Case Study
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Your Name Here
Florida International University
School of Education
TSL3080
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Getting Acquainted
Q1: Practices you experienced when you were in school and have seen in your previous
field experiences
As a child living in the inner city of Miami, I attended a public school with a wide
demographic. There were about five different culture of students attending the school, less than
5% being of Caucasian race. The most populated culture was African American, the second most
populated culture were of Haitian descent then followed the Hispanic culture. A very small
portion were of Jamaican and Caucasian. The school I attended had two ESOL classrooms; one
was for native Spanish speakers and the other room was for Creole/French native speakers. Each
classroom had students who only spoke Spanish or Creole/French and the teacher was required
to speak either of those languages fluently to assist students in their transition. Native speakers
will have the opportunity to have a specific time during the day where they go to the foreign
classroom to learn that language’s basic vocabulary; this was usually when the emergent
bilingual students would go to lunch or P.E. Halfway through the year, the emergent bilinguals
who learned basic English would switch over to the regular classroom. This is where instruction
was in English only. When this occurred, the English-speaking teacher would use scaffolding to
assist the students and in return they would have to participate in cooperative learning. Native
speaking students of the class who also spoke Spanish or Creole/French such as myself had the
opportunity to help the native foreign speaker whenever they would have a difficult time
understanding and context clues weren’t helping them.
During my field experience, I was assigned to a school that was bilingual. My experience
in the school was much different then my experience in the school where I attended as a child.
There were no ESOL classrooms, instead the students who spoke a different language was
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incorporated in the classroom alongside other students. The teacher was not required to speak
any other language other than English. The teacher used morphemes when writing the word of
the day for the class. So, if the word of the day was walking then she would write on the board
walk-ing so that the students can see the structure of the word. She also used translanguaging
pedagogy by supporting the emergent bilinguals when they engaged in group discussions and
gave them dual language worksheets to assist them in understanding the material. The teacher’s
curriculum incorporated opportunities for emergent bilinguals to stay in tuned with the classroom
daily tasks. There was also no punishment for emergent bilinguals for speaking their native
language instead the teacher would encourage them to try and explain it in English.
Q2: Groups that advocated for English language learners in Florida in the 1980s, as well as
accomplishments of the Consent Decree
The groups that advocated for English language learners as well as accomplished the
Consent Decree in 1990 were the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), ASPIRA
of Florida, The Farmworkers’ Association of Central Florida, Florida State Conference of
NAACP Branches, Haitian Refugee Center, Spanish American League Against Discrimination
(SALAD), American Hispanic Educators’ Association of Dade (AHEAD) and Haitian
Educators’ Association.
The Consent Decree accomplished opportunity rights for ELL’s to receive quality
education without being discriminated upon. The Decree mandates that schools send out home
language surveys; which asks parents what languages are most often spoken in the home. Once
all the surveys are received, the ELL Committee at the school must determine the eligibility of
the student into the ESOL program then they must devise the student plan; which makes sure the
student is receiving proper instruction within the appropriate time frame allotted. Then the
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student must be assessed and reevaluated to determine their proficiency in the English language
before being removed from ESOL and into a regular classroom. This Decree also allows equal
access to many appropriate programing some of which are student services, pre-kindergarten
programs, free appropriate schooling, and home school communications. The Consent Decree
ensures that the federal and state laws listed are followed:
Title VI and VII Civil Rights Act 1964. Title VI prohibits discrimination and
intentional based on race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving financial
assistance. Florida is a melting pot of variety in cultures, so this act protects the people of
different cultures. This gives ELL’s security in knowing that they are being addressed equally.
Title VII protects the people in the same manner as Title VI but applies to employment
discrimination in the workforce.
Equal Education Equity Act, 1974. This act is similar in prohibiting discrimination like
the Title VI and VII Civil Rights Act of 1964, only it pertains to the children attending public
schools and concentrates on providing students who are educationally deprived the right
resources for a dual school system. This Act has been extended to included ESOL education for
emergent bilinguals which will help them succeed.
Florida Education Equity Act, 1984. This Act piggybacks off the Equal Education
Equity Act of 1974 with the addition of preventing loopholes through the school system. This
Act protects children gender, race, cognitive and/or linguistic differences enrolled in public
schools and ensures that the neighborhood that the student lives in is within boundaries for their
public school.
Q3: Definition of “translanguaging”, opinion of this practice, and translanguaging
practices and scaffolding structures
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Multilingual speakers that use their integrated communication system in a critical,
flexible, intentional and creative manner is translanguaging. Bilingual/multilingual students uses
their language skills to understand the other language. They can use two or three languages at
once. An example of this is a Spanish speaking student is listening to the teacher speak in
English and responds to her in Spanish.
Translanguaging has become more common in the public school because there are less
ESOL classroom and more classrooms with emergent bilinguals in them. The emergent
bilinguals are using their translanguaging to improve their English and the teachers have been
receptive in the translanguaging pedagogy. In my opinion translanguaging gives both students
and teachers the opportunity to communicate and ensures that students of the native language
aren’t criticize when they take on the risk to participate in class. I have a sense of gratitude
towards translanguaging in the classroom because it allows the students to become open minded
of one another’s cultures and beliefs creating a democracy of languages that are equally valued.
Some of the practices that can be used for translanguaging are supporting students while
they are participating in classroom discussions or group projects by words of encouragement and
constructive criticism. Teachers can have dual language books and digital resources so that it
gives the student an opportunity to develop linguistic practices. Allowing all students to share
their knowledge in both languages will make space for bilingual students to utilize their
translanguaging skills and most of all allow students who speak the same native language to
participate in small group studies so that they can have a deeper understanding of the assignment.
Teachers can also use scaffolding structures to assist the students if they are struggling
with reading assignments such as instructional scaffolding where teachers allow the emergent
bilingual to have mini assignments in comparison to native speakers then the student can
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gradually complete four mini lessons in a week and that will succumb to the one assignment the
native students took that one day. Teachers can also use scaffolding to assist in translanguaging
by showing illustrative of the assignment or by giving an example of the assignment. What I’ve
seen in classrooms with emergent bilinguals were teachers teaching a set of vocabulary words
before giving an assignment that consist of the vocabulary words that he/she just taught so that
the students have a better understanding of the material.
Being an Advocate for Bilingual Students
Q1: Students’ backgrounds as resources, as well as two additional ideas
Ms. Conte and Ms. Canton Kim creates a classroom culture by using students’ native
languages as tools to become successful. They also use the term Emergent Bilingual because
they want their students to understand that they want them to be bilingual and understand how to
use both languages fluidly. In the beginning of the school year they had the class create a
language culture self-portrait to build community by getting to know each other. In the video Ms.
Conte shows an example of one of the portraits and shares that the student shaded half the lip
blue and the other half red. This indicates that the student speaks both English and Spanish. Then
she points at the ear and it’s also shaded both red and blue which signifies that he understands
both languages as well. They use this resource to understand what level of understanding each of
their students are at. Ms. Conte also used dual language books as a method to assist the students,
she further communicates with the students by a show of thumbs up who will be able to copy
quotes in Spanish from their book. By communicating with her students, she is able to further
use their backgrounds as resources in their learning.
Both teachers can additionally use music to create a dynamic culture in the classroom.
They can have the students write down the lyrics to a song from their native culture and translate
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it in English to the class or they can sing to the class. This activity focuses on their risk-taking
skill and language skill. Both teachers can also implement their culture by having students say
hello in their native language every morning and creating a geographical activity that gets
students engaged with their home country and where it is located on the map then write their
thoughts on the location and the weather in that country. This will focus on their writing skills.
Q2: Reading and culture of inclusion, and your experience in the classroom
Ms. Candon Kim discusses how reading books that feature multicultural/lingual
characters create culture of inclusion by demonstrating on a book that she shared with her class
of a foreign student participating in a fieldtrip with her American class to an orchard farm.
Although the young girl doesn’t speak English, she is able to interpret what is going on and
where she is at by the visuals that are given to her and her participation with her classmates. Her
students of a different culture background were then asked questions where they were able to
relate how the character felt with examples of situations they have encountered as well.
As an observer at an elementary school, I had observed the reading teacher read a
multicultural book to the class. She had the main book and the students had a copy of the book so
that they can follow as the teacher read to them. She began by giving a background on Chinese
culture then asked the students to think about their culture while she reads the book and how they
can relate to the characters in the book. The book is about a Chinese family who goes on a picnic
and share their memories on community and culture using food chosen at the picnic. At the end
of the story the teacher told the class to take out their crayons and construction paper. She had
them draw a picnic of their own and use foods from their culture. I thought this was an intricate
way for the students to participate and understand the cultures of the classroom.
Q3: Profit from exposure to bilingual books
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Introducing bilingual books in the class brings culture and interrelationships to the
classroom. This allows English speaking students as well as bilingual students to engage in
discussions that may benefit both by being exposed to the content. Students are also able to share
their experiences in relation to the books which provides meaningful learning to class. Without
this exposure to the students, English speaking students will have a hard time understanding the
emergent bilingual and the emergent bilingual may feel ostracized from the class leading to not
being successful in the class. English speaking students will also be able to read the emergent
bilingual language and learn from them. Teachers gains a sense of success when they know that
they have included their emergent bilinguals and created a sense a culture in the classroom
through incorporating bilingual books.
Q4: Ms. Conte’s findings and your opinion about full class control
Ms.Conte found that while she was teaching and introducing culture to the classroom, her
emergent bilingual students had much to teach her as well. She needed to be able to take her time
with her students and not get aggravated when they didn’t meet her expectations. Unfortunately
for her in the beginning she wasn’t comfortable at all having Spanish speaking students in her
classroom because she didn’t understand them which created a barrier for her students’ success.
Now she had learned to let go and that helped her gain empathy by understanding what it feels
like to try and understand a new language. She found that being a co-learner was much more
beneficial to her students’ success.
Full class control is not always the best way to be successful in the classroom. As a
teacher one is not a ruler to dominate but a leader that guides, observes and directs students.
Having a full class control restricts translanguaging amongst students and shows that the teacher
is uncertain with situations beyond her means. I will be flexible and open minded to not
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controlling everything that happens within my classroom because this is where the true learning
begins to occur amongst students. I do believe in structure and accordance in a classroom and
because I have been exposed to bilingualism in a classroom setting, I would be comfortable to
accommodate with my students needs of the classroom. This way the students can risk take and
communicate with each other with self-confidence and not pressure.
Students are our future so we as teachers can learn lots from our students especially our
emergent bilinguals. They allow us to gain the knowledge of what material still works for the
students and what material needs to be tossed and renewed to accommodate the needs of the
students. We can strategize with our students efficiently and in return the students won’t feel
bored or excluded from the wonderful world of knowledge. As our students are growing and
learning so are, we as teachers.
Bilingual Superpowers
Q1: Benefits of a graphic novel
Graphic novels give insight to the world around them and allows students to engage in
the action of the graphic novel. Unlike regular novels graphic novels shows expressions and
actions through each page and has the dialogue usually a little above the characters head. This
helps the students stay focused with whose speaking. It also gives students the visual of the
background environment which is especially useful for emergent bilinguals it improves their
cognitive processes. With this they can recreate their own version of a graphic novel using their
culture background so that others can understand their culture.
Q2: Process of the assignment
Ms. Ballantyn-Berry’s process for her graphic novel assignment includes planning,
drafting and final drafts. The teacher first begins the assignment by having students write in their
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notebooks using a checklist that she created that will assist them in creating their own graphic
novel. The students can use their translanguaging for deeper thinking as they answer the items on
the checklist. After they are done with the notebook, Ms. Ballantyne-Berry allows them to create
a draft that shows more of what is in their notebook checklist. The students can use their home
language for more complex ideas and emerge them with pictures so that the teacher can
understand what they are trying to say. The teacher also encourages the students to use English
for structures that they already learned in class. The final draft shows a complete novel filled in
with either only English words to show their knowledge of the English language or a mix of
English and mandarin, this shows their progression.
Q3: Language repertoire as a resource
Having her class with non-native speakers, Ms. Ballantyne-Berry understands that her
students naturally uses translanguaging to risk take and gain self-confidence in her classroom. By
this knowledge it is expectant that the students become flexible and show their own personalities
while participating in classroom discussions and assignments. She shows us a couple of graphic
novels, one from a female student and one from the male student. She expresses her thoughts on
the male student’s graphic novel stating that he likes to use the word “banana” with a funny
accent. This is a way that he becomes self-confident and comfortable in his surroundings.
Knowing your Students
Q1: A quote applied to a teacher’s work
Ms. Chapman-Santiago shares a quote from a book that she has read with her class that
sparks a sense of empathy with her. The book title To Kill a Mockingbird is quoted “You never
really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, you climb in his skin
and walk around it”. I understand how this can be used for a teacher to create a culture in his/her
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classroom that represents community amongst each other. Everyone has their own background
and perception on things, as we all have individual minds. Teachers will be better equipped
mentally understanding this quote and living by it. It will provide interrelationships amongst the
students and teachers of the class. This result in a higher success rate in the classroom which can
otherwise be a lower success rate if teachers doesn’t acknowledge empathy.
Q2: Body language and facial expressions, as well as an example
Each student possesses their own personality especially when they are from a culture that
a teacher may not be familiar with. Therefore, body languages and facial expressions are so
important to recognize. A lot of the time students are receptive to talking with their teacher if the
teacher picks up on these cues. Ms. Chapman-Santiago says that she would notice instantly if
one of her students were not having a good day and would step them outside to briefly discuss
what was going on. This is being a proactive teacher and is great method to showing her student
that she cares. Being a keen observer of the students allows the teacher to have better control of
the classroom environment.
As a student in my elementary school, I was very timid when it came to class
participation but was very talkative when it dealt with my friends. My teacher was great at
observing her students and knew this about me. She also knew when I didn’t complete an
assignment my chin would dig into my throat, knowing the consequences of my actions because
in my culture if a child doesn’t complete their responsibility they will be reprimanded. With this
knowledge she knew not to reprimand me but get to the root to the problem as to why I hadn’t
completed my assignment. She came to learn that I had difficulty understanding the questions
that were asked on the assignment and instead of asking for help (timid) I would decide to get an
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F and deal with my consequence. This was unacceptable to her and decided to have me meet
with her after class twice a week to go over any misunderstanding I may have.
Q3: A teacher gain of home language
Interrelationships, students with self confidence and high success rate are some of the
gains a teacher can have by encouraging their students to speak their home language when they
are having difficulty expressing their selves. Teachers can also get information about their
culture and us scaffolds that relates to the student’s culture. When a student can sense that their
teacher cares like in the video Ms. Chapman-Santiago makes the effort to take her cell phone out
and have google translate what she needs to ask the student, the student feels supported and
opens up to her. This extra mile helps the teachers gain the trust of their students resulting in a
higher success rate in the classroom because the students feel the communication competence
they are receiving from the teacher.
Q4: Practical ways to incorporate home language as a scaffold, the role L1 in second
language acquisition, and the L2 acquisition theory tied to language techniques (linguistics)
Ms. Chapman-Santiago stated that understanding the student’s skill in their home
language as well is a valid start to knowing where they will be working on assignments that are
not of their level. She used an example of scaffolding through a student in her class that was
required to write her response to a question that was given and the student had the option of
writing the response in her own language if she felt comfortable to do so. Based on the student’s
response, the teacher was able to identify a challenge that the student had in her own home
language and was able to work a plan for that student to improve. Other practically ways that
students can incorporate their home language is through second language acquisition. A teacher
can write on the board the key words that used in the article in English and a second language so
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that students can read the key words in their language as well and have a deeper understanding of
the material. Teacher may also have students pair up in groups to discuss the assignments which
helps their cognitive ability and deeper understanding and provide resources to help further their
understanding.
A student’s second language acquisition can only progress if their L1 does, and not all students are equally proficient in their L1. Chapman-Santiago assesses her student’s L1 proficiency by comparing their writing abilities to other speakers of that language. Using that method, she can decide what sort of interventions the students will need in order for them to gain proficiency in both languages. The behaviorist theory, the interactionist theory, and the sociocultural theory (SCT) argue that there are different ways in which second language learners acquire languages. The behaviorist approach argues that “language learning is a process of habit formation. Repetition and drills result in language acquisition (Platt, 2018, p. 158).” Interactionist theory argues that “[language] acquisition occurs during interaction (Platt, 2018, p. 155).” The SCT is similar to the interactionist theory: “language is internalized as a result of social interaction (Platt, 2018, p.158).” The interactionist theory and SCT are more effective than the behaviorist theory; many theorists argues that you can repeat what you hear with never understanding what it is you’re saying or writing.
The Benefits of Bilingual Education
Q1: “Push for more” in promoting their students’ learning
Sara states that teachers can “push for more” what this means is that teachers can
incorporate both languages in the classroom instead of accepting the bilingual students in their
class and being empathetic towards their struggle to understand English. Ms. Glady’s Aponte
mentions that in a bilingual classroom the students bring their whole because the goal is for the
student to be bilingual and biliterate, which is to learn both languages through writing as well as
reading. Pushing for more means to promote translanguaging in the classroom so that students
could bring more to the classroom and utilize their up most potential to succeeding in the
classroom.
Q2: The impact of the book on students
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Being able to familiarize their self with a book means that they will understand and
accept this identity realization that is crucial to growth as an individual. This will have an impact
on students’ lives and give them inspiration to improve and be a better version of their self. Ms.
Aponte mentions that she schedules for her class to have a Spanish day and English day but on
those days the students can still take part in translanguaging. While the students are reading the
dual language book, they can answer questions and discuss parts of the book not only in English
but in Spanish which impacts the way they approach life. Being that the character is of Hispanic
background and her students are of the same background many of her students can relate to the
characters feelings about taking part of a new world. They begin to learn the importance of their
cultural even in a new world. They also learn that because they are in a new world that doesn’t
mean that they must disregard their culture and learn a new one, it means that that may mesh the
two cultures together creating their identity.
Q3: The goal of bilingual education programs and the impact of bilingual education
programs on English speakers
Bilingual education programs invite students to bring their whole and by whole this
includes their culture background. Students are encouraged to be their selves and not lose their
home language. The goal of these programs is to make sure every student whether native or
nonnative speaking leaves the school reading, writing, speaking both languages fluently. Schools
that promote bilingualism tried their best to avoid having the students lose part or all their native
language. Parents also feel that they can get involved in the school because their voices will be
heard which makes them comfortable having their students go to school because they know the
teachers are going to meet their expectations. English speakers also benefit from a bilingual
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education because they can learn a new language and culture. It allows students to understand
both language forms and students are seen holistically.