Shownotes
How can you support bilingualism in the classroom when you don't speak the native language of your students?
In Episode 114, I'm sharing practical strategies tailored for monolingual teachers like you. Dive into expert tips and insights on creating inclusive classrooms where bilingualism thrives. From embracing language diversity to encouraging language play, discover how to empower your ELLs effectively. Learn about translanguaging techniques and ways to foster parent involvement in maintaining native languages at home. Explore local cultural experiences and cultivate curiosity to enrich your teaching journey. Tune in to equip yourself with the tools and confidence to champion bilingualism in your classroom, one step at a time.
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Transcripts
hey. And welcome to another episode of the Equipping Ells podcast. I really hope you're enjoying our series on supporting bilingualism and really helping nurture that within our students. And, you know, some might even be going on to the third, 4th languages. We are working with some incredible kids these days, and I want to encourage you, if you do not speak the students that you work with their native language, sometimes that can feel frustrating, or sometimes it can feel like it's a disservice to them, but that's not the case at all. It's actually sometimes a great thing that you don't speak their native language, because what I have found in my experience is that when the students know you speak their native language, guess what happens? More often than not, they go into their native language. And really, that's where they feel comfortable so they can express themselves easier. They maybe don't have to push as hard to communicate to you in English because they know you can speak the same native language as they do. So if you do not speak your students native language, I want to encourage you that it's a good thing. It's okay that you don't do that. If you do speak their native language, you can use that as a strength as well. So it's really just dependent on how and when you use that native language or not. But today's episode, I really want to encourage you, those who don't speak the student's native language that they work with. And instead of seeing that as something to be frustrated about or a hindrance to you, really helping unlock the power of bilingualism within your students, there's really a lot of ways, and I'm going to go over six ways today, that even if you do not speak their native language, you can really continue to support bilingualism in the students and in your school. All right, so let's dive right in. And the first one, and this goes back to probably one of the first episodes I recorded. But it is so important, and that is to show that other languages are welcomed in your classroom. So even if you do not speak the same language, you can make sure that there is representation of the languages that are represented in your students. Now, more and more, it's not just a question of, you know, We have a population that all speaks the same language, mainly in the US. The largest population of second language learners are students that speak Spanish as their native language. But we're now entering into a time where you most likely are working with students that speak a variety of native languages. And so we want to make sure that in our classrooms, there is representation of those languages that might be through labels on the wall or labels on the desk or with different materials. They're going to see a variety of different languages represented. They're going to see a variety of different languages represented. It might be through having a variety of books in your classroom library that are bilingual or in the native language of those students. Okay, this is where you are creating an environment in the classroom where your students can pursue their native language without you having to support them in that. Maybe you have some quiet reading time, and the students who are proficient and literate in their native language can go and grab a book and they can look through it. There's so many books at the public libraries now that are bilingual. So it's top line is in English, bottom line is in Russian or in Spanish or in multiple different languages. So we're moving into a time where the resources are available. Let's be purposeful in how we choose how we represent the languages in our classroom and making sure that all the different types of languages that our students speak, there is something in the classroom where they see that native language represented. That right there speaks to them volumes that helps them to see that speaking another language at home is not something to be embarrassed about or ashamed about, but it's actually an incredible gift, and we want to learn more together about that language they speak at home. So the first thing to do is to show that other languages are welcomed in the classroom. The second thing is to learn more about translanguaging and how you can use this in activities and in lessons. And next week, I'm going to be going step by step how to set up lessons where you can incorporate translanguaging activities.
lessons. And next week, I'm going to be going step by step how to set up lessons where you can incorporate translanguaging activities. Now, translanguaging is really where you are going to incorporate opportunities for students to use their l one, to connect to their l two. Now, I know some of you might be feeling like, especially if you don't know their native language, and this feels like, well, I'm not a bilingual teacher. My job is to teach these students English, and I get that, and that is your job. So this is not. I don't want you to feel like, okay, I need to be translating everything, and I need to let them use their native language all the time, even if I don't understand what they're saying. And I can see and I've been there, how that can feel like all of a sudden your classroom can get really out of control. And so I don't want you to come away thinking that that's where you need to head to. All I'm saying is to create opportunities where you are purposefully. Those are the words I want you to think about. Purposeful and intentional. When you're purposefully and intentionally planning lessons where you allow them that space and an academic setting to use that l one to connect to their l two. So if you're unfamiliar with transanguaging or you're just not really sure what that looks like in practice or what that looks like without it getting out of control, and all of a sudden your students are falling into their native language and maybe speaking about things off topic, and now they're all goofing off and you're not sure what they're saying, and it feels really uncomfortable to you. Listen to next week's episode, because I'm going to make it really simple of where to begin and what this looks like in a practical way and what it looks like intentionally so that you're using that l one to really make those connections to the l two. And it's going to be a powerful thing. So it's not just about letting the students have a free fall or keeping them, letting them just fall back into their native language all the time and not pushing them. That's not what this is at all. It's just about creating that opportunity and that space to utilize their l one because there's so much research behind that showing if we can make those connecting pieces, it really is going to help them learn English in a deeper way, in a quicker way. So next week I'm going to go more in depth on translanguaging. If that's something that you are interested in trying out this year.
Number three is to encourage language play. Okay, so again, this is about being intentional with the opportunities that you do allow them to use their native language. If you go outside at recess, you'll see that most of the time students will fall back into their native language when they play. And so if maybe you can do that in your classroom to help create that bilingualism in your students, to create those opportunities where they can kind of take that break from being in English all the time, especially for the level one and two students, what you'll notice is there'll be a switch that happens or as different friendships develop, you're going to see how maybe outside of the playground, once they hit a specific level of speaking skills, they might then switch over into English naturally and dependent on the friendships they make. Or maybe they're going to be code switching and going in and out of the different languages. The purpose here is to just create that space where they can have that freedom, they can have that rest time. So maybe it's doing fun Friday activities where there's different puzzles that they can do or different games that you play, or maybe they're just interacting with each other and you allow for them to interact if they speak the same native language in that native language. So just being purposeful at the hours you have with them each week and looking for different small moments where you can add in those conversation opportunities. For the students to be able to use their l one, number four. And this one is really important. And I think something we need to, as classroom teachers, as ESL teachers, as schools, to really encourage parents to keep up their native language in the house. Okay? So as someone who reaches out and plans events and is in communication with a parents of your students, this is a point you'll want to hit home over and over again, because what happens is a lot of times parents feel like, okay, now we're in an english speaking school, I want to help my students or I want to help my kids as best as possible. So at home we're going to be doing everything in English as much as possible, or I'm going to have them do everything, all tv in English as much as possible. There's a time and a place for that. But studies and research have also found that if the students have a strong native language, they are able to transfer those skills into learning a second language. So if our students go home and they are read to in their native language and they're developing questioning techniques and they're learning vocabulary, new vocabulary, and they're talking about the characters with their parents in their native language when they go to work on that skill in English at school, that transferability is going to be so much stronger. So this is really a key point to the student success, is that their parents keep up conversation skills at home, that their parents work on reading with them in their native language at home. We're going to put in the show notes. I actually have a five points of how parents can help support in the native language at home. And it's just some of those question prompts of what to do. A simple ten minute read aloud every day in their native language. The impact that that can make. So we have it in both English and Spanish. We'll post that in the show notes because encouraging and advocating for parents to really maintain that, because what also happens is students come home and they no longer want to have that connection to their native language, especially if they're in an environment where they feel embarrassed or they feel ashamed that their parents speak a different language. That's usually what happens is then the students will push away and they don't want to do anything with their native language anymore. And that's not what we want either. We want to create that bilingual environment, and that happens at home when they're continuing with their native language. All right, number five is to be connected and to go explore things that are happening in your neighborhood. So how does this help us to create and support bilingualism. It just helps us to embrace it ourselves and to be that example. And so doing things like going to different types of local grocery stores. You know, where I lived when I, earlier on, when I was in the. Suburbs of Chicago. We had a variety of different grocery stores, indian grocery stores, latino grocery stores, different polish grocery stores. We had so many different ones. And you could tell by the writing on the sign what you're going to find in there. And it was such an adventure to go into these grocery stores and to see different types of food that they had there and to just be curious about this culture and to see what I was going to find. So doing something like that, go to explore those grocery stores, maybe buy a few things, bring it into the class, and let your students explain to you what this type of food is. Maybe this is a really popular brand in their home country, and they get super excited when they see that you have a bag of chips from their home country, and they can share that with you. Or maybe you ask them, how do I eat this fruit? I've never experienced this fruit before. Let's talk about it. Let's try it together. Having that curiosity really helps you connect to being bilingual yourself, being bicultural yourself, and helps you to open up that excitement inside your classroom. Maybe it's going to museums that are outside of the usual museums you go to. I remember during my ESL classes, we went to a museum that was in Pilsen, and it was about mexican heritage. And it was such an amazing opportunity to go into a completely different neighborhood that I'd never been to, to see a museum there and to see the community that was represented through that museum. And all around, we walked around. We ate at a local taco restaurant there that was in Pilsen. It was just an awesome experience. And so setting aside taking your own family into an experience like that helps you create that. If you have kids yourself, it helps you to create that bicultural, bilingual community right in your own family as well. And then the last thing kind of goes along with this. But the last point, the last way that you can really help to support bilingualism, even if you don't speak their native language, is to be curious yourself. And I want to encourage you, if you have the time and the space to learn a new language, even if it's just five minutes a day, maybe it's doing it, like I said, with your family, if you have kids of your own, but making it a really fun thing to do and to push yourself, like we talked about last week, how that bilingual brain, there's skills that happen and get strengthened as you work on learning another language. And so there's so many opportunities now. There's apps like Duolingo that are free, that are fun, to do that, you can put a reminder that just says, oh, do your five minutes today and keep working on this language. And it might not be learning the language that your students speak. It might be, but maybe it's just learning a language that you've. Always wanted to work on and really just making that habit to spend 5 minutes a couple of times a week being curious and learning a new language, because as you do that, it helps you to really humble yourself and see what it's like to learn another language. Or maybe you've already maybe learned another language many years ago, and so maybe it's just taking time to brush up on it and bring it to the forefront again. And you're going to see how quickly some of those things will come back for you. But when we approach languages that way ourselves, it will help us to want to encourage that within our students in the classroom. So a quick recap on today's episode. First, how you can support bilingualism even if you don't speak their native language. The first thing you can do is by showing that other languages are welcomed in your classroom. The second thing is to learn more about translanguaging, which I'm going to be sharing about step by step in next week's episode. Number three is to encourage language play throughout the day, giving them opportunities, even just throughout the week, to be able to play in their native language. Number four is to encourage parents to keep up their native language in the house. Number five is to get connected and explore your neighborhood or the neighborhoods around you where there's diversity and go and just be curious about other cultures that way. And then number six, is that to be curious, take time, learn a new language, even if it's 5 minutes a couple times a week. And if you're saying, beth, I do not have an extra 5 minutes a couple times a week, well, I want to encourage you and support you, because if you've been around for any amount of time, you know that here in equipping LLS, both here on the podcast and in our membership, we are all about you getting your time back. So if 5 minutes to learn another language seems like an impossible thing for you to do right now, I want you to reach out, let us know how can we help you save your time, get your time back, find more balance in how much time you're spending on lesson planning or spending on supporting your students. Reach out and let us know how we can help you with that, because that's a lot of what we do inside the membership is by helping teachers get back their free time. We really are passionate about cutting down on your lesson planning, but still showing up and providing quality lessons for your elL students. And so if that's something that you are focused on this year, we are here to help you in any way we can. You can check it out at equipping ells.com. We give you all the resources you need. We give you the lesson plans. We are serious about saving your time. Um, so you can do the things that you love to do and that you can still go to your classroom each day. Really excited about what you're teaching and knowing that it's exactly what your students need. So if that is something that sounds like a dream to you, come join us inside equipping Ells. We'll also post in the show notes that bookmark that you can send home with parents that will help encourage them to keep up their native language in the house and different ways they can use reading opportunities to support the native language of their students. All right, join me next week where, like I said, I'm going to be breaking down how to make translanguaging possible and really making it super practical for you. So I will see you then. Thanks for joining me today. Bye.