Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: SPEAK ENGLISH! I am a Kindergarden teacher that has a big group of hispanic students in the classroom. Many of them do not know how to speak English and thus makes it very complicated and frustrating to communicate. What is even worse, is that these students tend to speak Spanish when they are amongst themselves. Clearly, as a teacher I want them to be able to Participate, however, I am not sure whether or not I should separate them and forcé them to leave their native tongue at home. Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) There needs to be accommodations made in the classroom. Part of the reason they speak in Spanish frequently is because they are more comfortable in Spanish than in English. I do not think you should ban them from speaking Spanish. That might make the situation a lot worse. Coming from someone who speaks Spanish, I would place labeling cards around the room so they can see objects and their names in Spanish and English. Also, learning a little bit of Spanish will go a long with your students. Not only will you be able to pick up words and phrases of what they are saying, but you will be able to communicate with them easier as well. Unfortunately, you are going to have to teach them English because they are so far behind students who speak English as a first language. In terms of separating them, there is a time for that and a time where it would be inappropriate. If they are disrupting the class then of course you need to separate them. But if they are not-then just encourage them to try to speak English. Pair them with a student who speaks English well. Have short time periods during the day where they absolutely have to only speak in English, but when those periods are over they can go back to speaking Spanish or even Spanglish. If you forced them to leave their native tongue at home, then you would be implementing full immersion which is helpful to a certain extent, but because of their level they will have a hard time keeping up and become exhausted by the end of the day. Another suggestion is if you are doing activites to have the directions be in both Spanish and English. If they can easily understand what they need to do but then are told to do the work in English, then they might have greater success in participating in class. Eventually you would want to wean them away from relying on having instructions in their native tongue, but it would work great for the low-level English proficiency that they are at right now.                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: maybe it be good for the teacher to get continuing education in ESOL, although it sounds like s/he just doesn't want to be bothered with any of it Rated On: October 19, 2014 1:08 am Rated By: uZyvaP                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: This response is very thorough, and offers a nuanced method for dealing with this challenging situation. Rated On: March 6, 2017 4:26 pm Rated By: jyHyHy                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: Well said! I love that you said doing activities with instructions in both English and Spanish. I think that making all students feel comfortable should be the focus. Rated On: October 20, 2019 11:13 pm Rated By: ygyXeT