Integrating Skills

Kuma Ch. 9-10 Brown Ch. 17

Brown discusses the integration of the "four skills", reading-writing-speaking-listening and the importance of integrating skills for more authenticity and better reinforcement of the language. After reading what he had to say about the types of instruction (content-based, task-based, theme-based, experiential, episodic), I was able to establish a basis for my future teaching. When thinking back to my experiences learning a second language, the more integrated the four skills were, the more progress that I made.  Seeing that the four skills are the fundamentals of learning a language, the different appraoches that illustrate the integration of skills is extremely important. It will be up to us to integrate skills while making  sure that the needs of all students are met in the classroom.

Kumar reinforces the importance of the integration of skills as well as communicative competence and discourse in language learning. Chapter nine was a review of contexualizing input. In order to purposefully and beneficially integrate skills, our students have to properly differentiate input. Also, to maintain authenticity, educators need to move outside of the traditional textbook and use authentic texts such as newspapers or media. Kumar ties in both chapters by reminding us that the comination and integration of all four of the language skills builds upon the contextualization of the input. I really liked what Kumar said in Chapter ten about creating a colorful tapestry with the weaving of the strands that consist of the four primarty skills. As a future educator, I plan to work towards finding the perfect weave while facilitaing classroom activites that involve a meaninful and simultaneious engagement with language in use. The main focus of this weeks reading was to become familiar with instructional methods in integrating skills in our classrooms. Also, it is important to go beyond the limitations of teaching and the classroom in order to promote a postive and meaningful learning experience for students learnin a second langauge. 

Kumar Chapter 1

The first thing that caught my eye in chapter one, Conceptualizing Teaching Acts, was the quote below the title. The quote by Larry Cuban stated, "To teach is to be full of hope." After reading, I felt that the quote was very appropriate after reading the various definitions of a teacher and all of the different components that go into the career of teaching. 

Many of us are waiting to come out of college with a teaching certificate from the state. Kumar states, "...learning to teach does not end with obtaining a diploma or a degree in teacher education but is an ongoing process throughout one's teaching career." This made me realize that my original thoughts were that after college I am going to know everything I need to know to have my own classroom and be a successful teacher. The fact that being a teacher includes much more than the average person sees or thinks. As we begin our teaching careers, we will continue to develop and reflect on classroom-oriented research and problem-solving activities. Kumar mentions that this role of teachers is known as reflective practicioners. The other two roles are passive technicians and transformative intellectuals.  

I found it interesting that the descriptions for the role of a teacher were limited to three main titles. I agree with Kumar that it is difficult to precisely pin down the role of a teacher because our roles are endless. We will be whatever we need to be in whatever situation to faciliate our classroom and educate our students. Although each part of the role included in-depth descriptions of what a teacher does and will have to do thoughout their careers, I feel that the role of a teacher goes beyond what was stated in Kumar. I believe that the roles didn't always acknolwedge the extreme importance and influence that a teacher can have in the classroom. I also believe that true teaching comes from building a relationships with students and working together to lead the classroom. With that bond, a hope for making a difference in the world and in children's lives will be made possible. Going back to the quote at the beginning of my post, I understand that to teach is to be full of hope. Full of hope to become the best teacher you can be, full of hope to make an impact in the lives of students and full of hope to be a part of the history of education that will help the field to grow and move in the right direction. 

Week 14: Language variations, language Ideologies

Chapter 5 in the McKay & Bokhorts-Heng book talked about the linguistic diversity of present day English use. As I started reading, I found it very interesting to see that with the extreme growth in speakers of English as a second language, they are beginning to use both their native language and English hand in hand on almost a daily basis. It make me think about how the world continues to become more and more bilingual especially with all of the immigration taking place. The book talked about the different variations of English that are coming about with the use of English and other languages by bilingual speakers. For example, the changes that these speakers are using while speaking English are being codified and accepted as standard. With that being said, the number of standardized varieties of English is growing in Outer Circle countries as well as Expanding Circle countries. After reading the description of Nigerian English, it really is something else how many different varieties and or dialects there can be of a single language. I feel that these dialects continue to change day by day as more words, phrases or changes of the English language are becoming the standard. I then went on to read about the different features of variation within the language. As an aspiring teacher, it makes me wonder if the standard English taught in classrooms is going to change. What technically is the right English to be teaching? Is there even a "right" one?

My question was somewhat answered when I read about the Standard Language ideology. The definition in the book states, "term generally used to refer to that variety of a language that is considered the norm." But then again, I questioned myself about what is the norm, is it changing? When the book went on to define Standard English, I still wasn't sold on the idea after watching the videos in class where students are being encouraged to use their dialects of English in the classroom however still being directed into using this Standard English.

In Lippie-Green Chapter 2, I thought it was interesting how they reffered to the different accents of English especially between L1 and L2 learners. I also found it ineresting that they were reffering to Standard English as the non-accent. The example about the native man from Hawaii. He applied for a job and was turned down because he was a bilingual speaker and did not use Standard English pronunciations. I found that as a shame to see that we are trying to do our best to shy away from this standardidized, "one fits all" mentality. We all come from different backgrounds and should be accepted for that. Especially when so many Americans are worried about people speaking English in American, it was surprising to see that if these second language learners of the langauge do not speak perfect Standardized English, it still isn't good enough.........

Week 12: Multilingual Practices

Chapter 2 from the McKay book identified issues in English teaching and learning in the Inner, Outer and Expanding Circles. The main problem in the Inner Circle is that language minority students are positioned as outsiders. Inner Circle countries view language diversity as a problem. To help their "problem" they have programs that are focusing on the acquisition of English with little emphasis on devloping the student's first language. This is a turn in the monolinguistic direction. This is causing students to lose their cultural identity and where they came from. In the Outer Circle, the need for English proficiency is growing and becoming more necessary for tertiary education. However there are practical problems arising from trying to develop academic literacy in both English and the national language. Since these students need English to receive higher education they are putting all of their effort into the English language. Lastly in the Expanding Circle, the fact that educators sometimes do not have sufficient proficiency in the English language which then causes a lack of teacher confidence. These educators also have a hard time motivating the students who do not see the purpose in learning the English language. I think that those teachers need to focus on the reason why TESOL classes exist and all of the benefits that comes from being biligual. As we talked about in previous weeks, the globalization of English continues to grow and raise issues about native and second languages.

In Chapter 3, it moves on to talk about multilingual countries characterized by diglossia. What I found most interesting was the fact that providing English education, alongside mother tongue languages is seen as an important feature of nationalist policy. There has also been growth in those who believe in monolingualism. I don't know how anyone can see the benefits of losing ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity. This once again goes back to the idea of cultural identity. How could one want to lose their identity? What would the world be like if it were monolinguistic? Would any of the ethnic and cultural diversity still exist? Every  ethnicity is rich in culture and language. I am all for people learning two languages. But if they are going to take on a second language, I strongly suggest that they preserve their mother tongue, their native language. That is the benefit of speaking two languages, you can broaden the type of people you talk while expanding your cultural identity. Learning a language includes learning a culture as well. We need to learn to appreciate all that a language is. As English continues to spread, one of the major incentives of learning the lanague is for the purposes of citizenship and social and economic integration. I believe that the globalization of English is a good thing but can also be contributing to the death of languages.

Week 11: English in an era of globalization

Chapter one in Interaction English in Its Sociolinguistic Contexts talks about the English language in an era of globalization. There is this wide spread of English taking place all over the world. However, with that being said, homogenization is leading to the loss of other languages around the world. With the loss of languges comes the loss of culture. I agree with those stating that is devastating to see languages dying with the increase of English language speakers. This comes down to the fact that in order to save these cultures and languages they need to continue speaking it and spreading it. I see how this can be so hard when such a language as powerful as English is globalizing. What would happen if English eventually became the only language in the world?

I found it very interesting to read about the spread of English through colonialism. Also, I thougth that it was cool to read about all of the various incentives for learning English. The incentives included economic, education and mass media incentives.   It made me realize how much of necessity there is to speak the English lanuage. I had a flashback to my study abroad experience yet again while reading the section about music. The chapter states how English is the dominant language in popular music today. In many countries, the exposure to these popular songs has led to code-mixing in locally produced pop music. I remember my Spanish friends not being able to speak English however they were able to sing the lyrics of popular English sang songs. I thought it was funny how they would sing but didn't even know what the lyrics meant. They would then use those words in everyday speech. 

With the high demand of having the ability to speak English, monolinguism is an important factor to consider in all of this. Each and every person has these cultural layers and languages as they choose to learn another language. It seems as if these layers and beginning to fall off and they are being left with only the English language. I think that especially as future educators, we need to help students realize the beauty of having such a unique cultural identity. It is an incredible experience learning another language but that does not need to include losing native languages. I plan on helping my students to protect their cultural identity and stress the importance of keeping linguistic and cultural background. 

Week 10: Race, Language, and identity; critical multiculturalism in TESOL

The Ibrahim article, Becoming Black was very interesting to me. I was also taken back by the story of these French speaking Africans coming to North America. It makes me wonder why blacks only find themselves identifying with other blacks. In this society today unfortunately that is still the case, but not in all cases.  However, generally you see people of the same race or culture identifying with one another. It is amazing to me how they would just fall into the categories of becoming black just for having that skin color. I remember talking about with whom we find ourselves identifying with. What makes up our social identity? I had found myself identifying with many different groups of people and my culture only being one of them. I believe that we need to continue to expand our identity by looking past skin color. Anyone can learn BE (black English). As seen in today’s society, it is another dialect of English and not only black people are speaking it. I have seen and heard people who wanted to be black or identified with that type of person.

The idea of racism comes to mind when I was reading the article. He also addresses the white racist in the article which made me question my beliefs and if I am falling for the stereotypical mind set. I believe that you should not fall into the stereotype stated in the article if you have black skin. It was so crazy to me to hear that these continental Africans are falling into these dominant groups such as blacks. They are facing a social imaginary right off the bat as Ibrahim states in the article. I can’t imagine how it would feel like to enter a society that already had preconceived ideas about where one does and does not fit in. That want and need to fit into society could definitely have an effect on with whom these continental Africans were identifying with. He states that they mostly identified with African American blacks and their culture.  It goes back to the idea that everyone is an individual and we all come from different cultural backgrounds. I believe that anyone can identify with whatever kind of culture or identity that they want to.

It was eye opening to see that he did not identify himself as being black, he described his identity as tall, Sudanese and a basketball player. However, when he got to North America he made the transition from his identity to becoming black. In the end, I think that it is important for TESOL educators to begin to put aside the stereotypes and treat all students equally. I believe that in today’s society we need to embrace the different cultures and like Ibrahim says to look into rap and hip-hop and instead of banning it, embrace it and assist students in finding their identity.  

Week 8: Cultural Representation

In this week’s assigned reading, I was surprised to see how great of an impact that images can make for a non native speaker learning English. The images in the EFL textbooks can be a very important aspect for these students when learning. I thought about myself being a visual learner and a native speaker. These students may not completely understand the text but can draw conclusions from images. Right in the introduction of Taylor-Mendes’ article I was stunned to see what the student Fatima had to say.

She is quoted saying, “I see more White people than Black people. I saw ... when I saw Black people, I saw them in a poor situation. Here they don't put a rich man for example who have a job and have a happy family. To me this is ridiculous ... it's like they show the majority who have money is the White people, and who have this lifestyle is the majority of people who have money ... and they are White. I think the [English language] books ... This people who study in ... schools very expensive want to see themselves, and to see themselves is to see White people ... White people and happy situations, a car, a beautiful beach, beautiful things.

Fatima’s reaction to images in her EFL textbook made me question how I would depict English language speakers in a textbook. Her reaction also upset me to see how much of an impact stereotypes have in our world. As future educators of the English language we need to break the mold and stay far away from stereotypes. It is crazy to see how the creators of these kinds of textbooks believe that the images are apolitical, neutral and enjoyable. These images are putting ideas in to the learners of English that may not be true! Also, from reading the other comments made by students learning the language is that each and every one of them have their own interpretation with the same general stereotypical observations. It is incredible how much they can interpret just from viewing a picture. They do say that a picture is worth a thousand words.

Another idea that stood out to me was when the author discusses the question, what does an English speaker look like? Once again, I began to question myself as to how I would answer such a question. The first thought that came to my mind was a white person, seeing that I am one. But is that the right answer? I don’t necessarily believe so and therefore I started to understand how the responses to this question would be biased, prejudiced or even racist. However, the simple answer that can be depicted from the images in EFL textbooks is “White, wealthy, powerful, isolated with members of their own race, and free of problems.”  I think that we have come such a long way from the past of harsh racial biases to even jeopardize our chances at reinforcing our past ideas.  It makes me uncomfortable for people of other races to see these kinds of stereotypes reoccurring in our society today.

Week 7

Week 6: Culture and written discourse: International Rhetoric, multilingual writing

     I had the chance to read Kubota's Unfinished Knowledge: The Story of Barbara. The most interesting part of this weeks reading for me was the story about the teacher Barbara and her encounter with three students from China, Korea and Japan. Since this teacher had lacked experience with other cultures she was quick to make the assumption that there was something wrong with the students- either low intelligence or some cognitive deficit that prevented them from thinking logically. What really surprised me is the fact that she didn't even stop to think that maybe English wasn't their first language and they were still working on improving their writing skills. Developing oral proficiency skills takes a lot of time and effort as well as improving writing skills. 

     Later on in the story I began to feel a connection with Barbara because she was in a similar position to me in the fact that she was needing more experience in cross cultural experience. Most of us students are taking this class to learn and prepare ourselves for our future classrooms that will most likely be more culturally integrated than today's classrooms. Us future educators will be more informed and ready to embrace other cultures with a strong background knowledge on nonnative English speakers and their various cultures. The only experience with other cultures that I have is mostly the Spanish culture so in that sense I too feel the need to branch out more to learn about more culture. 

     In the Kubota article, Carol tells Barbara "When two people from different cultures meet, misunderstanding tends to occur, because we tend to judge the other person with our own cultural frame of reference. However, neither culture is right or wrong, or good or bad. They are just different." I really thought that that particular quote stood out in describing why there are so many misconceptions. Seeing that Barbara grew up in a white community, she had the expectations for those students to be writing as a native English speaker. 

     The Connor article was hard for me to understand. I didn't grasp the whole idea about what rhetoric is and how teachers can incorporate that into lessons.  

Week 5: Power and discourse; otherization, cultural assimilation, cultural stereotyping

Social Identity in Language

The first article that I looked at was Norton’s article in regards to social identity, investment and language learning. Bart from the Simpsons caught my attention right away because it was something that I could relate to. Putting myself in Eva, an immigrant language learner’s position, I too would feel uncomfortable. Once again, I think that it raises the question of judgment. Norton states that Eva, for not being familiar with the character from the show could be seen as a poor language learner who has not developed sociolinguistic competence. I myself, never really watched the Simpsons however have lived here my entire life I would be able to recognize the character. The article made me realize how difficult it must be for immigrants or second language learners to be put in situations like that of Eva. It also made me think about how hard it may be to not only learn the language but then have to obtain the knowledge of the social aspect of another culture. With that being said, it also made me realize the importance of exposure to the language. It truly reflects the motivation one must have to not only learn a language but to learn a culture. I remember when I studied abroad in Spain and the daily situations that I faced. I know that for a fact I would not have the speaking abilities that I do now in the language of Spanish if it was not for immersing myself into the culture. I was surrounded by the language daily with my local friends from the area. Many times the two cultures clashed and I felt like Eva when my Spanish friends would say “you don’t know what that is!?”

            Hall touches on the idea of social identity and how we are defined by part of our membership in a range of social groups into which we may have been born. This made me realize how many groups that I belong to. All of these layers have an effect on when we use language. In reference to our involvement in the various activities of social institutions such as school, church, family and the workplace, Hall states “these institutions give shape to the kinds of groups to which we have access and to the role-relationships we can establish with others.” All of these social groups play a role in how we use language.

As Hall summarizes at the end of Chapter 2 it states, “this view recognizes that culture does not exist apart from language or apart from us, as language users.” I feel that this statement clarifies that culture and language go hand in hand. Hall talks about the idea of socialization. Hall also talks about how language helps a person to identify themselves.

            These readings demonstrated the sense of identity and language and helped me to think about my very own identity and how that will play a role in my classroom. I was overwhelmed with everything that makes up culture and identity and now understand the investment that it can be in learning a new language or assimilating into a new culture. 

Identity

The main idea that I took away from both Holliday and Pavlenko’s The Making of an American  was cultural identity and identity itself. The majority of the article discusses the immigration of people coming to America during the beginning of the 1900’s. Immigration generates the thought of coming to a new place and either changing your ways, not changing your ways or a little of both. I feel that now days many people frustrate themselves with the fact that there are many immigrants who still do not speak the language. These kinds of people are in doubt that the country is continuing to become more and more culturally integrated. They are bitter towards immigrants who do not speak the language and therefore turn them away or treat them poorly.  

            There are all different types of people in this world and in today’s society there unfortunately still remain groups of people who do not accept others for who they are where they come from. For example, after 9/11 many American’s stereotyped all types of dark skinned Muslims, etc. I feel that us Americans need to drop the idea of having one identity or one culture and continue to embrace the new. Our country is extremely unique I feel in the sense of being so much more integrated than other places. I have neighbors whom both come from different cultural backgrounds. For example, my neighbor Estrella is from Cuba. I was exposed to her cultural from a young age seeing as she is similar to a second mother of mine. She speaks both Spanish and English and has assimilated to the American culture and has been living here since a very young age. This is more background knowledge for me in teaching my students.

Holliday’s ideas were also on identity. I thought that the reading was interesting in the fact that it talked about what one thinks about him or herself as well as what others think about those people. Stereotypes are a big part of today’s society and in order to help avoid people being mislabeled is to avoid all of the nonsense and think past the general stereotype which I agree, can be hard at times. As future educators we must do better than the rest of society in changing these stereotypes around and not letting them come into our classrooms. Holliday also talked about truly defining who we are. I am a Spanish Education major and therefore already have an appreciation for two languages. I studied abroad in Spain and fell in love with the culture. I have found a balance between embracing the Spanish culture as well as not losing my identity as a native born American. After taking my English Linguistics course last semester, we had a discussion on second languages and it was very intriguing because we had a discussion on whether or not we would have our children learn both their native language and then the American language. I believe that in order for the society to continue to culturally grow that people do not need to drop their native culture and language. I think that they need to find a balance of the cultures. Especially with the rapid growth of foreign languages in American, being bilingual is almost becoming necessary.

Cultural identity will be very influential in the classroom for teachers and students. For teachers, we need to realize that each and every student has their own story and personality. We cannot be quick to judge for we may not know their culture, likes, dislikes, etc.

Culture

           One of the most key themes that appeared in the reading and most likely will reappear for the course is culture. I feel that everyone defines the word a different way. With that comes many questions that appear such as what is the real definition of culture, and how do those definitions affect those teaching and learning a language. It is important for us as future professors of English as a second language to understand what our students will be bringing to the table, who they are, where they are from etc. Also, it is the idea that these students are not only learning a new language but they are becoming accustomed to a brand new culture as well. I can’t imagine how overwhelmed some of these learners must be. The only time that I have experienced being placed in a situation like that would be when I studied abroad in Spain. I was forced to change my ways and accept a new culture for the five months that I was abroad. I also had to learn a new language, Spanish as my second language.

            After reading the Atkinson article, I realized that there may not be one exact or correct definition for the word culture. With that being said, I was stumbled because then how do we go about defining this major theme. Another point that was discussed was that culture itself may not have a place in the education field. I disagree because culture is present everywhere that you go, especially in schools. Education gives a chance to embrace all of the different cultures especially in learning new cultures aside from your own.

            Being an American, I feel that all of us should have respect for the constantly changing society with new cultures. It is something to be embraced I feel and not pushed away. As a future educator, I will be helping future immigrants for example to broaden their culture, not by changing who they are. I see it as building onto what culture they already have and giving them the knowledge to embrace the English language for example.

            The Holliday reading was interesting and it made me think about the fact that I have my Spanish boyfriend visiting America for the first time. He doesn’t speak English but is eager to learn. After reading the charts on pages 57-59 I began to laugh a little bit because of how much this can apply to our relationship. We have both had the chance to appreciate our very own cultures by missing things about them. “Appreciate that every society is as complex and culturally varied as your own” (Holliday, 2010) For example, my boyfriend Mario misses the food in Spain, especially the bread, however can’t get enough of Taco Bell ;). Another thing caught my attention was the idea of stereotyping and trying to explain the different people of America to him was very difficult. I’m not sure if he understood how culturally integrated the country is to begin with. I feel that we share something special in the sense that we are able to share our cultures and essentially “add layers” onto who we are. Experiences like this will better educate me for when I have students with different religions, traditions, mannerisms etc. that will be sitting in my classroom. I want to have a strong cultural knowledge to make all students feel welcome in the sense that they too can succeed in embracing new culture and language.

            I now can view culture in a different light. I can see and understand the complexity of the world culture and the impact that it will have on my future career as an educator. The readings made an impact on my thoughts and made me think about how I perceive the statements for example in the Holliday reading.