Jefferson looked at his classmates sitting around him on the carpet, glancing at each one’s white board. Not to steal their answers, but to determine what he needed to do with the numbers. Excited that he saw a few people multiplying numbers, he throws off the cap to his marker and dives in. His computation is mere perfection, he even multiplies using two different strategies. Beaming, he lifts up his white board to show his work to the classmates around him.
Jefferson is new to the country. He can read and speak Spanish fluently. He is in a 5th grade classroom and as I witnessed, he can “do math”. What caught my attention was his eagerness to discover what he needed to do with these numbers. He couldn’t wait to attack them.
Can you imagine sitting for 6 ½ hours a day in a room where you do not understand the language being spoken to you? What do you think you would do? Feign attentiveness, try to pick up on a few words, or just fall asleep?
What if the instructor incorporated some of your native language here and there throughout the 6 ½ hour day? Would that keep you from falling asleep? Could it make you feel as if you are part of the class and even give you the courage you need to find a way to participate in the lesson?
This is what Jefferson’s teacher did. She thought, “What do we do daily or on a regular basis that would be worth putting into Spanish for Jefferson so that he could jump right in and participate with his classmates?” She decided on “¿Qué te das cuenta?” and “¿Qué te preguntas?” “What do you notice?” “What do you wonder?”
📷The teacher placed these “Notice and Wonder” questions on the side of her board. Do you know what happened the first time she made reference to them and directed Jefferson’s attention towards them? He tried to hide his smile, but it spread across his face and then without prompting, he read it confidently aloud. Guess who was smiling then? All of his classmates! They even asked him to read it again. Then the English native speakers wanted to try reading the same words in Spanish.
📷Throughout the next few days, the teacher started placing sentence frames in English and Spanish on the board as well. Now other children, whose native language is Spanish, started to raise their hands and ask to read to the class in Spanish. Their eagerness to read the Spanish sentence frames didn’t stop at the frames; their hands continued to be raised throughout the lessons. These same children typically did not participate in whole class discussions and often gave little to no effort on assignments.
Want a place to start? Adjust Your Math Meeting Activities!
📷
Odd Man Out-Hombre Extraño
Which one doesn’t belong?
¿Cuál no pertenece?
📷
Try using “Realia”:
“Objects or images from real life used in classroom instruction improve students' understanding of other cultures and real-life situations.”
📷
Examples/Non-Examples
¿Ejemplo/Sin ejemplo?
Jefferson saw the Math Meeting activities, nodded his head with confidence and began working. No one made a big deal about the Spanish alongside of the English, but everyone was participating.
SPLAT!
📷The teacher also tried this splat card translated into Spanish. Splat! follows the same pattern of questioning each time, so it was worth printing this image and letting Jefferson pull it out of his desk when she played Splat! with the class.
Interestingly enough, I watched Jefferson use the card a few times and then put it down as he no longer needed it. Taking the time to prepare this card in Spanish for him, has allowed her student to comprehend and complete the activity successfully. She is now able to save the card for future non-English speaking students who can read in Spanish.
Spanish Vocabulary Cards
*There are Spanish Vocabulary Cards for each grade in the ELL Resources Page here on the website. See the examples below.
📷1st Grade Vocabulary Card
3rd Grade Vocabulary Card
📷 5th Grade Vocabulary Card
The moral of this story is . . . Jefferson wanted so desperately to learn!
Incorporating a few native language words into your lessons will go a long way towards giving your “Jeffersons” a chance to learn.
(Permission was given to use this anecdote by Jefferson’s parents, and yes, via a translator 😊)
*We have two fabulous EL coaches who are available to support you. Feel free to reach out to them through the e-mail addresses listed below:
Sarah Fielding ( sfieldin@wcboe.org ) and Robyn Morris ( rmorris@wcboe.org )
댓글