With this weeks comprehension readings and English Language Learners I really began to think more about the figures of speech within the English language. There are so many phrase used everyday by me and my peers that without the cultural and social contexts I understand where people would have no idea what something means. It is also confusing all of the different ways words can be spelled and how their spelling changes their meaning so drastically. Then you also have the words that are spelled the same, but the simple difference of a long or short vowel (like in the word live) or a change in a capital or lowercase letter (Polish, polish); it is really a very confusing language. This would also e a challenge because many times the students do not speak English at home. If you think about how much time they spend at school versus how much time they spend at home with family, the instruction at school becomes vital. They not only need to be immersed in the language but in the social context of the language.
I feel like this approach would also be useful when thinking about mainstreaming students, particularly with autism. See appropriate student to student and student to adult interactions is an important part of their development. Putting them in a separate classroom all day, with others who lack this knowledge does not give them the advantage they need. While I feel that full time mainstreaming is not the right thing for every student, I do feel that some type of mainstreaming is always possible. How are students supposed to grow and relate if they are never put in a situation to experiment?
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Meryl,
I was really interested in your post because of the way you reflected on the different turns our language takes and how different the language can be in regards to the social aspect. I don't know if you have come across this in any of your elementary classrooms but I have been having difficulty explaining these differences to my Kindergartners. For example, how do you explain to a six year old why there is a b at the end of lamb or why the oi in noise makes an o-ay sound?! They have a hard enough time grasping the basics so to throw words like that in the mix (and English has a ton of those darn rule breakers) is just over the top! This all just really came to mind when I was reading your post so I figured I would throw it out there to see if you have run into these little stumps as well?!
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