This website offers a comparison of English to other languages often spoken Around the World such as Arabic, Spanish, and Chinese. When the user clicks on another language, it discusses many differences between each language. These differences include syntax, phonics, grammar, and much more. For example, the website states that in Arabic there is no verb "to be" so many Arabic students may say "I short" instead of "I am short." As teachers, we need to be aware of this so that we don't mistake students lack of knowledge as a mistake but rather as a language difference that needs to be very explicitly taught. The teacher should also not discourage the use of the student's native language. It should be used as a tool to learn content and to learn English. In Garcia and Flores's text, they state that "teachers must hold a language philosophy that encourages voice, regardless of language features" (Garcia and Flores, 2014, pg. 161). This is an excellent philosophy to adopt and I plan to base my classroom on this.
I want my students to be speaking, I want all of their ideas shared, and I want them all to feel safe and welcome in my class. In the future, I plan to use this as a beginning resource into a student's native language. For example, if I have a student that speaks Spanish in my class, I will go look at this website to obtain some basic language differences. Then, I will deeply research the language and try to learn some words in Spanish that will help the student adjust to the classroom and feel welcome. This website is a great starting point for uncovering language differences. I love it!
Here is the link:
http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/index.htm
I want my students to be speaking, I want all of their ideas shared, and I want them all to feel safe and welcome in my class. In the future, I plan to use this as a beginning resource into a student's native language. For example, if I have a student that speaks Spanish in my class, I will go look at this website to obtain some basic language differences. Then, I will deeply research the language and try to learn some words in Spanish that will help the student adjust to the classroom and feel welcome. This website is a great starting point for uncovering language differences. I love it!
Here is the link:
http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/index.htm