Soy bilingüe: Are you?

I wanted to take a few minutes to discuss an issue that affects our students on a daily basis and one about which I am very passionate.  All of my students (and many of their parents, too!) are second language learners who seek to learn and practice the English language on a daily basis.  Although we live in a society where English is often promoted above all else, the advantages of being bilingual are plentiful, as shown in this article on the Advantages of Being Bilingual.  In my classroom, we celebrate our knowledge and skills in all languages and practice using the languages we know in a variety of ways.  I try to teach my students that being bilingual is special and makes them unique!

This website is a wonderful resource for bilingual families, particularly those families who speak Spanish as their first language.  Please take a look at this website, along with many others that provide suggestions for promoting bilingualism in your home.  Your child is special because he/she can speak two languages.  My goal for all of my students is that they develop their English language skills while at the same time maintaining and growing their home language skills.  

5 Ways to Help Your Student at Home

 

One question that parents ask me all the time is "What can I do to help my child practice what he/she learns during school at home?"  First of all, let me say that I am a firm believer that only when we have a strong connection between school and home do students truly succeed.  I am constantly in awe of the commitment of my students' parents and I am honored to work with you and your students!  The following ideas are simply suggestions for ways that you can help your student in language acquisition and literacy growth.  If you have ANY questions about any of these suggestions or anything else, please don't hesitate to email me at ashley.topham@bufordcityschools.org.  I am available and willing to help!

5 Ways to Help Your Student At Home:

1.  Read, read, read with them!  I cannot overemphasize the importance of reading with your student.  You can take turns reading with them, because it is just as important for your student to practice listening literacy.  A great website that provides online guided reading books is Storyline Online.

2.  Ask open-ended questions.  One of the best ways for your students to practice what they learn in school is to act as a teacher of what they learned.  So, each day, ask your student to teach you something about what they learned that day 

3. Post your student's work in a place of pride.  Students need affirmation and encouragement and what better way to encourage their successes at school than by providing them with a place at home to show off their work.  I still remember how special I felt when my mom or dad put some of my schoolwork on the refrigerator!   

4. Come to school and watch your student in action!  We have an open-door policy in my classroom and our students are accustomed to visitors.  You will be able to see what we are learning about in class and demonstrate to your student that school is important to you, too!

5. Have fun and be creative!  Anything can be a learning experience, especially when you are a young child learning to read and learning a new language.  When you are cooking dinner, let your child read the recipe and help measure the ingredients.  When you are watching television, put on the closed caption (CC) and practice reading together.  Ask questions and have conversation with your child in which he/she can act as an expert.  Engage them in experiences that help grow their love of learning!      

Below are a couple of great websites that are excellent resources for parents.  Whether you have a computer at home or not, you can access these websites at any public library!

Resources for Parents of English Language Learners

More Suggestions on Ways to Help Your Student

Wordle- A Fun Way to Play with Words

Our class, April 2011.

Technology in the 21st Century Classroom

University students work in a small group using computers.

One question that I get asked often as a teacher is "What are your beliefs about using technology in the classroom?  How much technology is too much?"  In this post, I will try to address my thoughts about using technology in the classroom and provide a picture of what technology use in your student's class will look like.

When I was in elementary school, I do not remember using computers.  When my teachers wanted to incorporate technology into a lesson, the most they had available to them was a video or overhead projector.  Throughout the years, I grew up right alongside technology; as technology became more and more complex and wide-ranging, I learned to use various forms of technology to discover new insights, uncover new information, and even have fun!  For a fun look at the way technology has changed in education throughout history, check out this link:  Timeline of Technology in Education

By the time I graduated high school and eventually college, I was so accustomed to an integration of various types of technology into my classes that when teachers or professors opted to NOT include technology in their instruction, I was caught off guard.  Because I grew up during a period of great technology growth, I believe that I have and will always view technology as a central aspect in any classroom.  My students, your children, will be required to be competent in the most up-to-date and cutting edge technologies and will need to be "digitally literate" in order to succeed.  Take a look at the video below to see what the nature of information technology is like and will be like in the future of your students:

Based on the information presented in this video and my own experiences, I believe that as a teacher, I have an obligation to instruct my students on how to use technology to inform their knowledge, decisions, and interaction with others.  There are so many benefits to incorporating technology into the classroom, including but definitely not limited to:

• Increased student-to-student learning
• Collaboration
• Development of problem-solving skills
• Increase in English vocabulary, as it relates to technology and content
• Addresses a wide range of learning types and ability levels

Based on these benefits and so many others, I design my lessons to integrate technology into each day.  Learning English as a second language is oftentimes very difficult for students, but by incorporating visuals and interactive technologies into our ESOL classroom, I believe that the students learn and retain much more language and content skills.  So, if you were to walk into our classroom on any given day (which you are more than welcome to do!) your students will most likely be engaged in a collaborative, hands-on, problem-solving activity in which technology plays at least some part in the learning process.  Our classroom sometimes looks exactly like the photograph below:

Teacher leading students in an interactive lesson using technology.

So there you have it- my philosophy of technology in the classroom.  Please take a moment to ask your children to share with you the technology they are experiencing in our classroom.  Together with your student, take a look at Buford Academy's website, which provides an excellent resource of technologies that we use at Buford and that can be used at home!  As a classroom community, we can make sure that your students have access to the many technologies available to them so that they might succeed in this technology-based world.