The first reason I found that it is not a good idea to group English as Second Learners together is the students may or may not be proud of where they are from. Many students want to fit in with other students and grouping them with students from the same culture as them may make them feel left out. For example, in the reading, Bianca is a Mexican student in Mrs. Rosales class. Mrs. Rosales thought it would be a good idea to partner Bianca with another student from Mexico. They were the only two students in the class from the Hispanic culture. However, Bianca would not talk. Mrs. Rosales later found out Bianca did not think fondly of her Mexican Culture. Mrs. Rosales thought she was doing the girls a favor by seating them together, when in reality she was creating a problem.
Some English Language Learners are only able to speak their primary language. According to the text, teachers often group English as Second Learners together because they think they have similarities. However, sometimes, the only thing they have in common is learning to speak English. Therefore, if English as Second Learners are grouped together they may not get much accomplished because they are not very familiar with the English Language. Their Educational history plays an important role in grouping the students. Some may have little or no schooling due to the lack of teachers in the rural communities, family poverty, of frequent mobility. These factors must be taken into consideration when grouping students, especially ELL.
According to the text, it is also important to recognize that English Language Learners do not all have the same background when assigning groups. It is a tendency to group students together as though their experiences and knowledge are the same. This is often the case with English Language Learners. Students need to be grouped together with consideration of their previous experiences, such as the age in which a student is exposed to English, the quality and quantity of this exposure, their language and learning aptitude, and whether the primary language is Latin based.
A virtual school bag is a concept whereby a teacher considers the knowledge, skills and ways of being that children carry with them in a virtual back pack. Inside a virtual backpack, students carry with them a number of practices, resources, skills, knowledge, values and assumptions about learning, teaching, and life.
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Great image and good explanation of how funds of knowledge and the virtual backpack metaphor are related!
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