Last week I attended several parent-teacher conferences at my dyad placement. One was with a mother who spoke no English, only Spanish. My cooperating teacher made sure that a translator was present, but the dynamic of the conference was palpably different than the other three. The mother was clearly concerned about her son's academic performance, but also appeared to be very intimidated and overwhelmed by the process. Time is short with only 20 minutes per conference. It's a challenge to cover all aspects of a child's progress in that short time period in the best of circumstances, but with a translator, each question and response takes twice the amount of time. As the conference proceeded and I sensed the teacher feeling pressed for time, I saw her focus turn from the mother to the translator. I'm sure she did not do this intentionally, she was making eye contact with him to make sure that he could translate what she was saying accurately, but the mother looked more dismayed as the pace picked up out of necessity. I understand enough Spanish to know that as the pace picked up (as the teacher attempted to cover all her points), information was literally getting "lost in translation."
Driving home that evening, I found myself wishing that I had spoken a few words in Spanish to this mother to make her feel more comfortable, although as a student teacher I felt that it was not my place and, besides, that would have taken up even more precious time. I also made a mental note to remember that when I am in this position as a teacher, to try to make even further accommodations -- for instance, allowing extra time for a translated conference so that those parents get the benefit of the same amount of information and question-asking time as the others who speak English. We need to be aware of the imbalance of power in such a situation and the feelings of vulnerability these parents must have.
These thoughts returned to me again as I read the article "When Learning a Second Language Means Losing the First" by Lily Wong Fillmore for our Social Studies class. My heart breaks for the parents who not only are unable to communicate with their childrens' English-only-speaking teachers but, in some cases, more tragically, also are no longer able to communicate with their own children as these children learn English in school and lose the ability to communicate effectively in their native languages. According to this article, this is especially likely if the children start learning English in preschool when their knowledge of their native language is not yet cemented. This is, as the article points out, a serious situation that needs to be addressed. I believe that it is important for people living in the United States to speak English as this is the language of our society and our economy (and our schools), but I also believe that it is important for people of other cultures to retain their own languages. Clearly, this is a very complicated problem to fix. We want small children to learn English before starting school in order to get a strong start, but according to this article, this practice is highly detrimental to children's ability to retain their native language. I am wondering, at what age is it "safe" to start teaching ELL children English?
Reading your blog, mreminds me of reading the book "The Spirit catches You and You Fall Down." As we watch the Lee family's trials and tribulations and communication and cultural barriers that persist throughout the book as they fight many medical battles with their child, we are reminded of how difficult life can be when multiple cultures find themselves at a crossroads trying to meet the needs of very diverse children. Often, I think of how these culture clashes affect the child/parent relationship as young children become more "Americanized" and sometimes the parents feel as though they are being left behind. It is interesting to think of how we as teachers can try to keep these ties intact and how we can assist in helping both parents and children in understanding education.
ReplyDeleteYou raise an important point, one that I have strong feelings about. I can see that happening right in front of my of eyes as my kids are slowly loosing the fluency and confidence in our home language. I feel guilty that I haven't been diligent in encouraging them to use both languages. As we all speak English including grandparents, the kids don't see the need to use the language. But, I still keep trying though(exposing them to literature, movies, music, sending them to language class) and hope one day they will gain the confidence to fluently converse in our home language as it is an important part of who they are.
ReplyDeleteI really like what you have to say about watching the balance of power in a situation like this Amy! I cannot imagine what it would feel like to have to have someone translate what they are saying to me about my child. I feel where you are coming from in wanting to make them comfortable, that is very much your personality. But, From being at a few conferences myself, I know how precious every little minute is, This is a tricky situation I am sure we will learn more about as educators.
ReplyDeleteSee: Courtney's http://newtoteach.wordpress.com/ account... (it would not let me comment!)