Week 3: Assignment 1

I thought the video “How language shaped the way we think was very interesting because it really showed me how big of a difference there is between the cognitive ability of different languages. This gives us even more of a reason to really understand how we can help English language learners in a way that they will understand and be able to apply it correctly. If I learned anything from chapter 2 and the videos provided, it is that we must respect our students’ past language experiences and knowledge of language in order to help them learn best. Page 521 in the textbook states “The mother tongue does not take over but is a necessary conversation lubricant. Even if it was possible to banish it from the classroom, it could never be banished from the pupils’ mind.” This really reiterates the idea I talked about above.


When it comes to the incorporating literacy lesson for bilingual students and creating an appropriate classroom environment, we as teachers should understand that the ways bilingual students should learn should be embedded into our curriculum. We should not be removing the English language learner from our classwork. Actually, according to one of the videos provided, the peer interaction of a bilingual students to either a native English speaker, or another bilingual student helps them learn the different ways their peers learn. This introduces them to new ideas. Including technology into this can help as well. Most kids are familiar with technology and can be intrigued by it. Incorporating videos or even social media could help immensely.