I
observed an interaction between a parent that is Spanish speaking and a teacher
that does not speak any Spanish. The observation took place in a Head Start
four year old classroom. The mother who is Spanish speaking came to check on
her son who just started in the classroom. The teacher tried to reassure the
mom that her son who doing ok and having fun with the other children. The
teacher was speaking in and normal voice and smiling a lot. I observed that the
mother did not seem to understand. She seemed worried but told her son goodbye
and went home.
After
the mother was gone I was told that she keeps him at home if she checks on him
and he cries. As a parent of a young child it can be hard to let your child
stay at school if they cry. I feel it is even harder if you cannot understand
what the teacher is saying to you.
I
asked if Head Start had any ELL classrooms. The teacher told me they did not
have any ELL classrooms. I feel that this is unfortunate because there are two
children in that classroom that could benefit from an ELL setting. The little
boy who I will call James does not say one word in class and is somewhat
isolated from the other children. Not only would children from non-English speaking
homes benefit but the parents who did not know English will be able to
communication affective with the teacher because the teacher will know their native
language.
I
can advocate for Pensacola Head Start to have some ELL classrooms. If they cannot
have ELL classrooms then I can advocate for having the teachers to learn a second
language. I feel if you have non-English speaking students in your classroom
you need to know some based phases in the language the child and the family
knows to aid in communication. I live in Florida and the state has a large Hispanic
population. Knowing Spanish is a valuable skill to have in my state, because
many families understand very little English. Every parent should be able to
have good communication with the teacher, and the students feel more comfortable
if the teacher can understand what they are saying.
Charla,
ReplyDeleteFirst off I want to say that I love the profile picture of your little one! Too cute! Anyway it was unfortunate that the Head Start does not have ELL classes. I would agree that the two children you described would benefit from an ELL setting as well. I can see how you learning Spanish would most definitely help you with communicating in your town. I wish I would have took Spanish a few years ago because the area I live in is now populated with a lot of Hispanics and I feel as if I would be able to communicate better with them where I work at too.
One last note, the mother who takes the son away if he cries, does that happen often? Do you think it is because of the language barrier between the teacher and parent?
Ashley,
DeleteThank you. It is an old picture of my son Seth he is 4 now.
About the child who cries, he cries a few days a week. It is sad that their is an language barrier between the parent and the teachers. Like you I wish I had Spanish in high school or college.
I definitely agree with Ashley is very unfortunate not having any bilingual staff at site to support child and family. Especially to help mom answer any questions or concern she might have. It must be hard for the mom also leaving the child at a childcare setting where there's more questions than answers for her.
ReplyDeleteIt is unfortunate the Head Start you observed does not have any bilingual staff or an ELL classroom. It is very hard for children and their parents leaving for the first time and to have to stay with strangers. I can not imagine not being able to communicate with the the person I am leaving my child with or to be a child and not be able to communicte with the other children or the teacher.
ReplyDeleteCharla,
ReplyDeleteAlthough time contraints limited my comments to our blogs, I did follow your postings and gained a great deal of insight from what you described. As a Head Start teacher, I can attest to the chain of command and bureaucratic nature of our organization. There are some good things about this, as well as some very frustrating aspects. We have an organization behind us that uses evidence based research to make improvements, which I consider a huge benefit for children and families. However, the red tape within the organization makes change slow to come when the decisions made by administrators do not prove effective on the front lines of the classroom. I also appreciated your comments regarding language development and ELLs. For an organization that proposes a focus on cultural and linguistic awareness, I find it contradictory when the needs of countless ELLs and their families are not met appropriately. Thus, I believe you have chosen an important and complex area of advocacy. Thank you for sharing your experiences and contributing to my own education. I wish you success as you create a plan for advocacy and hope to hear more about it in our next internship course.
Charla,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say thank you for all of your posts through out this semester! They have truly educated me on the various ways the people at your observation site participated in advocacy. You always were so detailed and made sure we knew everything when it came to your information and observations. Thanks again!
Sierra