Post #5 - Pondering Language...

Maya Angelou said, "when we know better, we do better."     

     I've been pondering language learning this week.  Do we know better?  Are we doing better?  

    It started with a story I heard on NPR's Sunday Edition a few weeks ago about a little boy who emigrated from Mexico to the United States.  His father wanted him to have a good education so he was enrolled in school - a school that insisted that he only speak English, Spanish was not welcome.  His father was determined that the little boy understood and embraced his culture and heritage - this little boy navigated two worlds.  A point to ponder.  

    We've come a long way in the 20 years since this little boy entered our classrooms.  Two articles popped out at me this week - the first article is called "12 Mistakes Made by Teachers of English Language Learners".  This is the sixth article of the six part series.  There are many points to ponder in this article.  The first is the idea that "sending them out to work with someone else" is not a good idea.  In other words, classroom teachers should have all of the tools they need to work with ELL students.  Sending them out of the room for additional support is viewed as a mistake.  This is another point to ponder.  

    The second article that popped out at me is "Jobs Where Foreign Language Skills Are Important".  The article states that 1 out of every 5 American is bilingual and the demand for bilingual employees has doubled from 2010 - 2015.  These jobs range from the low to high end on the skill set spectrum.  

    We've come a long way from the time that little boy came to the United States from Mexico.  But I think we have a long way to go - we still view L2s from a deficit lens, we still send them out of the classroom for support, we still provide menial tasks for them to do while other students work on rich content in their curriculum.  

    So these are my ponderings this week - what can I do to better help my L2s in my libraries and help ensure that they are learning information literacy? How can I make sure that I am embracing each student's unique perspective (culture and heritage)?  Thankfully, I think we're now at a point where we don't insist on students speaking only English in our schools.  But, as Maya Angelou said, "when we know better, we do better."