Benefits of culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms READ 6718 By Ashley bush

A teacher who understands culture and language is more likely to facilitate opportunities for students to be successful because such teachers understand how diverse students respond to instruction and curriculum (Howley & Nieto, 2010). This week I have chosen a student in my room who is academically challenged but brings a rich cultural and linguistic background to my classroom. this student can speak a little but it is very hard to understand what he is trying to say. He does not know any of his alphabet letters, but he is really good with counting.

Student background information *Age: Four-year old male *Grade: Pre-kindergarten *Home language: Spanish (but the family speaks English too) *socioeconomic status: low

Family background *student lives with mom and dad *he has 3 brothers and 6 sisters *both of his parents were born in Mexico, however he was born in the united states *mom states she will never go back to Mexico

experiences *the family eats a lot of Mexican food *they celebrate thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Cinco de mayo *they celebrate the Spanish independence day on September 15th *they celebrate the Spanish holiday called “dia de la virgin de Guadalupe” on the twelfth of December by having food, dancing, and parties

Academic challenges for my student *identifying alphabet letters and sounds *writing his full name *sometimes he has trouble recognizing his name *speaking clearly where you can understand what he is saying *identifying shapes and making patterns

General Academic challenges *Learning and speaking the English language *Reading: Many eSL learners struggle to read efficiently in the English language because they tend to focus so much time trying to understand each word as they read, they often struggle to see the bigger picture (challenges for esl learners in the ela classroom, 2005) *Writing *using common core state standards and understanding the language that goes with the content

Strengths *Cultural background *family traditions *curiosity as a learner *allowing esl learners to use their first language gives them the opportunity to build bridges between concepts they already know in their home language and the English words for those concepts (challenges for esl learners in the ela classroom, 2005).

Strengths for my student *can count from 1-10 *can recognize some shapes such as a circle and square *can repeat after teacher *can write a “J” for the first letter in his name

Funds of knowledge *Approaches to literacy instruction in which teachers scaffold instruction from knowledge children have developed at home, have much to offer bilingual learners (murillo, 2012) *such as: how to operate a business, play musical instruments, design and make clothing, or repair machinery

Funds of knowledge (continued) * When this student gets older, he will be able to share his family experiences and traditions with others

References Challenges for esl learners in the ela classroom. (2015). Retrieved from https://languageandliteracytheoryandpractice.wi kispaces.com/Challenges+for+ESL+learners+in+th e+ELA+classroom Hawley, W. D., & Nieto, S. (2010). Another inconvenient truth: Race and ethnicity matter. Educational Leadership, 68(3), 66–71. Murillo, L. (2012). Learning from bilingual family literacies. Language arts, 90(1), 18-29.