Mod 11 Mid-Course Reflection and Self-Assessment

Language as a system of learning

•  The depth of this term has multiple facets that expand much deeper than language just being used as communication. Language as a system of learning helps advance our learners not just through content of learning, but socialization as well.

The relevance of including culture in your curriculum

• Including culture in your curriculum increases engagement within, not just ELLs, but all learners. Children love learning about, or hearing, of different cultures and when you are capable of empowering a learner who is more familiar with those cultures it creates a bond of trust and interest. 

Cultural Sensitivity

• Being culturally sensitive is much more than just being politically correct in how a person speaks/acts. It is also the attention to teaching curriculum in a manor that is best suited for all learners that identifies: customs, behaviors, and techniques in how to appropriately engage all learners.

Home language and its relationship to a childs academic progress

• A learners academic progress in relation to the learners home language is a strong indicator of academic prowess. Dialect, language, and frequency of speaking at home are all factors that can help bolster a child's ability to learn. ELLs have immense challenges in deciphering, not just English words; but, context, pronunciation, and connotation. Even English speakers that have grown up in a home where the English was less formal than that of a school environment have similar issues in addressing aspects of "learning" English.

Linguistic Routines

• Linguistic Routines are methods that are seamlessly included in everyday lessons. Not just in the structure of your lesson but the daily jargon as well. Learners are more receptive to this form of learning as it provides an immediate reward of language acquisition.

The impact of learning a 2nd language on all content areas

• Learning a 2nd language across all content areas vastly improves ability in guiding any instruction. Instructors naturally have a more in tune ability to identify cultural norms and recognize culturally sensitive moments.

Scaffolding

• Scaffolding is the process of building the criteria within a learner to better engage with the content. Acquisition through language which then develops into ideas and processing those ideas.

High Quality Childhood Literacy

• Childhood literacy is one of the key indicators in a learners ability throughout their education. The Matthew Effect identifies the early home life of multiple learners and shows that having: more books, both parents, and more engagement with mentors/role models provides a higher opportunity of success within the education system. In areas of poverty there are less books, there are single parents working or both parents working, and less opportunity to have those role models.

Structured Speaking and Listening

• Informal English is often times what a majority of our learners hear. Creating a structure to the English language and modeling for our learners is important in developing appropriate language acquisition.