Technology in Bilingual Classrooms

1. Technology in Bilingual Classrooms Colleen Fallon Dr. Rizopoulos Educ 815

2. SECTION 1: Overview • “Are the students who are put into bilingual classrooms solely relying on computers and other technology to learn English?” If so, is technology the best way to teach students English or any new language?

3. SECTION 2: Literature Reviews Of the 5 articles that I researched, each of them was in agreement that technology was a beneficial aspect of a bilingual classroom. Incorporating technology can only do one good, there is no disadvantage. The findings of my each of articles of my research include: • Building vocabulary as well as figurative language and sayings that would be otherwise hard to learn without the use of television, music or movies. • Using safe computer instant messaging or any word program can help with writing, grammar, and sentence structure. • Students will be at an advantage when entering the work force because they will be tech savvy, making them unique and stand apart from other students. • Using technology will increase any student’s motivation and drive to learning a range of subjects. Bringing any kind of technology into the classroom creates a fun learning environment. Tying in student’s interests and hobbies can easily be done with technology. Teaching students about technology early on will also educate students how to be smart and safe while using certain resources that will provided to them now or in the future.

4. SECTION 3: INTERVIEW • I asked a co-worker 14 questions regarding her experience of learning English. 1) When did you move to the United States? I moved to the United States at the age of 19 from the Dominican Republic. 2) Why did your family choose to come to New York? My grandfather has lived in the US for around 20 years now. He left the Dominican Republic in search of the famous “American Dream”. After a few years of living here, he opened his own business and eventually started bringing his children to the country. My mom had a stable job was starting her family so she decided to stay in the country and chose not to move here with the rest of her family members. 3) Why did your family decided to leave the Dominican Republic? A few years and a divorce later, my mother decided to finally make the trip to the states that she refused before and decided to organize a long vacation to come. Since we came with the legal requirements to get a green card she had to stay for a month until the process was completed. My grandpa’s health was not good and he was in time to retire so my mom decided to stay to help out with the business. With her, I had to come as well.

5. 4) What grade were you in when you moved to New York? I had already finished high school and my freshman year of college. 5) Do you remember any struggles that you faced when learning English? My main problem while learning English were idioms and slangs. I mainly learned from books and a dictionary and phrases like “Debbie downer” were not included in their translation. 6) Were your parents trying to learn English when they moved to the U.S. too? No, at the moment my mother is still learning. Her business is mostly directed to Spanish speaking customers so my family only learned Basic English in order to communicate with others or had people translating for them. 7) How did/do you practice your English? I tried to speak English (as bad as it was) most of the time with the people around me that knew both languages. I would only listen to English songs and would sing them out loud like a crazy person to myself. I love to read so I decided to read and translate English books and articles from magazines so I can practice my writing.

6. 8) Do you remember what kind of strategies you used to learn English? I refused to speak Spanish at my house and with however I knew could understand English. I would always carry a dictionary with me and also one of those tourist guides with pre-set questions. I had two dictionaries with me: and English dictionary and a Spanish English dictionary. It’s best to know the meaning of the words in English rather than just translating it. This made it easier for me to think in English rather than always translating it to Spanish which most of the time didn’t make any sense. 9) Was there something in particular that you feel helped you to learn English better than anything else that you tried? What strategies or tools did you feel worked the least? Finding synonyms of the words I was learning was the most effective method for me to train my brain to think in English and to understand the meaning of certain words. In addition, writing a diary in English helped me a lot with my grammar and spelling. The least effective for me was translating (while speaking). Some combinations of words do not make any sense when translated into Spanish and it didn’t help me to think in English which was my goal so the language could flow easily. 10) Did you listen to American music to help you learn English? Yes, I listened mostly to pop music. It helped me in two ways: to learn the pronunciation and to learn expressions. It was also a good way to train my ear to the different sounds of words when pronounced by others and to get used to different accents. I progressively changed to faster paced music such as rap and country in order to get use to their expressions and pronunciation.

7. Did you watch American T.V. shows or movies to help you learn English? If so, why do you think watching American television shows helped you so much? Yes, I watched a lot of American TV shows to learn English. I think it was what helped me the most. When watching TV or movies you get to see the words in actions. The meaning is clearer when you see the way they act, the way the lips move, the effect of certain words and how to correctly pronounce them. They speak slowly and proper which makes it easier for the person to understand. Furthermore, it provided me with topics for interaction with other people. I could watch a movie and ask someone about it so I could listen to the way they express themselves. It’s like learning as if you were a toddler. You learn how to speak from the way your parents and the people around speak. You learn how to say things and what they mean by the way they pronounce them, enunciate and the actions behind the words. For example, I would see on a TV show someone said: “It’s preposterous”. I didn’t know what the word meant exactly but the enunciation, the body language and the context it was said created connections that suggest that it’s something that is not good and that is not normal. This made it easier to understand the real meaning and also the correct placement and context in which I could use the term.

8. 12) What other technology resources did you use to help you learn English? (i.e. computer software, games, iPads, etc.) I used Microsoft word in order to learn more grammar by analyzing the correction of the spell check. Mostly, I used search engines and crosswords games to learn new words. • What is your opinion on implementing technology into bilingual classrooms? Are you for it or against? Why? The use of technology while learning English or another language is imperative. Not only is helpful to learn the actual language but also in providing the students with other means to understand the complexities of the language. A plain book won’t do. It’s necessary to have interaction of some sort that receives input from you so you can know when you are making a mistake. 14) Do you do anything now to help you to improve your English? If so what? Not anything in particular. I learn every day something new in school as does everyone else. I try my best to learn new words to expand my vocabulary and to improve my writing.

9. SECTION 4: 3 Ways Technology Could Change the Field of Teaching • Decrease of textbooks: having more technology resources will decrease the amount of use of textbooks in the classroom. Activities on the computer will take the place of activities in a workbook. Online quizzes will be substituted for quizzes in the back of textbooks. • Increase motivation: Children of any age, race, or religion love technology and by having a more motivated classroom will create a more enjoyable and community based environment. • More family member participation: Children can bring what they learned from school and can pass it along to their siblings or parents. The easiest thing a non-English speaking family can do is watch an American movie or T.V. show together and learn the language and see the correct use of phrases and vocabulary.

10. SECTION 5: Reflection Doing the research for this topic expanded my view on technology in the classroom. First thinking of this topic based on my experience while observing I had a small range of what technology could bring to a classroom, but the more I read and learned, the more interesting arguments I found. Between my research and my interview I was able to prove that a student would be at such an advantage when using technology to learn a language, because they are learning more then just a new language, but learning a new skill at the same time. A skill that will be carried with them for years to come.