Today's observation was slow in the beginning due to limited children the first 2 hours of opening, then it picked up once all the children arrived.
Today during group time the teacher played an audio book reading where as all the staff had to do was turn the page. Today's reading was in Spanish and English. The book gave so much excitement that the children were all involved. In the story the narrator used bueno and por favor a lot. The Hispanic children all understood what was being said. They even laughed at a certain part that no one else chuckled at. When the reading was over one of the staffs said por favor means please and bueno means good. Now to me, this book should have been read before introducing it to the children that are non-spanish speakers. The staff should have told them what the two spanish words meant ahead of time so they can follow along with the story. I would read this book again to the children. Giving them a heads up on all the spanish words mentioned. I would then have papers that were pre-written on with the words good, bueno, please, and por favor. I would allow them to copy the words and decorate their papers. My goal would be to develop their fine motor skills and language development with add to their vocabulary words in two different languages.
Hi Terri,
ReplyDeleteI think that it was a great idea just maybe not well executed. This may have been a new experience for many of the children and I agree with you that the teacher should've informed the students who don't speak spanish of what the words mean. A classroom should be about inclusion and I know that when I am around people who speak a different language I feel weird. I am not a fan of the audio books for children. It doesn't allow children to fully interact and ask questions or respond.
Hi Terri:
ReplyDeleteI share your concerns about introducing another language into what's mostly an English speaking classroom environment. In my observation class last week a student from the curriculum class played a song that was in Spanish. The kids loved the rhythm, but most had no idea what the song was about, and that was perfectly fine; but the adult tried to talk about the meaning of the words which went over their heads. But I guess all exposure to another language is good.
I think it is so great that they read to them in both languages because all children should be exposed to different languages and cultures. I was in a class once when even when the children did not know chinese, the teacher taught them a song in chinese. It was a great thing to see that in a class.
ReplyDelete