English Language Learners in the Mathematics Classroom

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English Language Learners in the Mathematics
Classroom
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Rocío Benedicto

• New Mexico State University MC2 Field Specialist
• Email rojustus_at_nmsu.edu

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Did you know?

• There are sixty-six native languages, other than
  English, spoken by students in some school
  districts.

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Language Diversity

• Three in four English Language Learners first
  language is Spanish.
• Other languages spoken by public school children
  include Vietnamese, Hmong, Cantonese, Korean,
  Haitian, Creole, Arabic, Russian, Tagalog,
  Navajo, Khmer, Mandarin, Portuguese, Urdu,
  Serbo-Croatian, Lao, Japanese, Punjabi, Armenian,
  Polish, French and Hindi.
• Crawford, James (2004). Educating English
  Learners Language Diversity in the Classroom.
  Los Angeles, CA Bilingual Education Services.

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Newcomers Today

• 30.1 Mexico
• 27.3 from Asia
• 23 from other Latin American countries
• 13.1 Europe
• 2.2 North America (Canada, Greenland, etc.)
• 0.6 Oceania
• (Migration Policy Institute, 2008 found at
  www.migrationinformation.org/datahub/state.ctm?IOD
  US)

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Hispanics/Latinos in the United States

• The United States has the second largest Spanish
  speaking population in the world.
• More than 53 million Hispanics/Latinos in the
  U.S.(Pew Hispanic Center, 2010).
• Come from every Spanish speaking nation in the
  world.
• The majority of Hispanics in the United Sates
  (66) identify as Mexican, Mexican-American or
  Chicano (2006).
• The majority of Hispanics/Latinos live in 5
  states.

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States with the greatest population of
Hispanics/Latinos (PEW, 2008)
State Population 2008 Population 2000
California 13,434,896 10,928,470
Texas 8,815,582 6,653,338
Florida 3,846,267 2,673,654
New York 3,232,360 2,854,991
Arizona 1,964,625 1,292,152
Fuente U.S. Census Bureau, Estimados
demográficos, Julio 1, 2006
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Distribution of Hispanics/Latinos by age and
gender
Distribution of population by gender Distribution of population by gender Distribution of population by gender Distribution of population by gender Distribution of population by gender
Age (years) Masculine de Hispanics Femenine de Hispanics
lt 18 years of age 7,845,751 17.3 7,486,235 16.5
gt 18 years of age 15,506,157 34.4 14,437 31.8
Distribution of population under 18 years of age Distribution of population under 18 years of age Distribution of population under 18 years of age Distribution of population under 18 years of age Distribution of population under 18 years of age
lt 5 years of age 2,506,434 5.5 2,388,003 5.3
5 to 9 years of age 2,111,113 4.7 2,041,303 4.5
10 to 14 years of age 2,038,884 4.4 1,941,531 4.3
15 to 19 years of age 1,982,738 4.4 1,846,811 4.1
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Hispanics/Latinos in U.S. Schools (K-12)

• The number of Hispanic/Latino students has
  doubled in the last 15 years.
• There are approximately 10 million
  Hispanic/Latino students in the K-12.
• One in five public school students in the United
  States is Hispanic/Latino.
• By 2040, the U.S. Census Bureau has projected
  that there will be more Hispanic/Latino children
  in U.S. schools than non-Hispanic/Latino children.

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Use of the Spanish Language

• By youth under the age of 18
• U.S. Born approximately 70 speak Spanish in
  their homes
• Foreign born more than 90 speak Spanish at home

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Reflection

• Lets pause for 10 minutes and take some time to
  reflect on what this information means for our
  K-12 mathematics classrooms.
• Each of you has a different colored paper in
  front of you. On that piece of paper write down
• 1) 2 things that you have learned,
• 2) 1 question that you have
• Find the person who has the same colored paper as
  you and discuss your thoughts.

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BREAK

• PLEASE BE BACK IN 10 MINUTES

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Share out discussion
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What has been the response to linguistic
diversity in the U.S. K-12 classroom?
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Objectives of Bilingual Education

• Not allow students to fall behind in academics
  because of lack of command of English.
• Gradually learn English as a second language.
• Ease the transition from the native language to
  English through subjects.
• Offer more opportunity for academic success
  through ease of transition into English.

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Models Of Bilingual Education

• English immersion
• Transitional bilingual education
• Maintenance bilingual education
• Two-way bilingual education Dual Language
  Immersion
• English as a second language (ESL)

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Immersion

• Instruction is entirely in English.
• All subject content and communication is
  conducted in English.
• There is no instructional support for native
  language.

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Transitional and Maintenance models

• Instruction for some subjects is in the students
  native language but a certain amount of each day
  is spent on developing English skills.
• Classes are made up of students who share the
  same native language.

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One-way or Two-Way Immersion

• Instruction is given in two languages.
• Teachers usually team teach.
• This approach is also called dual language
  immersion.

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English as a Second Language (ESL)

• May be the same as immersion but also may include
  some support to individuals in their native
  tongue.
• Typically classes are comprised of students who
  speak different languages but are not fluent in
  English.
• Students may attend classes for only a period a
  day, to work strictly on English skills, or
  attend for a full day and focus both on academics
  and English.

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Arguments Against Bilingual Education

• Keeps students in a cycle of native language
  dependency.
• Costly
• Ineffective compared to the amount of money
  invested
• Is not systematized

• Massachusetts 2002 mid-year referendum Question 2
• Arizona Proposition 203 similar to California
  proposition. Implemented fall 2001.
• California Proposition 227 approved in 1998 by
  California voters to basically eliminate
  bilingual education. Most LEP students are now
  in immersion programs.

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Reflection

• How does Moises (the boy in the movie) resemble
  students in the schools in which you are
  teaching/working?
• How do you and the teachers in your schools
  address the needs of students such as Moises?

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Comprehensible Input

• How is mathematics understood by English Language
  Learners?

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Language Acquisition - General

• Everyone agrees that human beings are born with
  the ability to learn language (to speak)
• We use language to communicate.
• 2 schools of thought of how we learn language
• Behaviorist we learn language through modeling.
• Innatist we are born with a mechanism that
  monitors grammar (the structure of language).

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Krashen SLA Hypotheses

• The Natural Order Hypothesis - 'we acquire the
  rules of language in a predictable order'
• The Acquisition/ Learning Hypothesis - 'adults
  have two distinctive ways of developing
  competences in second languages .. acquisition,
  that is by using language for real communication
  ... learning .. "knowing about" language'
  (Krashen Terrell 1983)
• The Monitor Hypothesis - 'conscious learning ...
  can only be used as a Monitor or an editor'
  (Krashen Terrell 1983)
• The Affective Filter Hypothesis - 'a mental
  block, caused by affective factors ... that
  prevents input from reaching the language
  acquisition device' (Krashen, 1985, p.100)
• The Input Hypothesis - 'humans acquire language
  in only one way - by understanding messages or by
  receiving "comprehensible input"

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Input Hypothesis
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BICS CALP

• BICS Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills
• Sometimes referred to as playground
  communication.
• Immigrant and non-immigrant children learn this
  type of communication first.
• Communication is informal.
• CALP Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency
• Formal language used in academic and professional
  environments.
• This type of communication is learned through
  modeling by an adult.
• Is not often used outside of the classroom or
  professional environment.
• Source Cummins, J. (1979). Cognitive/Academic
  language proficiency, linguistic interdependence,
  the optimum age question and some other matters.
  Working Paper on Bilingualism, 19, 121-129.

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Relative Communicative Demands

• Source Carr, J. , Sexton, U. Lagunoff. R.
  (2007). Making Science Accessible to English
  Learners A Guidebook for Teachers. San
  Francisco, CA WestEd.

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5 Levels of English Language Development

• Beginning
• Early Intermediate
• Intermediate
• Early Advanced
• Advanced
• (Refer to the Handout ELD stages for discussion)

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Academic Language Skills for the Math Classroom

• Listen with Comprehension
• Use Academic Vocabulary
• Ask and Answer Questions
• Communicate Critical Thinking
• (refer to handout for discussion)

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Lexicon of Mathematics

• The terms that are used by mathematicians and
  math learners use to talk about mathematics.
• Content specific
• Uses of language are specific to mathematics
• quadratic, function, algebraic, geometric, sine,
  cosine
• Words that have a specific meaning when used in
  the math classroom
• Positive, negative, about, rational, irrational,
  infinity, imaginary
• (refer to handout for discussion)

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6 Steps for Teaching Vocabulary

• Identify words all students need to know
• Identify words English Learners need to know
• Select the highest-priority words
• Choose key words for a days lesson
• Build from informal to formal understanding
• Plan many opportunities to apply key words

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Word Walls , Sentence Frames, Graphic Organizers
and Classroom Setup

• Word Walls .
• Sentence Frames
• Graphic Organizer .
• Classroom Setup

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Now its your turn to play

• There are several problems on the table
• Read the problem and solve (if you want to)
• How would you scaffold this problem for
  understanding?
• Write down your strategies
• Find a partner and discuss your strategies
• Write down both of your strategies on a large
  paper and place on the wall for group discussion