I have been a primary-school teacher for over 30 years．I teach English in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to pupils who are members of racial minorities．Currently I work with Haitian immigrant children who do not speak English when they enter school．Their families come from a country where violence is all too common．Haitian schools are often closed; indeed, in the past ten years, there has not been a single complete school year．Grinding poverty results in a very low level of literacy．Parents seldom have founds for books, paper or pencils．When the children of such families arrive in the US, they are wholly unprepared to compete with their middle-class agemates． How should we teachers help them to learn, especially to learn English? We surround the child with spoken English, encouraging them to use any words they pick up and ignoring all mistakes．We read books aloud, ask questions and constantly encourage responses．A child may start with one word, for example“water”, but by day 3 he can say“Me water, and by day 5,“I want water”．Language grows from small beginnings as the teacher constantly prods the child to use single words and to make longer utterances as he learns．When the child is using English, we don't correct errors in pronunciation．We see such mistakes as the act of practicing a new skill．By trying out his new English skills, the pupil will improve on his own．If he is corrected each time, he will become reluctant to keep trying． We do not teach English by having students memorize words．Instead we start by teaching phonics, which is the study of the sounds that letter make．Phonics provides children a code; pupils learn individual letter sounds and then learn how letters work in group． Test results show that my students make from one to three years' progress within on school year．Our immigrant children, members of racial minorities, are beginning to close the enormous gap in achievement between minority and majority students． |
