Greetings, Michael and all,
1. The class with Hindi and Spanish speakers lasted for only two months and consisted of three meetings per week for 3 hours each. We also used 20 computers and everyone had an opportunity to study PUMAROSA.COM.
It was an open enrollment class.
This took place 5 years ago, so there were no other free ESL websites.
At first, I  kept the students separated in the two groups. 
Once everyone had learned a basic vocabulary with pronunciation of the 500 or so most common English words, I began to merge the classes for 30 minutes or so each day, particularly to practice pronunciation and "conversation" - greetings, directions, asking and answering simple questions, etc. 
     So - I think that with all the technological advances these days there is no real reason not to "use" all the L1s in any multi-lingual, multi-level class. It doesn't matter if the teacher does not speak any pariticular language. The results can be quite remarkable and should lead to higher attendance, greater retention, etc.
2. Concerning the issue of bilingual ed in a middle school. 
The problem as I see it was that there was not enough education on the effeciveness of Two Way or Dual Immersion programs. Now these programs are the fastest growing in the country. I visited several TW elementary schools some years ago and was very impressed.
Test scores across the board increased dramatically by the fifth grade in TW schools, without any extra funding.
Paul Rogers
805-258-3310
pumarosa21 at yahoo.com
PUMAROSA.COM

--- On Wed, 10/7/09, Michael Gyori <tesolmichael at yahoo.com> wrote:


From: Michael Gyori <tesolmichael at yahoo.com>
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 5052] Re: L1s and multi-lingual classes
To: "The Adult English Language Acquisition Discussion List" <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>
Date: Wednesday, October 7, 2009, 5:14 PM





Hello Paul and everyone,

I cannot discern from your post below, Paul, whether there were interactions between the Hindi and Spanish speakers at any juncture.  

If I'm not mistaken, all students were physically together, is that correct?  If there were interactions, how were they "conducted"? If not, the situation you describe below might be an excellent setting for exploring how two-way bilingual approaches within the classroom might play out.

Finally, you are spot on when you assert that we cannot please everyone all the time. Any attempt to do so would only lead to frustration, because the "vehemence" of such an attempt would likely have an adverse impact on the affective (emotional) well-being of the participants.  

When all is said and done, we can only do our level best at any given time while "perfection" resides, perhaps, in another dimension.

I look forward to continuing the discussion on L1 use.  English only, as mandated for example by legislation by Ron Unz in California (Proposition 227), just made matters worse.  After conducting a 2-year case study at a middle school on the Monterey Peninsula, I realized that there were real problems with some teachers who implemented bilingual educational practices.  One of the biggest problems lay in the fact that those classes were not bilingual at all, but conducted exclusively in the L1 of the majority language group (Spanish) without mechanisms in place to transfer to a meaningful use of English over time.

In such cases, students of course didn't learn English as hoped for, but their classes were very much monolingual!

Michael

 
Michael A. Gyori 
Maui International Language School 
www.mauilanguage.com






From: Paul Rogers <pumarosa21 at yahoo.com>
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List <englishlanguage at nifl.gov>
Sent: Wed, October 7, 2009 9:49:26 AM
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 5049] L1s and multi-lingual classes






Rosemary and all 
I would like to give an example of how I have used L1 in a multi-lingual classroom. 
I once had a class of 15 Spanish speakers and 5 Hindi speakers, all of whom knew little or no English. 
All of the Spanish speakers use my bilingual texts plus my website. 
So, I bought a bilingual dictionary, Hindi-English, and gave it to the Hindi student who knew a little English and who also was the "coordinator" of the group. 
While the Spanish speakers were on my website, I spent time in another classroom with the Hindi students, building vocabulary and practicing pronunciation. We also used Barron's picture dictionary. 
The Hindi students thought that the website was useful, so after an hour I switched the two groups. 
It all worked out quite well. I also learned a little Hindi. 
So - my point is, "speaking" L1 in the class is only one aspect of "using L1" in a class. 
All of the articles and references I have mentioned talk about the significant benefits of L1 in the class. 
Actually we should be talking about "mulitple L1s", I guess. 
The students' L1 is a resource, like a dictionary or a textbook. 
One problem that may occur is that it is almost impossible to please every student, no matter how the class is conducted. I try to use the principle of majority rule. 
Paul Rogers

Paul Rogers
805-258-3310
pumarosa21 at yahoo.com
PUMAROSA.COM


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