Joinfostering: Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Classrooms (3rd Edition)
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
This book incorporates teaching and learning strategies taken from exemplary bilingual education and ESL programs throughout the nation. It helps teachers understand the critical aspects of adapting instruction to ensure that multilingual students have access to, and are able to participate in, all aspects of classroom learning. By presenting ways for teachers to alter the existing social organization in their classrooms, this book outlines a plan to improve teaching and learning, so that all students can work more effectively with parents and adults-regardless of their language background. The book details principles of second language acquisition by providing the instructional tools needed to facilitate language development within large and small group settings. It offers strategies for teaching children with limited or no English proficiency to simultaneously learn English as they learn content. For practitioners who teach a multicultural curriculum, or English as a second language.
From the Inside Flap
Preface
This book was written with three audiences in mind: (1) education majors who are in the process of becoming classroom teachers, (2) established teachers who are interested in changing the way they teach to accommodate students who are adding English to their already-developed native language(s), and (3) teachers in dual-language bilingual education programs. As the number of students learning English as a second language grows substantially, regular classroom teachers must become better prepared to help these students join in all aspects of classroom and school life. Moreover, as bilingual education expands to include English-speaking children along with children who are learning English, there is a need for improving ways to invite children from both language groups into academic discourse. IDENTIFYING THE NEED FOR JOINFOSTERING
It is important to understand that exemplary teaching in a multilingual classroom differs in significant ways from exemplary teaching in a classroom in which all students are native speakers of the same language. When students are learning the language of instruction in addition to the content of instruction, teaching them as if they were native speakers is ineffective and unacceptable. Teachers must learn to adapt teaching to ensure that these students have access to and participate in all aspects of classroom learning. Anything less means that we are denying these students the benefits of classroom learning experiences.
My experience working and teaching in bilingual and second-language education spans two decades, and I remain a strong advocate of native-language teaching in bilingual education. Over the years, however, I have come to realize that, in placing all of my energies into studying and improving bilingual education, I have effectively ignored what happens to bilingually schooled children once they are placed in all-English classrooms. Virtually all children who enter a native-language bilingual education program stay there, on average, no more than two years, and most of these children receive very little ESL instruction once they are exited from the bilingual program. This means that two-thirds to three-fourths of their schooling will be in all-English classrooms with all-English teachers who have little or no idea about how to help these children join in all aspects of teaching and learning! This is a social injustice. Joinfostering works to reverse this injustice.
This book is a direct response to the critical need for teacher education in the 21st century. It is not, however, a cookbook of teaching behaviors for teaching second-language learners. Joinfostering stems from a strong stance about what good teaching and learning are, a stance that is informed by research and theory and propelled by the belief that all children are capable of learning in academic settings. In the joinfostering framework, teachers are responsible for finding the means to plan and implement the principles that will facilitate learning for the broadest range of students' abilities, needs, and interests. There are too many instances in school in which second-language learners are segregated from their native-English counterparts and placed into lower-level tracks; where second-language learners are denied access to field trips, after-school events, and music lessons because of their language differences. There are too many stories about non-English-background parents not knowing what is going on in their child's classroom; about not knowing how to help their child at home; about not being included in school-related events. Joinfostering addresses these injustices by presenting ways for teachers to change the existing social organization of their classrooms. Joinfostering improves teaching and learning for all students by more effectively including parents and significant adults in educational decisions that affect their children, regardless of their language background. A WORD ABOUT THE THIRD EDITION
This book presents many teaching and learning strategies found in exemplary bilingual education and English-as-a-second-language (ESL) programs throughout the nation. In other words, the strategies presented in this book are derived largely from advances that have been made in bilingual education and ESL teaching.
In this third edition of Joinfostering, I have included several new ideas and practices. Joinfostering goes against the grain of most teaching and learning in U.S. schools. What I hope you will understand from this new edition is that there are ways to help your students challenge and question social inequities and social hierarchies that sort people on the basis of ethnicity, class, gender, and language. I have also worked to incorporate more ideas about the role of literacy in learning by including many more references to oral and written language activities and ways of expression. This stems from my belief that language is literacy, not merely oral expression. Finally, I have included some new ideas about the social nature of second language acquisition-ideas such as meaning-making invite that are closer to what I understand about how children become highly proficient bilinguals. I hope that you sense the excitement that I derived from writing this new edition. TO THE TEACHER
This book is organized to give your students a brief introduction to language and cultural diversity and bilingual education before introducing them to adaptation strategies for teaching in whole and small groups and for small-group learning. There are many examples to draw from in the book, but undoubtedly you will want to incorporate your own experiences and examples to fit your particular circumstances. The book begins by introducing Julia Felix, a first-year third-grade teacher who is faced with learning about teaching in a multilingual classroom. As the book progresses, so does Julia, by learning to adapt her classroom teaching to ensure that all of her students are participating. I have used numerous examples associated with the theme of elephants, and I have tried to show how to involve students in critical consciousness within this theme. You may wish to begin your class with a different theme and then, as your students move into the teaching adaptation chapters, use activities tied to the theme to illustrate the strategies and techniques as they are described and discussed. At the end of each chapter are activities and exercises that help students think about and practice the ideas presented in the chapter. I suggest that your students interview teachers from multilingual classrooms to learn about their experiences and observations about what works. You may wish to arrange with one or more schools beforehand to allow your students to interview teachers over the course of the semester or quarter. Finally, it is important to stress to your students that joinfostering is more than teaching adaptations: it is a commitment to becoming a good and critical teacher for all students. TO THE STUDENT
You are part of the next generation of teachers-the teachers who will be responsible for educating a diverse group of children, many of whom are adding English as a second language as they are learning content in your classroom. This book on joinfostering, an idea that has been around since 1993, is an introduction to teaching in a multilingual classroom. By reading through and practicing the teaching adaptations presented in this book, you will be prepared to enter a multilingual classroom. One of the most important goals of this book is to help you develop the following stance toward teaching, learning, and children: that all children can learn and that we are responsible for finding ways to make sure that all children do learn what they need in order to become responsible, knowledgeable, curious, and critical members of society. By the time you complete this book, you should not be fearful of entering a classroom where some of the students are second-language learners. You should welcome that opportunity.
In the next few pages, you will be introduced to Julia Felix, a first-year teacher, who lacks the knowledge and ability to teach effectively in a multilingual classroom. You will see how Julia learns to adapt in her classroom by following joinfostering principles. What Julia accomplishes within her classroom is well within your grasp as a teacher. I wish you success and hope that, like Julia, you develop a commitment to joinfostering in teaching and learning. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Among the friends and colleagues who have influenced me over the years, I am indebted to Professors Rebecca Constantino, Barbara Merino, Carole Edelsky, Paula Wolfe, D. Scott Enright, Robert Milk, and Jim Cummins for their enormous contributions to language education. Carole and Rebecca have influenced my thinking about critical consciousness, and that influence shows up prominently in this third edition. I don't think that I could have written this book without having learned from the illuminating work that Carole, Barbara, Rebecca, Scott, Robert, and Jim have produced over the last decade or so.
I also would like to acknowledge my friend and mentor, Professor Henry T Trueba, of the University of Texas, Austin. An extraordinary teacher, a prolific scholar, and a close friend for more than 15 years, Henry has helped me in too many ways to mention.
Many thanks to the reviewers of this text, whose insightful suggestions and comments I appreciate: Richard E. Baecher, Fordham University; Holbrook Mahn, University of New Mexico; and Terry Santos, Humboldt State University.
I would also like to acknowledge the tremendous encouragement and support that my production editor, Mary Irvin, provided me throughout the revision process for this third edition. She was a constant source of motivation and a pleasure to work with.
Finally, I would like to dedicate this edition of Joinfostering to Sarah J. Hudelson, my colleague and friend, for her generous support over the years.
Joinfostering: Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Classrooms (3rd Edition)
Joinfostering: Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Classrooms (3rd Edition),Christian J. Faltis,Prentice Hall,0130179132,Aims & Objectives,Bilingual Education,Child Care/Parenting,Education,Education / Teaching,Education, Bilingual,Elementary school teachers,Mainstreaming in education,Multicultural Education,Teacher Training For Pre-School And Elementary Level,Teaching Methods & Materials - General,Training of,United States,Education / Multicultural Education
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