Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id f0NFkx929584; Tue, 23 Jan 2001 10:46:59 -0500 (EST) Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 10:46:59 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <B24038C0D3E160419E320030D92C22DE1865C9@hobbes.cal.org> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Miriam Burt" <miriam@cal.org> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:5470] Re: "illiterate" immigrants X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 2171 Lines: 48 Kathleen Munive writes: [NIFL-ESL:5467] Re: "illiterate immigrants" "Plan the lesson with as simplistic information as possible using words that follow basic phonetic and grammar rules. To give you a specific example,let me use English as the language I would be teaching. If it were a child care lesson I would use the word "infant" or "child" as opposed to the word "baby". Why? Because phonetically, infant or child have no irregularities. The word baby, with its use of the letter "y" may ultimately teach the students that the sound for "y" is read and said as an "e". This would make for more confusion when they try to read the word "fly". " I have to disagree with this statement on two counts. First, there is really no irregularity here. In one syllable words in English that end in "y", the "y" is pronounced /ai/ (like the word "eye") In multi-syllable words the "y" is pronounced /i/ (like the sound "eeeeee"). Secondly, however, and more importantly, choosing words that sound more "educated" than the more common ones are not always necessarily doing students a service. The common word is "baby." This is the word we say and write. This is the word students need to know and use. And, as one of my colleagues at NCLE said, "Have you ever known a student who couldn't learn to say and read the word "baby"? We should be careful, I think not to do students a disservice by overly controlling the language they they will be exposed to and use in class. One final thought, the word "illiterate" is unfortunate. It promotes a deficit model for looking at adults who are learning English. Beginning level learners is my preference. Miriam ************* Miriam Burt Associate Director, National Center for ESL Literacy Education (NCLE) Center for Applied Linguistics 4646 40th Street NW Washington, DC 20015 (202) 362-0700 (phone) (202) 363-7204 (fax) miriam@cal.org ***************************************** Visit NCLE's Web site at www.cal.org/ncle ***************************************** We're the only national center devoted exclusively to providing technical assistance to those working with adults learning English as a second language.
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