[ola] Re: Student pushback and English use
- From: Jonathan Irish <isolicious@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: "ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <ola@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2014 09:52:57 -0800
I teach a group of sophomores that at times can break into English. I was
worried about it yesterday because I gave them a good chunk of time to
practice their Spanish plays. I was thinking that 30 minutes of "alone"
time would mean English, especially for one group. At the start of class I
tried to be as up front as possible. Why do we speak in Spanish, why are
we here? We recited la ke'ch:
*Tú eres mi otro yo.*
You are my other me.
*Si te hago daño a ti,*
If I do harm to you,
*Me hago daño a mi mismo.*
I do harm to myself.
*Si te amo y respeto,*
If I love and respect you,
*Me amo y respeto yo.*
I love and respect myself.
We do this a lot but it is important to review. So class went well and
they maintained pretty good focus during the practice. Students can handle
high standards, they just need to be reminded of it from time to time.
Suerte, El Jota
2014-11-14 6:33 GMT-08:00 Colin Oriard <coriard@xxxxxxx>:
> Hi all,
>
> Thank you to so many for writing me back with words of encouragement and
> ideas around my struggles. I really appreciate it!
>
> To further my reflective inquiry, I was wondering if more people would be
> willing to weigh in how they handle English use in the classroom? Do you
> have consequences for English use? Is there a progression of consequences
> if it continues? Discipline is definitely not one of my strengths, and I
> had hoped that expressing the importance of the immersion environment and
> then giving reminders and call-outs when students use English would be
> enough, but it is not. I need to tweak something.
>
> I teach first and second year (NL-NH/IL) at a high school that is
> predominantly white (about 70%). There is 33% poverty, internet access for
> about 90% of my students.
>
> My tentative plan to implement starting next week is that when a student
> uses English, I will ask them to do 5 vocabulary words with the class to
> get them refocused on using Spanish, and then some class applause to
> appreciate their efforts. Then I'm thinking that on a second offense, they
> will need to sit on the sidelines and answer 5 essay questions in English
> about our language learning environment to get them to reflect deeper on
> their choices in our class and hopefully get them to regulate themselves
> better. Once they finish the 5 questions they can rejoin the group. If
> they still can't participate according to the rules of the class I will
> give them a written activity to work on.
>
> I'm very open to suggestions and improvements on all of this. Absolutely
> every student has the right to learn, but I'm finding I need to draw the
> line when a student is taking away other student's rights to learn.
>
> Any feedback on this, and how you handle English use would be greatly
> appreciated. Thanks
>
>
>
> Colin Oriard
> Profesor de español 1/2 & 3/4
> Grant High School
> Room 112
> Phone extension - 75612
>
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