ESOL Mini Conference Notes

My Notes from the Conference to Share:

Panel Discussion presented by- Beatriz Uribe, Eunsook Lee, Lan Schlect, Yisu Brasel, Vesna Vujinovic

Students from Bosnia- school bell can remind students of war sounds/emotions
Use your HEART when instructing

Students who speak Spanish are Hispanic
Students from Latin countries are Latinos therefore, Latinos are Hispanics, but not all Hispanics are Latinos
"They're all Mexicans." Be careful; many differences among our Spanish speakers (bad words- may be a bad word in one country and not in another)
Different accents
Use of Formal vs Informal You
s, c, z-th sounds  doesn't mean that students have a lisp!
Many reasons for immigration-not all are poor! Parents can be lawyers, doctors, teachers highly educated
Find out- Where is the family from? Are they educated? What kind of support is available at home?
Sometimes parents have a 2nd grade education- Be Sensitive!
What obstacles do you face with students?
Send homework that the child can do alone.
Be aware of immigration issues- Deportation causes fear in families
Parents may have low education in technology- send paper copies home
Make workshops/training for parents on technology
Don't use siblings for translations= get a school or county translator!!
Don't assume that when a parent nods their head that means they understand
Diversity goes beyond their PHLOTE (Primary Home Language Other than English)
There is a huge increase in transitional students (students who leave and come back)

Korea- 5,000 years of history; almost all Koreans in the US are from South Korea
Struggles include: American school systems/activities such as spirit wear, relay for life, field day, Valentines Day
Helpful for parents to preview upcoming events and expectations
Lot of pressure to study-a lot of competition, so it is the norm to send children to school for extra help (to get ahead!) Korean School on Saturday is common
Teachers are seen as authority figures, parents are not always used to approaching teachers
Korean students do not have middle names; be sure to address students by their whole name such as Eun Sook not just Eun (which means clear/shiny silver) it would be like saying Clear
Do not write students' name in red ink- this means blood
Do not use the internet translation services-severely changes the grammatical structure
Be careful when writing in cursive-can be hard to understand
Eye contact seen as disrespectful
Normal to use the middle finger to point
Age of independence is older than in the US
Common for females to hold hands with females; males to hold hands with males
Teachers should initiate conversations with parents
Use both hands to hand papers back to students

Chinese- notes home and school functions can be confusing
Chinese language- millions of dialects, but all understand Mandarin (official language), doesn't use verb tenses normal to hear or read from a student "I yesterday go to movie." ending sounds "I read a lot of book."
No distinction between gender (He/She/It)= all the same in speaking
Teachers need to explicitly teach prepositions

Vietnamese- "Asian" does not equal a language or a culture of people; it is a continent
There are more differences than similarities with "Asians"

 

Notes from Bridging the Divide between GCPS culture and the Cultures of EL Students and families- Elizabeth Webb

Support   Lead   Inspire

How can you be "world class" if you are not globally competent?

Culture is: beliefs, cutoms of a particular society, group, place or time; has it own beliefs, ways of life, art; formed from humans @ a particular place, time, circumstances
They way buildings are formed and food is made- depends on the raw materials available and how humans discover how to live together
The Earth came to be and was formed with people all from different cultures
A way of thinking, behaving or work that exists in a place or organization
Artistic activities (music, theater, painting)
How we care for ourselves as physical beings may be the most important part of our culture.

What chacterizies American culture?  - democracy - equality - freedom to say, write, act   - inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Cultures are on a continuum just like people
Think about the Olympic Opening Ceremonies  Individuality vs. Group
London- individual   Beijing- group

What characterizes GCPS culture?
-Teaching & Learning - World Class - Gwinnett is Great - Success Lives Here - Accountability- Data- Assessment -Diversity - CONINUIOUS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT- reducing gaps in minority and poor students- Achievement of each individual student - supports and interventions - parent involvement

What might EL parents experience or have experienced?
Schooling as a privilege - may involve fees
Not universally available
Students must adapt to school environment who do not achieve relegated to lesser track
High stakes exams determine long term economic success or failure
parent questions may be viewed as disrespectful

Culture vs. Linguistics

Multiculture - Intercultural - Bilingual - Globally Competent- Plurilingual - Monolingual - Culturally Responsive

WE ARE ALL ON THE SPECTURM OF ENGLISH LEARNERS!!! WE ARE JUST IN DIFFERNET PLACES ON THE SPECTRUM.

Plurilingual- Learning language for specific purposes. Take a risk! It expresses warmth and outreach to speak in another language to our students and families

Characteristics to Cultivate  = Curiosity and Empathy  
Jeremy Rifkin on Empathy "We are soft wired to experience another's plight as if we are experiencing it ourselves."
We all desire socibility, attachment, affection and have a drive to belong.
Video: http://www.ted.com/talks/jeremy_rifkin_on_the_empathic_civilization.html

Saturday 9/29/2012 at ISC

Reflection 2 from Chapter 3 is due TODAY!

Agenda:

Report to the ISC Grayson Room by 8:25am

 Saturday September 29, 2012

Panel Discussion with GCPS Translators 8:30-10:00

Breakout Sessions -Attend the sessions of your choice

session 1 at 10:10
session 2 at 10:55

Cohort Meetings (and working lunch 12:00-12:30)

12:30-3:30 Computer Labs. We will meet in the Galileo Lab.

Week 7 Learning Styles

October 2, 2012 

REFLECTION 3 from the conference is DUE TODAY!

Remember: By th October 9th at 4:30pm, your name should appear on the blog a minimum of 2 times to receive full credit for attending our elluminate session.

1. Read Chapter 4.

2. You must choose 1 question to answer thoroughly and thoughtfully (minimum of 200 words)by 8:00 pm on Oct 2nd. Please choose 1 of the questions from pages 153-155 from Developing Multicultural Educators. Please write the number and question so others can refer if they choose to respond to your answers/comments.

3. You must then respond to 1 other post with comments, questions, or any other meaningful conversation by the beginning of class on October 9th at 4:30pm.

Suggestions: Keep it related to your work with your ELs! Let's let these conversations be meaningful to you and your students. 

USE THE REST OF CLASSTIME TO WORK ON YOUR CASE STUDIES AND REFLECTION 4.

BOTH ARE DUE NEXT WEEK!

Please post below this blog entry where it says comment next to my name.  

I completely agree that sexism and racism are like viruses tearing apart the fabric of our nation. When we allow divisions between individuals based on gender or race, we are undermining the many factors that we have in common, like patriotism and pride. As educators, we must continuously encourage unity and a sense of "togetherness." Without expereriencing events like September 11th to unite us all, how will our students ever be open to working together toward a common goal in the future? We must put aside our prejudices and focus on what unties us, not divides us.

Question 5:  Racism, Sexism, and Socioeconomic Status

Both racism and sexism are human ideologies that are ingrained on the notion that one race or as in the case of sexism; one gender is superior to another.  The inherent cause of racism and sexism is based on the human need for approval or need for power.  This need is exacerbated in time of economic struggle or down turn.  The only difference one may cite between racism and sexism is that while sexism is more prevalent between the opposite genders, racism has no boundary.  It involves male, female, and children.  Racism and sexism are like cancer that can eat up the fabric of a society.  When individuals are allowed to have equal opportunity to aspire to their highest potential in life there will be more productivity and peace within the society.

Question 7          The theories of the Formation of Prejudice

For a person to appreciate the long term impact of prejudice, he or she must understand the meaning of the word.  Prejudice is an individual’s ways of making a value judgment either for positive or negative on a person, an object or an event before understanding the person or the things.  The formation of prejudice has been based on certain theories as follows:

·         Racial and cultural Difference Theory: this is based on the concept that people have fear and dislike for people who are physically and racially different from them

·         Economic competition theory; antagonism that results from competing for jobs or other economic benefits

·         Traumatic Experience theory; bad experience suffered from a member of another group

·         Frustration –Aggression theory; based on frustration that might arise when an individual could not meet real or perceived need

·         Social Control theory; based on people being forced to adhere to tradition and norms of the society

The impact of prejudice is that it affects an individual’s interrelationship with others.  Even for educators, teacher student relationship can be affected either for good or for bad.  I strongly believe that a societal prejudice starts with individual prejudice.  Most of our life believes start from individual bases and once it reaches general acceptance becomes a part of our tradition or norm.    I also believe that prejudice based on Social Control Theory will have the longest negative impact on society and the group within that society.  The simple fact is that it is a widely accepted concept which could be imbibed into tradition or norm and societies defend their tradition.  On the other hand, the other theories are mostly based on external and transient stressors like trauma in a person’s life, economic down turn and unfounded belief.  Once these stressors are removed, the prejudice most of the time will become a past issue. However, when it is based on Social Control Theory, the impact will linger for a long time because it has been ingrained into the tradition or norm and is widely accepted.

Question #4

                Institutional racism has had a tremendous impact on America’s minority population since the Europeans first set foot on American soil. It’s really difficult to compare the struggles of whites under institutional racism with the struggle that minorities have had to endure under institutional racism because there is really very little to compare. Whites have enjoyed many of the privileges that minority leaders throughout history have fought tooth and nail to receive. Rather than compare, I simply want to share how I feel institutional racism has had a negative effect that has on the people it largely favors.

Institutional racism has negatively impacted some whites, primarily poor whites that come from working class backgrounds or live in rural areas, by placing unrealistic expectations on them and by marginalizing the challenges many of them face. Many of these whites are born with similar disadvantages as minority citizens—poor education and housing, limited access to opportunities, etc.  On a more personal level, sometimes I feel that there is an unwanted pressure on me—that because I’m white, I ‘m expected to act or think a certain way, or that things should come easy for me. I don’t feel that way, but at the same time I do understand that my skin color has allowed me to not be denied certain opportunities that others from other ethnicities have been denied.