Upon simply reading the title of Chapter 1 of Readicide, I immediately began exploring what that "elephant" might be in my classroom. Before reading on, I contemplated what the obvious but often avoided truths are in my high school Spanish classroom. Not only does a lack of motivation to read exist among my students, but more generally a lack of motivation to learn at all. When I started teaching, I naively made the comment numerous times, "I will not let kids fail. I want everyone to do well and pass my class." This (now humorous) proclamation quickly slapped me in the face when I realized that all students were not passionate or driven to learn, especially Spanish. "I don't need to speak 'Mexican'. This is America!" Comments such as this greeted me upon my arrival. And this was precisely the elephant in my room. Not only did I have to battle literacy, but the simple truth that not all students even have the slightest urge to learn another language.
Luckily, I am not nearly as distracted by the elephant that Gallagher refers to in "Readicide". I do not have a test that I am mandated to prepare my students for. With that being said, I have more flexibility (limited by the standards of course) to search for activities and learning engagements that reach the students where they are and help build upon their prior knowledge. As far as the literacy is concerned, I more or less start from scratch with my students, as if they were toddlers learning a new language. Literacy to them is still word recognition and semantic rules. They are not yet to the point of comprehension, and certainly not fluency. This can work to my advantage and my disadvantage.
The advantage comes with the students' not realizing that they are reading in my class always. They are presented material in all different forms, written, verbal, pictures, etc. They are constantly "reading" this material to further their understanding, whether it is from words on a paper or not. This sometimes helps avoid the mental block students have with reading. However, the disadvantage comes with the limit in level of text I can provide for them. At times, I feel like my students never get the opportunity to really read. I have to constantly step back and realize that their ability to understand any text in a foreign language is a huge accomplishment and shows growth.
What is the incentive of students learning? Most students do it to pass the test, get out of school or make more money! There is very seldom the response from a student that they want to learn.
ReplyDeleteReading is the key to knowledge. The answer to any question can be found in printed text in any language. But if the book is not opened the knowledge is locked away like a mineral hidden in the earth. Vocabulary are the diamonds and learning from books is the wealth of a society. Our society is drowning in a sea of illiteracy and with it goes our place in the societies of the world. We are fast becoming a society that will rely on the brain power from other countries. We are now bring into this country people from other countries to teach math and science. Our country brought to this land the brains of Germany after World War II to get us to the moon and into space. We are loosing our edge and will not gain it back unless we can get our students to want to read. The tree of knowledge does not grow if it is not fertilized.
I am glad that you mentioned the idea that students sometimes don't realize that they are reading in Spanish class. As a previous learner of different languages, I can understand why they think or feel that way. Sometimes a foreign language can seem so foriegn that you feel as if you are encripting instead of "reading." But what our students do not realize is that is a major part of reading. This has really mad me realize how helpful foreign languages can be for struggling readers. I wonder though...have you ever experienced a student who is especially gifted in Spanish but struggles with reading the English language?
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