From the Week #2 materials, although it was just an introduction to the “Language and Learning in Multilingual Classrooms”, I found the intent of the book to be very interesting and intriguing. When I started to read it, I got excited about what I was going to learn and wanted to keep reading more. Something that Coelho said that inspired me as a teacher was “Most teachers have the compassion, the imagination, and the passion for teaching that is needed in a profession where the one thing we can be sure of is constant change” (pg #xvi). I have very strong opinions and ideas that I want to apply to my classroom one day and introducing diversity and making it a part of the norm to young children is one of them. I see myself as that teacher who has compassion, imagination, and passion. I think each idea that the introduction brings in, even if it just introduces the topic, is very interesting. Learning about language is already new to me, but just from the introduction, I have found that it is something I am very interested in and enjoy learning about.
During week #3, two things stood out to me. One was from the linguistic landscape presentation video, and the second was the Writing Systems presentation. When I was about to play the linguistic landscape video, I didn’t really know what those words truly meant. As the video played, I started to understand and put pieces together of what it all meant and how it impacts us daily. Something that intrigued me was when you spoke about why it is important in schools. As a future teacher, the linguistic landscape is a term I should become familiar with and be knowledgeable about so that I can spread Language awareness and increase my students’ linguistic landscape. Something I found surprising was when you told the story about the word “bunnyhug”. Although I knew certain countries or provinces use different words to describe something than we in Saskatchewan might, I would’ve for sure thought that most people in Canada use and know that word, not just around Saskatchewan. This made me think outside of the box as I tried to think back to a time where that has happened to me. I couldn’t recall any times, but it made me think of an activity that I did in my high school. It was for my English class and we went into groups and had to think of languages that only Canadians know or understand. We discussed many words or sayings like “yeah no” means no but “no yeah” means yes, etc. This made me realize that an activity like that was expanding my language awareness because I am so used to the norm that I usually don’t recognize or realize that what I am saying may not be understood by someone else. I also found the story about emojis/emoticons interesting because I use them a lot and when they first came out I didn’t second guess the fact that they were yellow and were only targeting one race. I would’ve never guessed that it relates to the linguistic landscape but because we pick what represents us on our phone, we are using it digitally and I found that interesting. This video made me realize that it’s around me a lot more than I know or pay attention to and can use my knowledge from this to continue to expand my language awareness and linguistic landscape.
Secondly, the writing system was something that was very new to me but has furthered language knowledge. As embarrassing as this may be, I never knew that there were different types of writing systems with all different names. When you would elaborate on each system I would be more and more intrigued. Not only was the way that the writing looked was interesting but also the thought behind each word was super unique. I want to support each one of my students no matter what language they are used to and so learning these writing systems will allow me to support them in a better and more useful way.
In Week #4 I found chapter 6 to be very informative for becoming a teacher. All the materials so far from September have filled me with knowledge I never had before but I love learning about making a classroom or environment inclusive which is why I think I found it fun to read. I always feel so nervous thinking about the type of teacher I will be and the scenarios I will face. This was always one that I was not sure how to apply to my classroom. I know that I will learn each day and become more confident as I move forward but this chapter helped me gain more confidence. I found the ways to make a newcomer in the classroom feel welcomed and comfortable to be the most intriguing. Introducing a new student in the classroom can feel awkward or uncomfortable. But reading the script in chapter 6 to introduce them made me think back to my elementary school experience. There were always new students that would come into our classes whether it was a day late or a few weeks late. Us students were always so excited to meet them and welcome them into the classroom. But, some of my teachers wouldn’t go through any of the steps that I learned from this chapter and would just simply continue teaching and it would be our job as students to do the welcoming. What I found was that introducing the student and learning about their life, where they are from, what they speak, and a little bit of their background was very essential. When I was reading about recognizing their geographical roots, I really enjoyed the idea of using a photo of the student, a string, and a pin and connecting the photo to where they came from. This is an idea that I would like to use when I teach to display diversity in my classroom and to show that everyone is valued. This will also allow students to learn about each other’s backgrounds and may spark up questions about where they are from which will build their knowledge.