Observation of a Bilingual Child - Essay Example

Introduction Following the introduction to the Swan report published by the DFES (Department of Education Skills), English as an additional language (EAL) teaching and learning in UK schools, and how it takes place within the mainstream. This essay will reflect on the effects of numerous policies on bilingual education. The observation of a bilingual child took place in an East London primary school, where ninety three percent of the pupils are bilingual, with each class containing on average twelve to fourteen different ethnic groups. The aim of this essay is to describe and critically analyse the context in which the child was observed and addressing issues such as the recognition given to the child's first language and the support offered as well as specific linguistic needs of the child. The class that I am observing is a key stage one classroom which is a year one class and the children are aged between five and six. The classroom environment is filled with exciting displays and a separate display for language of the month which is currently Urdi. According to Baker (2006) the school setting is vital in developing the first language of any bilingual pupil. The children are split into different grouping according to their abilities. Flowers is the theme of this classroom daffodils, tulips, lilies and poppies this is their abilities settings for numeracy reading and literacy there is a BTA ( Bilingual teaching assistant) in class as well she will work with the EAL children ( English as an additional language) regardless of their abilities. Research (Cummins 1981, Collier and Thomas 1989) show that, it takes as long as seven years for EAL pupils to acquire a level of English proficiency compared to their monolingual peers. Teachers cannot wait till EAL pupils to develop high levels of English language ability before embarking on the demands of the national curriculum but must enable pupils to participate in curriculum context learning while they are simultaneously learning English (Gravelle, 2000) children's use of language in school differs from the language used outside of school. In addition, different academic subjects' areas have specific genres or registers. An important aspect of an inclusive curriculum is that the mainstream class teacher and the EAL/EMAG specialist should work together; to ensure that academic context is linked to language objectives and that language objectives are compatible with academic context. The lesson that I was observing was a literacy lesson and the teacher firstly went over the class rules which took approximately ten minutes then we started our literacy lesson the Bilingual Teaching Assistant (BTA) sat with the four EAL focus children on one table when there is a BTA in a classroom she always sits with the EAL children regardless of their abilities. The children in the group where Somalia and Tamil speakers (Some of them came from war torn countries and have seen a lot of war and poverty). The literacy lesson was to understand the features of a non- chronological report, such as an introduction impersonal language and present tense. The teacher asked the children what the features where of a non chronological report a Somalian child put his hand up and said "not in order" although his answer was partly correct when the teacher asked him to explain what he meant he was not able to answer even with the BTA help the teacher did not take into account of his English knowledge may not be enough to explain his thoughts further. The BTA was able to explain clearly in his home language as well as use a white board to record their thoughts and draw a diagram as a visual aid the BTA praised all the children relevantly. Moreover as the focus children in group two were Somalia speakers the BTA was able to explain clearly in their home language as well as used a white board to record their thoughts and also used a sheet containing a diagram of visual aid. The BTA praised all the children relevantly however, being one of the largest multi ethnic school in the London borough of Redbridge this school has at least twelve different languages in one particular class, over thirty different languages are spoken in the whole school though only twenty three are spoken among the staff. Grevelle (1996) says "Although it would be unusual to find staffs that are fluent in all languages, staff who are bilingual can be more sensitive to communicative issues in the classroom regardless of sharing all the children's first language" As Baker (2006) says home language support in educational establishments is limited and often provided by encouraging children to use their first language in and out of the classroom. Gravelle (2000) states in this key stage one class the EAL pupils are only getting BTA support twice weekly and the support is often marginalised to those who have no or have Very little English. The EAL pupils are taken out of the BTA's group as soon as they can work independently in English. When the class teacher was explaining the technical language, the teacher used a DVD player and a mobile phone catalogue to show as examples. She explained that there are some particular words that only relate to the DVD player such as play rewind or fast forward, but at the same time the particular words when related to a mobile phone may vary, as the children are familiar with DVD players and mobile phones it made them to understand clearly. Although the child I noticed in my observation put his hand up twice during this discussion to answer the teachers question, he was completely ignored even the BTA tried to let the teacher know that he may be able to answer. The teacher still took any notice this showed there was no partnership teaching between the teacher and the BTA. After reading the text on the interactive white board, the children where given an independent task. The EAL focus children were asked to read and discuss a page, look at pictures of spiders as well as draw one of the spiders and to label body parts, while others were asked to underline any technical vocabulary, write down the definitions on their own then to use a dictionary to check whether they had spelt the words right or wrong. The advanced learners were asked to write a paragraph about how spiders kill their prey using the technical language without looking at the text, as an extension. Although the well planned literacy hour plan, was differentiated for EAL learners appropriately, which was already given in advance, the BTA got the tasks wrong and started to do the tasks set for one of the other group of children. Since the task they were doing was too hard for them, she struggled to keep her group focused on the task. When the class teacher realised that the children were doing the wrong tasks, she pointed that out to the BTA in front of the children rather than talking to her privately. After that the BTA asked the child to draw a picture of a spider and to label the body parts. The body parts of the spider needed to be translated into Somali then in to English. At the end of a lengthy literacy lesson, the children were asked to use technical vocabulary they found in the text and explain. However, the children with the BTA were not asked at all. Though, they were able to explain it to the BTA as a group. The overall lesson was very silent most of the time, and it could be argued that, the support of the BTA was not used to its maximum potential as the BTA was not even able to talk to the child when it was needed. Furthermore, the partnership between the BTA and the teacher did not seem very close at times. It is believed that the relationship between the class teacher and the support staff plays an important part in a child's education and clearly during this particular observation, that was not evident. Experiences have shown that well designed bilingual programmes can make a critical difference for pupils. The stakes are high for children who are bilingual, who must master academic context and a new language at the same time. Failure in school at a young age has a lifelong consequence. According to NABE, since 1968 when the bilingual education act was passed in the United States of America, huge advantages have been made in bilingual education in the classrooms. These research findings both practical and theoretical have left a solid foundation for the development of bilingual and English as a second language (ESL) education in the united states of America. At the same time in the UK, in 1996 section 11 of the local government act started to provide local government authorities with additional funding English language teaching. This act primarily aimed at teaching English to the children arriving in UK schools from other countries however, in 1999 section 11 funding was replaced by the Ethnic Minority Achievement grant (EMAG) which provides funding to the school where the literacy hour took place the EMAG team consist of an EMAG teacher and ten bilingual teaching assistants (BTA) working under a inclusion manager The senior leadership team along with the EMAG team provide a range of clear, robust detailed and vigorous system to scaffold the children while all the teachers are expected to see themselves as teachers of EAL In 1975 the famous Bullock report stressed that no child should be expected to cast off the language and culture of the home when they crosses the school threshold and at the observation of my school this is evident from the range of training the teachers are getting. For example all the new teachers to the school receive EAL induction training and the school runs at least three training sessions per year on Race Equality and Inclusion. The children are also encouraged to use their first language whenever possible and displays around the school show that children first languages are valued immensely. When the SWANN report was published in 1985, it was primarily about teaching and learning language through the content of the whole curriculum as a whole class. This 'mainstream policy' is being well practised in my school the EAL children are included in main stream activities as much as possible. National Literacy hour (DFEE 1998, p94) stressed that the literacy hour is designed to maximise children's time with the teacher. And where extra support is available, it should be deployed in the literacy hour. Although, the class teacher makes sure that literacy hours are planned around where there is a Teaching Assistant in this class. Gravelle (2000) criticises, the national literacy strategy (DFEE, 1998) by saying that, it only provides information that is mainly in the perspective of learning English not promoting their language. Literacy skills in another language could have significant factors in their success in learning English (DFEE 1998) although, changes have requested regarding valuing cultures, after the suggestion from the Mc Pherson Report (1993) there is no evidence of significant changes in the curriculum. The national literacy strategy (DFEE, 1998, p106) also states that, where bilingual teaching assistants or EAL teachers are available, teachers should involve them in advanced planning. This will allow them to prepare additional resources and suggest strategies and activities which will help EAL learners to develop their skills in this area. Furthermore, it also suggests that EAL teacher and teaching assistants also have a role in providing detailed formative assessment feedback to the class teacher on the child's progress (DFEE, 1998). The school where the observation took place follow these directives regarding EAL learners. The BTA are involved in the planning and the plans are given to the BTA's in advance in order for them to prepare additional resources. The BTA's are also involved in the ongoing formative assessment of EAL pupils. The assessment is done every term in partnerships with the class teacher according to the National Curriculum. The group of children I observed have achieved level 3c in speaking and listening, Level 2 in reading and level 2 in writing besides having a bilingual teacher or teaching assistant mean that a bilingual pupil can both use and hear their first home language, while enabling them to learn in their stronger language as well as acquiring English. Cummins wrote the language and learning difficulties that EAL pupils face in school as the gaps between conversational fluency in a new language and academic language proficiency .He referred to conversational fluency as basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS) and to the language needed for academic work as cognitive/ academic language proficiency (CALP). EAL pupils can become fluent in speaking and engage in routine classroom activities using clues in the immediate environment and context. Curriculum activities which are intellectually unfamiliar and abstract are more difficult to grasp and manage. To provide greater rigour to the learning and, in particular, to meet the needs of EAL children, my school also uses the Cummings Framework. The school also uses the ALITE framework to underpin its approach to learning and teaching and the needs of the EAL learners are met with that framework through a range of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic (VAK) activities. For example the BTA was able to explain clearly in their home language as well as use the white board to record their thoughts and also used a sheet containing a diagram as a visual aid, the class also had an interactive whiteboard According to Gibbons (2000) the questions that teachers ask are an important way to create learning. Furthermore, she insists that the children need to be given a chance to ask question to each other and to the teacher. However, unfortunately, the class teacher when observing failed to do this. For instant when the teacher asked them to explain some of the features of a non-chronological report, one child put up his hand and answered "not in order" although his answer was partly correct, when the teacher asked him to explain what he meant he was not able to answer even with the BTAs help. The group then lost the chance to then answer any questions. When citing a bilingual section 11 Grevelle (1996) states that sometimes bilingual staff can feel under-valued. For example, during the literacy hour when the BTA tried to let the teacher know that the group did not understand she did not take any notice and the BTA was totally ignored furthermore, when the class teacher realised that the children were instructed to do the wrong task she pointed it out in front of the children instead of talking to her in private. Conclusion It is vital to know that EAL children are not slow learners and many EAL children learn quickly. The challenge they face is that they learn several things at once, such as, adapting to a new environment, learning a new language and making social connections with their peers and as educators it is our responsibility to provide appropriate support for EAL learners. Where a first language is given a real status in the classroom, a positive effect on learners identity self concept and self esteem can be found. Teachers and other adults in the classroom need to work in partnership to ensure that the expertise is used effectively. However, this was not practised in the class I observed. It is also crucial to make sure that bilingual support is used for learning not simply for classroom management. This means thinking carefully about how, when and with whom. References; DFEE, (1998): National literacy strategy; Baker, C (2006): Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (4th edition) Multilingual Matters Fishman, J. A. (1991): Reversing Language Shift, Clevedon; Multilingual Matters, Garcia, O. (2006): Bilingual Education: An Introductory Reader, Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, Collier, V. P. & Thomas, W. P. (1989): How quickly can immigrants become proficient in school English Journal of Educational Issues of Language Minority Students, Cummins, J. (1979): Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children. Review of Educational Research, Gravelle, M. (1996): Supporting Bilingual Learners in School. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books. Gravelle, M. (2000): (Ed) Planning for Bilingual Learners, an Inclusive Curriculum. Stoke-on-Trent: Trentham Books. Excellence and Enjoyment; Learning and teaching for bilingual children in the primary years Read More