that one person’s schema is different than another person’s and that everyone’s schema is constantly evolving and adding new information.