Bilingualism and Home Language Use

April WellsSEI/503 – Advanced Structured English Immersion Methods

Professor Susana TurowskiJune 13, 2016

IntroductionThis presentation will help explain bilingualism and home language

use. There has been an influx of students at our school that speaks not only English, but other languages as well. These students are

considered as being bilingual because they are able to speak two languages. The presentation will focus on:

• Sociocultural aspects of bilingual students• Cultural impacts of bilingualism and home language use• Strategies and resources for cultivating home and school

partnerships• Evaluating the effectiveness of home and school partnerships

• The role of leadership in cultivating a positive home and school partnership of ELL students

Sociocultural Aspects for Bilingual Students in the Classroom

Sociocultural means that social and cultural factors are combined.

• Teaching styles used

• Dialect

• Students’ family values

• Economic status

• Native language

• Religious beliefs

• Culture

• Classroom support

• Societal perceptions

• Cognitive, economic, and literary advantage

Cultural Impact of Bilingualism and Home Language Use

Combining bilingualism education with home language use is beneficial to the overall academic success of English language learners. Educational programs that systematically incorporates the use of English language

learner’s home language results in levels of achievement in literacy and other academic subjects (Genesee, et al., 2010).

Cultural impacts include:• Encourages students to see connections between their languages and

better understand how languages are structured and organized.

• Can be used as phonological and metalinguistic awareness exercises to facilitate reading acquisition.

• Students are able to speak their native at home and English at school.

Strategies and Resources for Cultivating Home and School Partnerships

Having a partnership between teachers at school and parents at home can be very beneficial for English language learners. Having parents involved

in their child’s education can really impact how much and how well they can learn and succeed.

Strategies and Resources• Teachers should maintain open communication with parents - Daily Folders - Weekly newsletters• Bilingual parent workshops• Invite parents to visit the classroom• Access to libraries and other needed resources• National Coalition for Parental Involvement in Education:

http://www.ncpie.org

Strategies for Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Home and School Partnerships

• Perform ongoing evaluations• Send parent surveys home -Rate teachers performance and communication skills -Provide information on where more support may be needed

• Hold parent/teacher conferences

• Track students performance and all interactions from parents

Kielbasasclass.wikispaces.com

The Role of Leadership in Cultivating a Positive Home and School Partnership of ELL Students

• Learn about the ELL population• Integrate cultural traditions of ELL families

in classroom throughout the school community

• Create a welcoming environment for families

• Make a personal connection with families• Encourage native language use at home• Encourage staff members by providing

examples and resources on cultivating partnerships

• Offer guidance and tools

Teachers must take on many leadership roles in

order to support the success of English

language learners One important role that ESL

teachers play in their school is leading

professional development for their colleagues, including classroom

teachers, administrators, and content-area teachers (Gonzalez, et al., 2006).

References• Genesee, F., Paradis, J., & Crago, D. (2010). Dual language

development and disorders: A handbook on bilingualism and

second language learning (2nd ed.). Baltimore, MD: Brooks

Publishing.

• Gonzalez, V., Yawkey, T.D., & Minaya-Rowe, L. (2006). English-as-

a-second-language classroom applications for students’ academic

achievement and development. Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn &

Bacon