I really enjoyed listening to this week’s topic which focused on different types of literacy and which students are deemed literate. Through my own discussion with classmates I proposed that ‘being literate’ meant being fluent in reading, writing, and comprehending spoken language. I think teachers can maximize engagement by not losing sight of the asset it would be for a student to be knowledgeable in both languages, instead of just forcing the geographically dominant language of the school’s curriculum. Student’s will be excited if given assignments that allow them to integrate a few words in their home language along with the corresponding significant meanings.
As an English major who is very passionate about books, something that inspired me from this week’s reading was the idea of stocking the library with a wide variety of literature that incorporates different languages and diverse cultures. The part about diverse cultures will also help shatter the narrative of “single stories” a concept that was talked about in lecture.
During the Ted talk we listened to in class, the name Chinua Achebe was brought up. Achebe is a well published author who I happen to already be a big fan of. I will ensure that in my future classroom I have a bookcase for students to browse through out of pure curiosity and self-guided learning. One of the novels I will make sure is available is Achebe’s, “Things Fall Apart” which helps describe to European settlers the prior lifestyle and cultural practices of his community in Nigeria.
Nicole,
I think it is very interesting to have your book shelves in the classroom stocked with multilingual books. This is a great way to represent diversity in the classroom. My question for you is would you have books that represent the languages spoken in your classroom? I would think it might be a good idea to do so, and have a ‘show and tell’ theme where the students can share out loud with the class the book from their native language!