As I have mentioned before, my class has a student that is hard of hearing. Many times the teacher has demonstrated sensitivity and responsiveness to this student by providing help in the form of teaching assistants and tutors to read to her or help take notes. She also tries her best to speak clearly, facing the class, so the student can read her lips. When the student is progressing at a slower pace, she tries to help the student along if it is a communication problem.
Also, I have heard the teacher and the teaching assistant speak in a different language to the students (mostly Portuguese). They do not speak it often, but occasionally, when communicating one on one with a student, they will say a few sentences in a language that the student speaks. This could be to convey a message more clearly, telling the student something in their language they use to communicate with their family. It could also be to show that the teacher and the student have something in common, that they can communicate in both classroom and "home" language. It can sometimes give a student a sense of reassurance that the teacher is there to help them.
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Hey Russ,
ReplyDeleteI find it very interesting that you see your SL teacher and teacher assistants speaking in other languages in the classroom to the students because in my classroom my SL teacher speaks strictly English and does not seem to accept and other language to be spoken. Hearing that you are experiencing some other languages is surprising to me to hear since I do not experience this at all. Maybe our SL teachers have different ways of having students learn the English language? Or it is possible that our classrooms are at different levels of English learning?
Katelyn :)