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!) I'm assuming you don't speak Spanish either. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine you are taking a class in a foreign country you just moved to. You have friends in the class that also speak English, but the professor does not allow you to talk to them in English but in that country's language. Granted, forcing you to speak the language might help you learn it; however, wouldn't speaking to your friend in English to recap what you've learned in that class also be helpful? Perhaps you could try to start learning Spanish yourself so that you can teach in both Spanish and English. Maybe you could supplement your English lessons with Spanish texts. Talk to other teachers at your school and see if anyone can help out with this. Some research has shown that the longer English language learns receive instruction in a mix of their first language and English, the better their achievement in English. So this could actually be helping them learn the content of your class. Do not force them to leave their native tongue at home- use it to your classroom's advantage.