tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651449092687418151.post7516110100737352699..comments2022-04-28T14:55:58.840-04:00Comments on Lingvae: Raising a bilingual childMs. Natashahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13970298486687842735noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651449092687418151.post-20276994624844828472010-07-04T23:16:57.391-04:002010-07-04T23:16:57.391-04:00Thank you for your insightful inquiry. I am always...Thank you for your insightful inquiry. I am always mindful of my students' cultural and linguistic background. Research shows that members of certain cultures prefer strategies such as cooperative learning (see the work of Stephen Kagan) while others prefer working individually. I try to learn about the literacy habits of my students and their families. Some families place a high value on the written word while others are gifted at oral storytelling, etc.<br /> I believe it is important to research the differences in sounds between languages. For example, Japanese speakers struggle with the "l" and "r" phoneme in English due to their language background. In this case, I might create tongue twisters which incorporate these 2 sounds. Language learning should be fun!Also, finding out the basic variables between languages is easier now than ever with the internet.<br /> Teaching English to students whose language I don't speak is more challenging than when I know the student's language. For this reason, the books we create are excellent ways to use a child's native language as a resource. I speak 3 languages- English, Italian and Greek- but I've studied several others. However, there are thousands of languages so an ESL teacher will rarely know the languages of all of her students. We generally have a strong background in linguistics and multicultural education.<br />Hope this helps- please send other questions my way...Dr. Dhttp://www.lingvae.com/2010/05/raising-bilingual-child.html#comment-formnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4651449092687418151.post-4246651651067430442010-06-25T09:22:59.008-04:002010-06-25T09:22:59.008-04:00Does your strategy for teaching English as a secon...Does your strategy for teaching English as a second language change depending on the cultural/linguistic background of your students, or have you found strategies and ideas for teaching ESL that work well for all students of English, regardless of whether they come from Luxembourg or from Greece? Is it hard to teach ESL if you don't speak the native language of your students? I've always been curious about this. Thanks!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com