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Reflective essay During the recent years the amount of students who learn English as a second language increase greatly. The students are referred as literacy students or ESL students, and there is a special attitude to these student while teaching them at schools. There was a strong belief that ESL students should be taught by means of strict instructions. The process of learning was boring and ineffective. In our days many teachers agree that literacy students can get new experiences in content area courses. It is necessary to understand that very often ESL students speak English very fluently, but they can confuse while face academic English at school.
A teacher should take into account this peculiarity and teach literacy students in a linguistically and culturally friendly environment. It is especially good for teaching math to them. There should not be a hurry. The development of mathematical knowledge is a gradual process. It has some strategies which many teachers follow in their work.
But I want to emphasize that the main part of the process is depend on a teachers great wish to help his students. He or she should constantly improve his (her) methods and increase his (her) knowledge. Having examined several schools, lets take one as an example and estimate the attempts of a teacher to create multicultural classrooms. As usual, lessons were good but without the potential for improvement. A teacher followed the strategies which were usually recommended.
But he made several mistakes, to my point of view. First of all, there was a certain division in the classroom. It was divided into two parts: the honors and the "slow." The percentage of White students in the honors was more then in the slow; and it was vice versa with the students of other race. Certainly, it provoked some inequities among the students.
It seemed to me that the evaluation process was not fair. Though I understand that the evaluation process is not an easy task. But we should try to make it fairer to all races and ethnicities. While conducting literary lesson the teacher widely used multicultural literature. But there were no books on math written by authors of different races. It was right, because I think that exact sciences demand the usage of certain terms, and they should be taught through frequently repetition in English.
But I think that the most necessary thing that should be done, while conducting a multicultural class, is the division of students into bi-racial groups. The teacher of the lesson I observed did not put much attention on it. He divided the class for group work into groups of the same race; and only one of them consisted of students of different races, though they were those who left It is evident, that if you want to be a good teacher you should know almost everything about your students. It is especially important while teaching in multicultural classrooms.
It was necessary to know the teachers students inside and outside of class. Then I think the teacher should to be open to his students. It means that, teachers must be interested in their students, they should try to avoid assumptive behavior and to be prepared for the unexpected actions of your children. All these are regarded cultural diversity.
During the lesson the Mexican-American children tried to touch or to kiss the figure of authority (the teacher). It was the way of cultural behavior. Many cultures have many different customs. The teacher should know why his or her students act that way.
It will help to avoid different confusing situations. The best way is to be open and knowledgeable. A teacher should talk about the cultural differences in class at any lesson. The next point that a teacher should take into account is the learning patterns of the students. Learning paten's mean students behavior that was normal in his or her country, but looks strangely in this country. I pointed out only few mistakes I had noticed.
And further Id like to survey the idea of teaching ESL students, examine their behavior and recommend the way how to avoid difficulties. It is well known that education does not mean to work with textbooks or teaching some material. It also consists of different social relationships, reading, writing, thinking, talking, discussing, formulating, and most of all, feeling. If a teacher wants to gain it he or she should use different non- verbal means, such as jesters, face expression, eye contact and voice power. After that while teaching literacy students teachers should take into account students individual ability to do some type of work better then others.
Some of them are better in group projects, or on essays, or real-world activities. I am firmly sure that it is rare to have a student, who cannot do some kind of work better that others. A talented teacher can easily determine the area of students interests and his or her abilities to grasp knowledge. It can help a teacher to develop critical thinking of the students and find real-world applications of knowledge.
From the beginning of students formal education it is very important for literacy students to access to math content. It helps in the delivery of instruction and in modification in the curricula. There are several standards which describe five goals for mathematical literacy. A teacher should help that students to learn to value mathematics.
Students should be taught for not only doing calculation but with the ability to solve mathematical problems, learn to communicate mathematically and to reason mathematically. Math teachers can make math meaningful for literacy students. It is necessary to build the process of learning on students' real life experiences. Nevertheless, the opportunity to hear math language and to speak and write mathematically is of great importance. So, if a teacher wants to do his best, he or she should take into account not only personal relationships and cultural climate, but follow some certain strategies. The strategies are based on teachers experience and take into account students' ages, English proficiency, and developmental levels.
Students' ages is of great value, because it determine students experience. This experience is one of the main components which show the ability to estimate some process and give logical explanation to them. An effective method to formal math class education is instruction with concrete experiences. It is helpful for literacy math students of all ages.
Students activity during the lesson depended on their English proficiency. In a lesson proficiency students can complete an oral activity showing their understanding of the material. More advanced students can describe the exercise in writing. And if students are less proficient learners they depend more on the teacher or other students. Teachers in a literacy math classroom should pay extra attention to language, using charts with important vocabulary and language structures on the walls.
Instead of focusing on what students do not know, it is important to use such methods which can help to show what students do know. A great number of assessment methods will help you to provide a real picture of each literacy student's progress, show patterns of his development. A great benefit for literacy math students is in a variety of instructional settings in the classroom. The teacher should involve students into individual, small-group, and whole-class activities For a teacher it is necessary to look for answers on such questions as: who are my students, why are they unsuccessful in the present math lesson? One should always look for the most efficient way for teaching literacy students?
The answers on the questions should be used for making curriculum development. By the way, the demands of todays world change greatly and, as the result, they affect students and the way they are taught. Modern students need the ability to work with different figures and with large amounts of information, use modern technologies. Todays mathematics curriculum must organize students work with essential mathematical knowledge and skills. They should be accept skills of reasoning and problem solving. And the task is especially difficult to fulfill while conducting ESL students.
Very often, ESL teachers try to take into account all content area instruction for literacy students. Experienced math teachers have a supply of math instructional strategies. If you are a math-certified teacher you should be familiar with the development of math curricula. All methods and strategies you use must provide the kinds of math experiences which help students to increase the level of their knowledge in future... Math teachers can improve their existing skills executing course work; taking part in curriculum guides. But the most importantly way is through working with ESL bilingual staff and supporting models of staff development.
Having examined some problems, a teacher should choose several strategies which he or she will follow to find the solutions of the problems. Lets have a look at some of them. First of all, as it was pointed earlier, it is necessary to organized a friendly atmosphere of the lesson. It is important to make them feel welcome and like a part of the community. Students should feel belonging and security, and it is more important in the very beginning you entering the class.
A teacher needs to assess your ESL students literacy skills first. Then she or he needs to estimate the level of spoken English while speaking with them during the lesson on different topics (even if these topics do not relate the lesson). It is known that only if we practice much we shall be able to reach a great success. Now you know the students basic literacy skills in English, and the next step is to establish routines and practice them. But dont forget to check and control the process. Each task should be evaluated and the mistakes should be pointed and explained.
And the last strategy that Id like to emphasize is a teachers belief in a students progress. One should bear in mind that - all students want to succeed and that all students want to feel like a part of the overall community. So, a students success must be the goal of any teacher. Teachers need to pay attention to their verbal and nonverbal language when he or she responds to students who speak differently. And I think socio cultural factors are of great importance. But teaching math in literacy level ESL classes has its peculiarities and difficulties.
And there are some ways out. First of all there is a need in orchestrate classroom discourse. It helps to develop and understand of mathematical ideas. Teaching English in the content area includes both the language specific to math and additional English language skills. For example, speaking about greater numbers or degrees, the teacher has to explain the use of the -er suffix to show comparison in the word greater. The next problem that should be solved is that many literacy students are unfamiliar with the basic tools associated with mathematics such as rulers, protractors, calculators, and computers.
A teacher should summon up patience and organize a lesson in a way which will make students to use both standard and metric measuring tools, calculators and computers. A variety of instructional settings in the classroom is of great importance for literacy math students. The teacher must guide students through individual, small-group, and whole-class activities. With the purpose to build listening and responding skills, while introducing new vocabulary or some mathematical notions it is better to work with the whole class. Students can work in small-groups with the purpose to improve their language to talk about the math tasks at hand.
Individual there is used if a teacher wants to ensure that all students process lessons at their own rate of learning. Nowadays some reforms in mathematics have been provided. They have necessary instruction to assure that literacy students have access a good deal of information for their future career. This reform calls for changes in the curricula and in the delivery of instruction. So the main goal of todays changes is to let classroom teachers, school administrators and students know that Schools and government are ready to help ESL students.
Bibliography: Addison-Wesley. The multicultural Classroom/Reading for Content Area Teachers... New York, 1992. Peregoy, S/Boyle, O Reading, Writing and learning in ESL. Pearson Education.
New York, 2005.
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