1/2 Through the Semester

The semester is half way through and although I am still making several mistakes in Arabic class I feel more confident in attempting new words and in writing out dictation. Paying close attention to the grammar rules and practicing if I need to add a short vowel or a long vowel is one of the biggest challenges so far.

In class, we are not yet communicating at more than a basic introduction, salutation, and using simple sentences with vocabulary words we have learned. Learning the meaning of words, phrases, and definitions will definitely be a big part of the learning process.

I joined the Arabic Club and have been arriving to class 1-2 hours early in order o meet with the club and with my classmates to go over our homework and to practice speaking.  One of the girls in class, a native Arabic speaker, set up a group chat and said she is open to helping us with homework questions though text and available be to meet with us before class. This has been a big help. I think having this support in a "non-graded" setting helps lower one's affective-filter and creates a safe place to make attempts without feeling like you're in the classroom spotlight .

In reflecting on how such a space could help our multilingual students, I think a Language Club/English Club that is not a graded tutorial or necessarily teacher-led would be helpful. Students could help each other, bring their homework assignments, corrections for tests, and practice conversations through use of one-act-play, reading aloud, listening to audiobooks, having a book club, and playing board games to name a few.

I know I need to dedicate more time to studying and practicing since the lessons

will continue to build on one another. I look forward to registering for Arabic II next semester
in order to not forget what I have learned so far and to help build my language acquisition.

First couple of weeks of Arabic

Arabic class has been great! It is definitely challenging to try to reset my thinking into writing in the opposite direction of what I am used to. Learning the  characters and how the characters change depending on if they're at the beginning of the word, the middle, or the end has been tricky. My professor is really good and has a passion for the language. I look forward to learning from him.

I had to miss class last week due to an out of town work event. Missing one day of class set me back quite a bit. I walked in to class after having missed a day and found out we were having a quiz on the materials covered during the class I missed. I got a 0. I have not gotten a 0 on a quiz since I moved to America and started learning English. I know I would've done better had I not missed the class or if I had been able to have an alphabet chart or some type of anchor chart to use as a scaffold. It was a learning experience that is helping me see ways to help support my students and is allowing me see things from a newcomer's point-of-veiw.

I signed up to join the Arabic Club at school. I hope that being around the language more, being able to hear it spoken, and having the opportunity to speak

in a non-classroom setting will help me along my journey to learning the language.

I decided to walk the walk.

Although English is my second language, I learned it as a child and don't recall the learning process as well as I would like. I remember being made to draw a circle on the blackboard and stand with my nose in the center of the circle while my teacher taped my paper with a 0 on the board above me for failing my phonics worksheets every Friday. I faked a lot of stomach aches and headaches on Fridays in order to try to avoid this torturous ordeal.

I remember not being aloud to speak Spanish, not even at recess, and being ignored in class by the teacher, as well as the students, because they were unsure of how to communicate with me, but I don't remember how I went about actually learning the language.

I signed up for Arabic at the local community college and will start classes next week. I'm looking forward to learning this fascinating language and am anxious to learn new ways to teach someone who is brand new to it. I know 1 single word in Arabic. Camise and that's only  because one of my wonderful students pointed out that the word Camisa (the Spanish word for shirt) was similar to the word for shirt in his language. Kids have so much to teach us.

I'll post updates throughout the semester.

Please remember to see our multilingual students (and all our students) as full vessels and honor their funds of knowledge. Just love them and let them know you believe in them and are there to help them reach their full potential.

Students practice their vocabulary word knowledge by playing the Memory Game. Students try to match the word to the image at one table and on the other they match the word to the definition. Students practice reading the word aloud each time they flip the cards. If they find a match they say the word and then either use the word in a sentence or define the word.

The first few weeks of school have been pretty busy. The students are now familiar with the class expectations and we are getting used to working with one another. Our Word Wall, Cognate Board, and our Synonym Board have a few words that have been added on by the students and our Word-Web Board is attracting some images and regalia.

Want your students' writing to improve? Encourage drawing as a pre-writing activity.

Miss can I draw? This is a frequently asked question among both Emergent Multilingual students and monolingual students.  With the high pressure of standardized testing, the lack of hours in the day, and a strict curriculum to follow it can be hard to make time for drawing. Drawing however, can be used as an excellent pre-writing activity. Drawing allows students to add details that they may not easy put down in writing. Drawing can help students create a sequence of events that they might struggle to produce when writing. Having the visual representation to look at can improve students' writing by allowing students to add greater details, giving students a visual support, giving students ownership of their creative process, and increasing word count. Here are some links on using drawing as a pre-writing tool.

Here is an example of the notes and illustrations my students did while I did a read-aloud and discussion using El Cucuy! by Joe Hayes (the bottom image is my example from my Writers' Notebook). Tomorrow we will be reading El Cucuy from Heart Shaped Cookies by Daivd Rice and using a venn diagram to compare and contrast the 2 stories.

6th grade students' illustrations and book notes about El Cucuy. I love that he added dialogue (Helpos = Help us)
Illustrations can be a pre-writing tool and also as a way for students to show their understanding of a text.


Link to: Want to Improve your Kids' Writing? Let them Draw.

http://splash.abc.net.au/newsandarticles/blog/-/b/2167489/want-to-improve-your-kids-writing-let-them-draw

Link to: The Influence of Drawing on Third Graders' Writing Performance

http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/reading_horizons/vol38/iss1/2/