Double Entry Journal #8: Know Your Students

Students that use English as a second language should not be always grouped together. Bilingual students may feel like they are being excluded from the rest of the classroom or singled out for being different. These students need to spread cultural appreciation among their peers and both traditional and nontraditional English learners can benefit from exchange of knowledge. Students from the same countries or sharers of the same first language may not get along. The reading was about two Spanish speaking children who were put into a group by their teacher. These two did not talk much or connect about their heritage because they both held very different views of Mexico and their traditions. By putting these study partners together, the children may have been more alienated towards them, or they felt reluctant to interact with the two girls.

According to some internet searches, I found that a virtual backpack was a school-home interaction. Instead of sending multiple sheets of printed paper to parents, parents can just read school information online. This process relates to funds of knowledge by keeping parents aware of what their children are doing, and they can respond to the school by emailing ideas or volunteering for an event. Virtual backpacks connect the community to the school by announcing community activities the students engage in or contacting individuals to help create lessons.

Resource:
Getting to know students:developing culturally revelant practices for reading and writing [Web log message]. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:_5palgT26a4J:media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/24/EHEP0005/EHEP000524-1.pdf+getting+to+know+your+students+interview&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESihbHTui0felcMHojEsBpnh8z7NAdzADlw2OA4q9Vocu4GnsE9vU6W8FAkura70mCyuOla1xOr-rr-Fx2SClUgdkg0vR_t62WIa7eI5Xv0hb-0RJGU6wkBN550lYlezIl_CDQ0s&sig=AHIEtbQinv4Hao96DU6foV8n3HZ8ybE5Ng&pli=1

This website (link is right here) is an advertisement for teachers teaching English as a second language. It is trying to sell a job that sounds easy. The article states that what the teacher needs the most is passion about the English language and there will be visual materials and learning tools provided to work with students. The advertisement does not stress how you are to act toward the students, it is a teacher-centered article.

Resource:
English as a foreign language teacher : job description [Web log message]. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.prospects.ac.uk/english_as_a_foreign_language_teacher_job_description.htm