Scaffolding is not a word I recognized at first, so I had to look it up. I found it is basically a supporting framework for something. As I reflected on what I read, I realized everything we do as teachers is scaffolding. As teachers, we may provide more support for our ESL students or Sp Ed students, however we are providing support for the gen. ed students and our students who are gifted and talented as well as the rest of the school. I say this because if we were not there the upper grades would collapse since the students would not have enough background information for them to succeed.
This applies to teaching language to ESL students at a young age. When ESL students are learning English they are not only learning the language, but also their other subjects are being taught in English so it is even more difficult for them to understand what the other subjects are including, as mentioned by Gibbons. In regards to learning a language as you come into a new country I feel as though you should already have a base for that nations language, it is out of respect. Learning a second language and wanting to be completely integrated in that language and learning your other subjects in it is one thing, but if you move to a new country with a different language it is not only difficult for the students to learn the material, but it may also drag the rest of the class down because of their questions and misunderstandings. This is where reinforcements come in and help those students understand the information in their own language then learn the information in English. I feel as though their native language will make more sense to them (initially obviously) than learning it in a different language and making sense of it like that. This refers back to the two different views of learning: the Empty Vessel/Banking and Progressive. I think the answer to which to use would be a little bit of each, I don't believe there is one right way, but if you implement their learning with different options of how to understand it, one way is bound to be better than the others.
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Katie,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with your post. It is a very hard struggle for students off all backgrounds when learning subject area material, but especially ESL students. I found it interesting because in the reading they mentioned the importance of group work for English language learners. I really had felt naive after I had read this part of the reading because I always saw group work as being too overwhelming to a student learning a second language. For example, not being able to follow along because too much conversation was happening between several students at a time, but then I read what the book had to say, and it made complete sense. They talked about how group work for English language learners is extremely important because students learn to pick up on "everyday" English, and not just through reading and looking at classroom textbooks. They also have to learn to become independent in group work because they do not have the teacher present to fall back on when struggling with what words to use. It was definitely something I found interesting because my first impression thoughts on this topic were the complete opposite. Very good post! I will see you Wednesday.