PROMPT 2: Relating to Goldenberg

As I mentioned in my last blog many of the students walked up to me and asked me questions kindly. One of their many questions was if I spoke Spanish, when they heard that my answer was yes they all had a smile in their face. I noticed that out of the 24 students in the class, about 20 of them are Hispanic and there are only about 4 students that are Asian. I believe that they were excited to see that I spoke the same language as them since Ms. Klaire and the teacher assistant do not speak Spanish, since they are both Asian. As I looked at the data in Infoworks.com I came across specific information gathered from the school. They say that 62% of the students in the school are Hispanic, 17% of the students are Asian, 12% are African American, and 9% of the students are white or Native American.

The three students that I have one on one time, every time I go to the school, are all Spanish speakers that have more trouble reading in English. Jasmine, one of my three students gets help from her classmates because she does not speak English at all. Her two classmates always talk to her in Spanish to help her understand the class assignment. I had a feeling that Jasmine was shy and she didn’t like to speak in front of the other students. One day I let the other students do a different activity while I took Jasmine aside. I asked her, in Spanish, to tell me what she knew in English because I sensed that she understood and knew some words. She let me know that she understood little words in English but that she did not know the ABC’s neither in English nor in Spanish. I was shocked to hear this, I wrote down the alphabet for her and I began to sing the ABC’s with her. She told me that it was the first time she heard that song and she let me know that no one in her house spoke English. This gave me an understanding of the reason why she was having a more difficult time then the rest of the students.

The situation with Jasmine reminded me of the article that I read for class from Claude Goldenberg, titled “Teaching English Language Learners”. Goldenberg made us feel in some sense how it felt to be brought up speaking one language and then being thrown into school where they only spoke English. It is a challenge for a child to get through when they are not receiving the appropriate help. Goldenberg talks about their being a lack of success when non-English speakers are not receiving the appropriate help. Goldenberg talks about teaching ELL’s (English Language Learners) to read in their first language and then in their second language because it can help them succeed in their reading. I believe that if this was to happen in this elementary school, Jasmine would be given an opportunity to succeed with the rest of the school and improve their test scores.

With the diverse school the children love to show their cultural capital. Nelson, one of my one on one students, knows we are both Hispanic but have different cultures. He likes to ask me random questions like if I had ever had a certain food that he knows or if I had visited a certain place that his family usually goes to. The diversity in this school allows us and the students to learn things and get new experiences from one another.