Activity 6: Contemporary issues or trends in New Zealand or internationally
A significant current issue for teaching practice in our school is the sharp increase in the number of ESOL students attending. With a roll of 440 we have approximately 100. Our school's international community was previously made up largely of Asian students but now they are far more diverse. In 2015 my class alone had children from Egypt, Persia, Malaysia, a number from Korea, China, Turkey, Germany, Indonesia, Rarotonga and with only one Maori student.
According to the following charts from the NZ Herald, (October 20th 2015,) this diversity is not confined to our school or indeed to the country as a whole.
According to the following charts from the NZ Herald, (October 20th 2015,) this diversity is not confined to our school or indeed to the country as a whole.
Our school has experimented with a number of approaches to create the best learning environment and effective experience for the ESOL learner.
*We have clustered the children in rooms with speakers of the same language. This has never been popular with the parents of Asian children who prefer their children to speak english only at school, (in spite of teachers explaining how important the maintenance of first language is.)
*We have clustered all of the ESOL children at one level in one class so that the ESOL teacher can work closely with groups of children in the room.
*We have withdrawn children for specific coaching with the ESOL teacher. (Our current way of teaching explicit english language skills.)
"Staff expertise needs to be enhanced at management level, in teachers,
and in teacher aides if they are to continue to play a significant role in
ESOL provision. More TESOL knowledge is required from pre-service
teaching qualifications, from ongoing professional development, and in
the form of post-graduate qualifications."
(Franken and McComish 2003)
Our school has passionate teachers who have undertaken the extra training needed to provide quality programs for our students. However with the sharp increase we have not found the perfect formula with 108 students out of a roll of 440 and one ESOL expert. Although we have not developed a permanent model which works, this may not exist. The reality is that with each new cohort of children we may need to rethink and reinvent systems and strategies which are effective for each new year and situation.
The following points made by Jennifer Gonzalez in her blog 'Cult of Pedagogy' are excellent advice for any teacher with multiple learners from multiple cultures and need to become implicit in practice. These also need to be clearly modelled during teacher training and would be valuable to the Beginning Teacher if a compulsory course was available, when they are likely to be in a classroom with a variety of languages and cultures throughout their career.
1. Make it Visual.
2. Build in more group work.
3. Communicate with the ESL teacher.
4. Honour the “silent period.”
5. Allow some scaffolding with the native language.
6. Look out for culturally unique vocabulary.
7. Use sentence frames to give students practice with academic language.
8. Pre-teach whenever possible.
9. Learn about the cultural background of your students…
10. …but don’t make a child speak for his entire culture.
11. Show them how to take themselves less seriously…
12. …but always take them seriously.
A very valuable digital resource for children who arrive with no english language is to set up a computer which is constantly translating. This gives the child the opportunity to understand the basics of what is happening in the classroom until their language starts to develop. This brings me to my second current challenge, the advantages and difficulties with 'Bring Your Own Device' to school.
Our BYOD agreement is simple to understand for both the parents and the children. The agreement must be signed by the parent and child before the device comes to school. On clear view in the classroom are the sites which the children are allowed to access. Accessing other sites means - no device!
A very valuable digital resource for children who arrive with no english language is to set up a computer which is constantly translating. This gives the child the opportunity to understand the basics of what is happening in the classroom until their language starts to develop. This brings me to my second current challenge, the advantages and difficulties with 'Bring Your Own Device' to school.
Our BYOD agreement is simple to understand for both the parents and the children. The agreement must be signed by the parent and child before the device comes to school. On clear view in the classroom are the sites which the children are allowed to access. Accessing other sites means - no device!
(Fendalton Open-air School documents)
Whilst our systems are thorough and generally well respected by the children there are three main issues which our classroom teachers have with BYOD.
"...an often-overlooked but crucial
determinant of whether technology succeeds or fails in the
classroom is a less than obvious one…the teacher. While attention
to choosing the appropriate hardware and software
for the classroom is prerequisite, it is the skill and attitude of
the teacher that determines the effectiveness of technology
integration into the curriculum."
(Bitner & Bitner 2002)
* With the best will in the world an enthusiastic teacher cannot possibly know all of the ins and outs of how a wide variety of digital equipment works. The children bring in all types of equipment, some of which are not even in english. This causes all sorts of issues in being able to show them how to access the particular programs that the teacher has selected for them to use in class. Not to mention some of them are older equipment which can't access necessary programs, i.e. Flashplayer.
* The network is designed to cope with a specific number of devices when this is exceeded children will be left waiting for programs to load or worse, unable to access the internet. This leads to frustration and to the teacher having to spend significant time trouble shooting.
* The final issue is for me as a Team Leader - getting all of the teachers onboard to use technology for purposeful learning and activities. It is too easy to use it simply for publishing, 'busy work' or worse still, as baby sitting so that the teacher can work one on one with students whilst the rest are distracted.
“...educational change depends on what teachers do and think—it’s as simple and complex as that.”
(Fullan 1982 p. 107)
There is no simple answer to any of these issues. Without the children's BYODs we only have either five Chromebooks or five iPads in each class, this is useful but not ideal with 28 children in a class. BYOD is definitely the way to go. The school's challenge is to upgrade the network so that it can cope with an increasing number of connections. My challenge is develop systems and support for staff so that they are enthusiastic and empowered to create purposeful learning activities in an environment where they are teaching not troubleshooting.
References
Bitner, N., & Bitner, J. (2002). Integrating technology into the classroom: Eight keys to success.
Journal of technology and teacher education, 10(1), 95-100.
Fullan, M.G. (1982). The meaning of educational change. New York: Teachers College Press.
Franken M, McComish J, Ministry of Education. (2003). Improving English language outcomes for
students receiving ESOL services in New Zealand schools, with a particular focus on new
immigrant
immigrant
Retrieved 20.02.2016
Gonzalez J, Cult of Pedagogy. 12 Ways to Support ESL Students in the Mainstream Classroom.
Posted: December 11th 2014
Retrieved 20.02.2106
Johnston K, Superdiversity: Children lead the way as cultures combine, NZ Herald
5:00 AM Tuesday Oct 20, 2015
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11531743 Retrieved 15.02.2016
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