Latino Children Learning English Connection to Real Life

In chapter six the authors of Latino Children Learning English quotes Garrod and Pinkering’s statement of “routinization greatly simplifies the production process and gets around problems of ambiguity resolution in comprehension” (Valdès, 2011, p. 171). This quote about using a routine in linguistic acquisition can be related to a class conversation we had about having a concrete routines in special education environments. Many special education students thrive in an environment where they know what to expect and when to expect it. I work with special education students and they are always looking at the agenda on the classroom board to make sure they know what will happen when. If something unexpected occurs, such as a fire drill, we have to first calm them down and let them know that the building is not burning down before we can start to take them out of the building, otherwise they start to scream and become very emotional. When my students’ class is a normal day they can function well in the classroom. In sum, I can agree with the authors’ argument of ELLs thriving with routines in place. If the ELLs know what types of activates their volunteer is going to do, it may get repetitive, but the students will eventually master the content.

The authors found that “some of the interactions were characterized by an extensive use of gestures and animation while the volunteer was talking…this strategy appeared to direct the student’s attention to the text and to help him or her in following along with the volunteer” (Valdès, 2011, p. 177). This phrase can be connected to my current ESOL field observation because my cooperating teacher uses a lot of gestures with his hands to help his students understand what he is teaching them. Also, when he reads a book to the kids he starts out by exploring the pictures with them before starting to read. Then, when he starts to read, he points to parts of the pictures that coincide with the words that he is reading aloud. I can tell the students understand what is being read to them by their facial expressions, for example last week we read a short story about a boy making a mess with pizza, the kids laughed at the end and started discussing how messy they get when eating pizza.

The question I would like to propose is, I have made a connection between the methods of instructions in special education and in ESOL, do you believe there are more connections?