Language and Learning in Multilingual Classrooms: A Practical Approach: 16 (Parents' and Teachers' Guides) - Softcover

Coelho, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1847697194 ISBN 13: 9781847697196

Verlag: Multilingual Matters, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

This book offers practical research-based advice for teachers on how to adapt school and classroom procedures, curriculum content and instructional strategies in order to provide a supportive learning environment for students of minority language backgrounds who are learning the language of instruction as they are learning the curriculum.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Elizabeth Coelho, a former coordinator for English as a Second Language in Toronto, has taught teacher education courses at the University of Toronto, and worked on policy and resource development at the Ontario Ministry of Education. Her book Teaching and Learning in Multicultural Schools: An Integrated Approach, also published by Multilingual Matters, is used on teacher education courses across Canada.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Language and Learning in Multilingual Classrooms

A Practical Approach

By Elizabeth Coelho

Multilingual Matters

Copyright © 2012 Elizabeth Coelho
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-84769-719-6

Contents

Acknowledgements, 
Introduction, 
Section 1: Getting Started, 
1. The New Arrival, 
2. First Days and Beyond, 
Section 2: Planning: A Whole-School Approach, 
3. Linguistic and Academic Support for Newcomers and Language Learners, 
4. Differentiated Instruction and Assessment for Newcomers and Language Learners, 
5. Planning Ahead, 
Section 3: In the Classroom, 
6. An Inclusive Learning Environment, 
7. Making Space for Community Languages, 
8. Oral Language in Every Classroom, 
9. Reading and Writing in Every Classroom, 
10. Vocabulary Instruction in Every Classroom, 
Afterword, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

The New Arrival

Introduction

This chapter provides background information about students of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and outlines some of the reasons for their presence in classrooms in post-industrial countries. In some of these countries, such as Spain, immigration is a relatively recent phenomenon, and teachers need to adapt quickly to a new reality. In other countries, such as Canada, linguistic and cultural diversity, present since the earliest settlements of Aboriginal peoples and fuelled by several centuries of immigration, have helped to shape a national identity; nevertheless, many smaller towns and rural communities have only recently begun directly to experience and respond to the impact of immigration in schools.

You will gain some understanding of the experiences and needs of immigrant and minority students as they adjust to a new cultural and educational environment at the same time as they are learning a new language for school. The chapter ends with some ideas about the role of the school in a community that is being transformed by the arrival of new residents from all over the world.

Who Are The New Immigrants?

Immigration has been an essential feature of North American development since the 15th century. For hundreds of years the majority of immigrants to Canada were from Europe, especially from Great Britain and France, and various measures were in place to discourage immigration from other parts of the world. However, perhaps as a result of the rise in their standard of living since the end of the Second World War, fewer Europeans now feel the need to emigrate in order to improve their lives. In the 1960s barriers were removed for prospective immigrants from other parts of the world, and a 'points system' based on the individual's education and skills is now used to select applicants from other countries to fill labour market gaps in Canada. As a result, the ethnic composition of the immigrant population has changed dramatically. Today, most immigrants to Canada are from countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and have neither English nor French as their first language.

Immigration policies in Canada generally focus on adult newcomers and the contributions they can make to their new country. Many of those adults bring their children with them, or send for them within a year or two. Today about 20% of immigrants to Canada are under the age of 15. These children all not only have the right to attend school, but are obliged to do so; indeed, in the Canadian province of Ontario, the destination province of most newcomers to Canada, students must attend school until the age of 18, and have the right to stay until the age of 21.

In Europe, large-scale immigration is a more recent phenomenon. Until relatively recently, most European countries were source countries of immigration to the Americas. Now the situation is reversed, and many European countries are experiencing a dramatic increase in immigration. Many of the newcomers are from former colonies: for example, most immigrants to Spain are from Latin America. Others are from other European Union countries and, therefore, have the right to live and work in any other member country. In Spain there are also increasing numbers of newcomers from Africa and Asia. In Spain, about 13% of immigrants are under the age of 15.

Why Do They Come?

People leave their homelands because they can imagine a better future for themselves, and especially for their children. Starting a new life in a new country requires courage, initiative, and imagination.

What makes them leave their own countries?

Reasons for leaving the homeland, or 'push factors', are many and complex, varying from country to country and from decade to decade. Push factors include poor social and economic conditions, lack of educational or career opportunity, war or civil conflict, and political or religious oppression and other human rights abuses. Teachers can often see the effects of events around the world in the composition of their classes. For example, recent newcomers in Toronto schools include children from Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as children of Karan background from Myanmar, who have been living in refugee camps in Thailand.

What makes them choose to come here?

From the perspective of host countries in Europe and North America, immigrants come to renew the workforce and expand the economy. In countries such as Spain and Canada, an aging population and negative population growth have led to shortages of professionals and skilled workers in fields such as health and technology. Immigrants also come to work as cleaners, kitchen workers, hospital orderlies and assistants, construction workers, machine operators in factories, agricultural workers, and carers of children or elderly people – jobs that many people in Spain and Canada, and in most other post-industrial countries, are no longer willing to do. Many immigrants work in these jobs even though they have professional skills or advanced training, in the hope of finding work more in their own fields later on.

Some countries recognise the importance of immigration as a stimulus to the economy and have developed mechanisms that enable them to recruit and select prospective immigrants according to various criteria. There is also an infrastructure of settlement services, including language classes, to assist new immigrant workers and families as they adjust to their new environment.

In other countries, such as Spain, immigration is more recent, and various levels of government, while recognizing the need to respond to the needs of newcomer families and children, are finding it difficult to do so in a time of severe economic crisis.

Public opinion in countries that receive new immigrants is often based on the assumption that immigration represents a cost and a burden to the host society. However, the costs associated with the reception and resettlement of immigrants must be weighed against the economic benefits. For example, Canada's investment in these ready-to-go workers, in the form of resettlement services and language training, has to be weighed against the costs to other countries of raising and educating them from birth. In fact, Canada's high standard of living is being subsidised by immigration from other countries – mostly poorer countries that cannot afford to lose valuable human resources.

For those immigrants who make a deliberate choice to emigrate from their home country, generally for economic reasons, the choice of a particular country to emigrate to depends on its 'pull factors'. For example, the pull factors that draw immigrants to Canada include its active immigration programme, economic opportunity, the availability of services such as health and education, its multiculturalism policy, and its international reputation as a safe, peace-loving country where human rights and social, political, and religious freedoms are protected. Spain has many of the same pull factors. In addition, proximity makes Spain attractive to newcomers from other European Union countries as well as North Africa, while Spanish-speaking immigrants from Latin America are attracted to a country where they can speak their own language and with which they share some history.

How Do They Come?

Across Europe there are currently very different approaches to the admission and resettlement of immigrants, for the assessment of refugee claims, for the control of 'illegal' or undocumented immigrants, and the flow of immigrants across borders.

Even in countries with a long history of immigration, such as Canada, policies and procedures are regularly re-examined and revised in order to provide a balance between pragmatism (benefits to Canada) and altruism (humane considerations such as family reunification and asylum for refugees). Canada is regarded around the world as a country that has been successful in integrating 'New Canadians' from very diverse linguistic and ethnocultural backgrounds, and countries in Europe often look to Canada for examples of how to develop a modern approach to immigration.

Canada's five-year plan for immigration includes the following major categories for admission to the country:

• Most immigrants to Canada apply through the points system, a process which often takes several years. These immigrants have time to prepare for the transition and have their documents and financial affairs in order. They arrive in Canada as permanent residents and enjoy most of the rights of Canadian citizens.

• Once established, immigrants are allowed to sponsor close relatives, including children and spouses, who may arrive several years later. Although the support of family members who are already established can be invaluable, family reunification can also be a difficult process; for example, in situations where children have been separated from one or both parents for a number of years.

• Other newcomers arrive as refugees. These newcomers are accepted because they meet certain criteria established by the United Nations' 1951 Geneva Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. Convention Refugees are persons with a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. They may be resettled in Canada with government assistance, or through the sponsorship of a community group in Canada. Refugee claimants (known as asylum seekers in the UK) usually arrive without having made a prior application, and begin the process of making a claim for refugee status on arrival. This process may take years and can cause great anxiety and feelings of insecurity.

• Other workers arrive on temporary work and residence permits to take up seasonal work, such as fruit picking, or on temporary assignments with diplomatic missions or multinational corporations.

• A small percentage of new immigrants are admitted to Canada as investors, entrepreneurs or self-employed persons. They must meet stringent financial requirements and demonstrate that they have the funds, skills, and experience required to maintain a business in Canada.

• University and secondary school students are admitted on student visas on payment of fees to private or public educational institutions in Canada. Most international students under the age of 18 arrive alone and may live in a home stay or alone. They often experience great loneliness and homesickness, and are often under great pressure to do well and to finish their studies as quickly as possible.

The Immigrant Experience

Immigration is a life-changing experience. Immigrant children who end up in classrooms in North America and Europe have lived through a period of transition that may have been very difficult, and now face new challenges as they adjust to their new environment.

The transition

Adults who choose to start a new life in a new country may feel optimistic about new experiences and opportunities. However, those who do not make this choice, such as their children, or people who are forced to leave as refugees, may have very different feelings about this change in their lives. Most children and adolescents are not directly involved in the decision to emigrate and probably would not have chosen this path for themselves. No matter how important their parents' reasons for leaving, few children would choose to leave their friends and family and all that is familiar in order to live in a foreign country where they don't know anyone, where they don't understand the language, and where the physical and cultural environment are different from everything they know.

The excerpt on the next page from a dual language text in English and Urdu, created by students Madiha Bajwa, Sulmana Hanif, and Kanta Khalid, and illustrated by classmate Jennifer Du, is based on events in their own lives. It tells the fictional story of a young girl in Pakistan who discovers, to her horror, that she is to move with her parents to Canada.

Some families are well prepared for this great change in their lives. They are able to gather all their important documents, including health and educational records, and make all the necessary financial arrangements. Perhaps they can count on the support of friends and family members who are already in the new country, and they may even have a job offer before they leave. However, while the adults are busy preparing for this great change in their lives, their children may be unaware of what is to come, and may not be informed until very close to the departure date. As a result they may have very limited opportunities to prepare themselves emotionally, or to say goodbye to some of the people who are important to them and whom they may never see again.

Other families are less well prepared because of the circumstances under which they have to leave. Their transition may be much more difficult, or even dangerous. They may have to leave in secret, and may have to leave some family members behind. Their journey may be long and difficult: for example, refugees often have to stay in another country on the way, where they may have to wait for their application to enter a safe country to be processed. During this time, which may last for years, adults may not be allowed to work and children may not receive any schooling.

No matter how well prepared the family may be, the transition from one country and way of life to another can be a period of much doubt and insecurity.

New challenges

At last they have arrived, and their new lives begin. Within days of arrival, immigrant children and adolescents are in their new schools. Here they will face new and sometimes unexpected challenges. From the children themselves we can learn about the difficulties they face. For example, many are very anxious about their new school. Here are some representative comments by newcomer students:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

They may have doubts about their ability to learn the language of instruction well enough. They find it extremely difficult to demonstrate their knowledge or skills, or to express their feelings or their personalities. Many feel unwelcome and isolated; they have feelings of loss, and some may become depressed.

During this period of enormous stress, relationships within the family may change. Children are often required to adopt very adult roles, caring for younger siblings or serving as interpreters and negotiators for their parents, who often learn the language more slowly than their children. Many immigrant children and adolescents have much greater responsibility than others of their age, and sometimes they may demand new rights along with these responsibilities. This can cause conflict at home.

The adjustment process

In spite of the difficulties associated with the transition to a new country, the experience may help to develop characteristics that will serve immigrant children well throughout their lives. In taking drastic action to improve their lives and the lives of their children, their parents have demonstrated initiative, imagination, flexibility, and the ability to take risks. As a result, many immigrant children and adolescents can imagine alternatives and set long-term goals for themselves. Like their parents, they are often willing to work very hard to realise these goals. They develop the ability to adapt to new and unforeseen circumstances, and are able to confront uncertainty with optimism. The emotional difficulties associated with the immigrant experience can help them to develop emotional resilience that will enable them to confront problems and challenges in the future. As well, the challenge of learning a new language to a high level of proficiency develops cognitive skills and flexibility that may be generalised to other areas of the curriculum. And the Canadian experience has shown that most immigrants become loyal citizens of their new country.

However, some newcomer students are less successful in adjusting to their new environment. It is important for teachers to be aware of the process of adjustment that immigrant children and adolescents go through, and to provide the welcome and the support they need in order to become full members of the society.

First impressions

This phase has also been described as the tourist, spectator, or honeymoon phase.

During this period, the new arrival observes the new environment with interest, curiosity, and enthusiasm. For those who have escaped from danger, this may be a period of relief and euphoria.

Some newcomer students experience school in their new environment as a place of great freedom, and may explore this freedom without understanding the boundaries. It is important to provide initial and ongoing orientation to the school system for students and parents, and to be explicit about norms and expectations, so that students understand the roles and relationships in their new school environment. You will find some suggestions about reception and orientation in the next chapter.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Language and Learning in Multilingual Classrooms by Elizabeth Coelho. Copyright © 2012 Elizabeth Coelho. Excerpted by permission of Multilingual Matters.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Multilingual Matters
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1847697194
• ISBN 13: 9781847697196
• Einband: Tapa blanda
• Sprache: Englisch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 374
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar