Sept 9th 2020
The first week of class I read the article reading Garcia , as well as the first chapter of “Language and Learning in Multilingual Classrooms”. I very much enjoyed reading this article, as it’s eye-opening, to say the least, that is so important for teachers to understand multiculturalism, and incorporate that into the classroom. In the summer semester, I took the course ELNG326-06 which taught me that it’s crucial to incorporate multiculturalism into the classroom, as it helps students learn. Garcia says that:”teachers are expected to have not only knowledge of the speakers of the languages and their bilingualism (their knowledge of, and about, their languages and practices), but also of three additional factors: (1) the plurilingualism in their midst, (2) the histories of the speakers and their struggles, and (3) the social construction of the language of school in order to keep privilege in the hands of few” (2017, p.269).
Sept 27th,2020
The Fourth week of class I read the article Cummins 2019 , as well as the 6th and 7th chapters of “Language and Learning in Multilingual Classrooms” and I also watched the assigned video “Let’s make the most of multilingualism”. In the Cummins article , I really enjoyed reading the different ways that teacher’s incorporate multilingual instruction strategies. As a future educator, I want to incorporate multilingual strategies in my classroom as I believe its extremely important for students to learn and know about all different cultures, belief systems and embrace them into their daily lives. Cummins says that:” When we acknowledge the role of students’ home languages in their lives and explore options that build on their multilingual skills, all students learn how to work across their differences and gain appreciation for different languages and cultures-skills that are highly valuable in our increasingly multicultural and interconnected world”(2019). I want to incorporate methods from “The Dual Language Reading Project” in my classroom, with books in English as well as other languages as it can help students develop a respect for other language’s. Growing up in a classroom there was no aspect of multilingual ways in our learning other then in French class, this was discouraging to me as my family is German so if there was an option to learn and read in my family’s language it would have helped me learn and understand the language from a young age.
Goals for Future classroom:
- Safe Space
- Multilingual
- Engaging in all Cultural Aspects
Questions I have:
Why is it not required to have multilingual aspects in the classroom?
What are other ways that you can help your students engage in these cultures?
October 5th 2020
The first week of class I read the article reading; Mackey 2010,Denis 2006 and watched the assigned videos; The Education of New Canadians, Saskatchewan Schools and the New Canadians. In this weeks readings had me thinking about language policies, and I cant remember there been a specific policy growing up in public school, we all just seemed to speak English in the classroom unless we were in a specific language class (Ex.French).When reading the document, it talked about how in 1913 Ontario passed a law that forbid the French language from being taught, and they said that is was discouraged anywhere else in Ontario. Growing up I was taught that Canada is multilingual and we accept all languages and cultures so reading this documents surprised me as they were not accepting but pushing away the French language, by not teaching it in schools and telling people not to speak it in their everyday lives. When I got older I realized that they never pushed as much to learn other languages like French and it was confusing as in elementary school we always had a French class and an English class. French immersion schools however speak mainly French during the day unless in English class which is the complete parallel to what I have grown up learning.
Questions:
Why was is needed for Ontario to pass this law?
If this happened in todays society what would be the reaction?
Why did they not offer other language classes in school?
Sept 25th ,2020
In this weeks reflection I read the required documents; Bringing it home again, Indigenous Languages in Canada. I also participated in the required videos; Five Ideas to Support Indigenous Language Revitalization in Canada, Interview with Russ Fayant and Anoogeemin: Stories of Anishinaabemowin Reclamation. This weeks readings and videos really interested me as I am currently learning this in my Cree 100 class and to connect these things is really interesting. In the article “Indigenous Languages in Canada” it talks about the importance of indigenous language and how ” Indigenous peoples have been immeasurably affected by the forced removal of their languages” and how some major lands and species depend on this language.
The article also talks about different ways we can help keep indigenous languages alive, I love the idea of learning a greeting in an indigenous language and using it in daily life, or even incorporating the language by renaming street signs and incorporating the indigenous language. It would great if we all came together to support these community’s and events and immersion programs to get the word out that these programs are out there and help to keep the language alive. The article also talks about how “Language revitalization efforts in Canada are extremely underfunded”, and how if we all work together and donate we could help to establish language education initiatives. It is sad to know that language programs are completely underfunded compared to other areas in education, language is such a huge part of human life and in some way it makes us who we are.
Questions I have:
-Why are there not more programs in Regina for learning these languages?
-Why is the funding so low?
November 10th 2020
This week of class I read the articles: “For English Studies, Children Say Goodbye to Dad” and “The Struggles of Affluent East Asian Youth in Canada” as well as engaged in the podcast “Lexicon Valley #24: Do you creak”. This weeks reading really interested me because my whole life in my experience family’s had always lived together unless they were a divorced family, however when I read “The mothers and children live overseas while the fathers live and work in South Korea, flying over to visit a couple of times a year.”(Onishi ,2008) it got me thinking about how It would feel if my family had to live apart and only see each other a few times a year, and how that would be incredibly hard on the family structure. I got upset when I continued to read the article and I actually was surprised to find out that “The cost of maintaining two households has stretched family budgets since most wives cannot work outside South Korea because of visa restrictions”(Onishi,2008), I would have thought that there would be some sort of opportunity for people who have to come to another country to live while their spouse was to say so the family can support themselves but without the income for both parents it would be very hard to meet bills and support the children in the ways they require. It was truly heart retching to read about how these youth miss their family and how they never get to talk to them, because for me my family is my whole world and without their support I probably would fall apart on a daily basis. One of the articles talked about how some parents “They leave their teenage and young adult children mostly on their own in a strange land.” (Todd, 2013) this surprised me but at the same time I understood it its extremely hard to be separated from your family but every parents wants what’s best for their child and wants to see them succeed so leaving your child alone can benefit them as they grow to be independent but it also can harm them mentally as they are alone and they don’t really know anything about the “real world”.
Questions I have:
- Why is there not a program for these family’s?
- Why do these family’s go over seas for schooling?
- Could there be a change in education in these Asian countries?