Supporting bilingualism in the elementary classroom through linguistically responsive teaching and translanguaging pedagogy.
In the MAT program I was able to learn not only about teaching approaches but also about me too. English language is not my first language, but I was learning it since the first grade. So, I can be considered as a long-term English language learner. I also learned how students are tested for their English language proficiency so that the school staff knows if they need to be enrolled in an ELL program.
The topic of bilingualism in the classroom interested me since our first classes in the program. It happened mainly because I am a bilingual individual too. Before the program, I have never paid attention to bilingual skills as a part of my identity especially when it comes to teaching. But I realized that this can be one of the most powerful tools that I have as a teacher.
So, when the time came to choosing of topic for my capstone project, I did not hesitate and chose a bilingualism with particular strategies that can help general education teacher in supporting his ELL students or it is better to say, emergent bilingual students. It is important to recognize them as emergent bilinguals (Garcia et el, 2017) because they continue to learn speaking their first language. So, they learn two or more languages, not only English language.
"Before the program, I have never paid attention to bilingual skills as a part of my identity especially when it comes to teaching. But I realized that this can be one of the most powerful tools that I have as a teacher."
This was a crucial discovery for me as my three years old daughter will go to school one day and even though the school might place her in ELL program, she would actually be an emergent bilingual child because she will continue learning Russian at home. I think this is an important point for me as a teacher as I want to recognize my ELL students as emergent bilinguals and I want them to help to learn strategies how they can keep up their first language.
In our language foundation classes, I learned about translanguaging classroom, but it was quick and brief introduction. During my work on capstone project, I had dived deeply in the topic and read several books and research papers. In my capstone, I wrote about strategies as linguistically responsive teaching and translanguaging pedagogy as powerful tools to support emergent bilinguals in the classroom.
I specifically appreciate the CUNY-NYSIEB project (CUNY-NYSIEB, 2021) that created a translanguaging framework in around seventy schools in New York. I also appreciate the Translanguaging Guides that are available for free on the CUNY-NYSIEB project’s website. These guides have an enormous amount of useful information and tools that can be implemented in the classroom.
What I like the most about the translanguaging pedagogy is its ability to address social justice issues in the classroom. How many stories I have heard in the MAT program, that show people’s thinking and judging based on English language proficiency. We even did the assignment on myths about English language in the United States. For example, one of them was related to people’s judgements about someone’s academic skills as they think if a person does not speak English well, he must be deficient in academics too.
As a bilingual teacher, I want to support my students and help them to value their bilingualism as their strength and unique ability to learn in a way that only they can do.
City University of New York-New York State Initiative on Emergent Bilinguals (2021) Translanguaging and transformative teaching for emergent bilingual students: lessons from the CUNY-NYSIEB project, Routledge, New York, NY
City University of New York-New York State Initiative on Emergent Bilinguals (2013) Translanguaging: A CUNY-NYSIEB Guide for Educators, CUNY-NYSIEB, https://www.cuny-nysieb.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Translanguaging-Guide-March-2013.pdf
García, O., Johnson, S. I., & Seltzer, K. (2017). The Translanguaging classroom: Leveraging student bilingualism for learning. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon.
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