Teachers are often a young immigrant's first regular, ongoing contact with someone outside their home community and culture. It's a relationship that can provide the emotional scaffolding necessary to cross the linguistic and cultural divide between country of origin and country of residency.
With a hearty mix of creativity, cultural acumen, and professional expertise, teachers can help English language learners acquire language skills more rapidly — and foster inclusion in the school community.
Listen to elementary teacher, Diane Holtam, talk about bridging the gap between her newly arrived immigrant students' home language and English.
Look for:
Go Deeper:
Crossing Borders/Borders Crossing [1]
The depth and clarity of a teacher's multicultural lens can make — or break — immigrant students' ability to learn.
Reflect On:
Ready Resources:
Diane's Flashcards [2] (PDF)
Hear Korean vowel sounds [3] like those on Diane's flashcards
Learn more about Spanish language vowel pronunciation [4]
Creating ELL-friendly classrooms [5]
Teaching through conversation [6]
Additional Resources
Papers
Breaking the Prejudice Habit [7] by Patricia G. Devine
Preparing for Culturally Relevant Teaching [8] by Geneva Gay
Primer on Culturally Responsive Teaching [9] from Brown University
Multicultural Education: Strategies for Linguistically Diverse Schools and Classrooms [10] by Deborah Menkart
Effective Literacy and English Language Instruction for English Learners in the Early Grades [11]
Books
Nene and the Horrible Math Monster ($16.95), by Marie Villanueva and Ria Unson, is about Nene, a Filipino girl who confronts the minority myth that all Asians excel at mathematics. Nene faces her fears about doing math and overcomes them. Polychrome Publishing Corporation. ISBN-13 9781879965027
Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research and practice. ($24.95) by Geneva Gay. New York: Teachers College Press, 2000. ISBN-10: 0807739545 ISBN-13: 978-0807739549
Teaching to change the world, 3rd Edition. ($66.25) by Jeannie Oakes and Marvin Lipton. Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2006. ISBN-10: 0072982004 ISBN-13: 978-0072982008
Unraveling the Model Minority Stereotype: Listening to Asian-American Youth. ($19.95) by Stacey J. Lee. New York: Teachers College Press, 1996. ISBN-10: 0807735094 ISBN-13: 978-0807735091
We can't teach what we don't know: White teachers, multiracial schools, 2nd Edition. ($13.95) by Gary Howard. New York: Teachers College Press, 2006. ISBN-10: 0807746657 ISBN-13: 978-0807746653
The Crosscultural Language and Academic Development Handbook: A Complete K-12 Reference Guide. ($69.60) by Lynne T. Diaz-Rico and Kathryn Z. Weed. Boston: Pearson, 2006. ISBN-10: 0205443257, ISBN-13: 978-0205443253
Links:
[1] http://www.tolerance.org/teach/magazine/features.jsp?cid=606
[2] http://www.tolerance.org/images/teach/activities/tt_abc_flash_cards.pdf
[3] http://www.learnkorean.com/lesson/lesson2.asp
[4] http://www.learn-lessons.spirita.net/Languages/learn-spanish-online.htm#Lear
[5] http://www.education-world.com/a_issues/chat/chat124.shtml
[6] http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1094&context=crede
[7] http://www.augsburg.edu/education/edc210/devine.html
[8] http://www.sagepub.com/eis/Gay.pdf12-16
[9] http://www.lab.brown.edu/tdl/tl-strategies/crt-principles-prt.shtml
[10] http://www.ncela.gwu.edu/pubs/pigs/pig16.htm
[11] http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pdf/20074011.pdf