Running head: ACTIVITY #3 1

Activity #3 – Reflection on minority language

Diego A. Gutierrez

ID # 1068722

Maria-Cristina Cruz-Wiley, Ed. D.

University of St. Thomas

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Activity #3 – Reflection on Minority Language

Teaching to bilingual or ELLs can be challenging at times. As an educator the

goal is to bring the students to grade level and to maintain them at level compared to

their English speaking peers along with teaching the students to learn a second

language. Teaching them a second language is important, but not losing their first

language is just as important. The first language, or minority language can be beneficial

to the teachers, because it too can be used to help the students develop literacy in the

second language.

Using the minority language in the classroom can help in developing English

literacy. As mentioned by Escamilla el al. (2014), “teaching children to read and write in

Spanish and English involves some of the same methodologies and strategies.” As a

matter of fact, teachers of Literacy Squared classrooms are encouraged to use

strategies that have been demonstrated to be effective in Spanish speaking countries,

(Escamilla et al., 2014). Also, the use of the minority language in the classroom allows

the students to learn the content in their native language and then apply it in the

classroom using the second language.

Teaching students new content in the L1 can be a benefit when teaching

biliteracy. As mentioned by Beeman and Urow (2013), “teaching for biliteracy has three

parts: Spanish instruction, the Bridge, and English instruction.” Using the L1 to learn

new concepts allows the student to Bridge into the L2.

As an educator I believe that using the minority language can help with the

recent immigrant. Nurturing what the student already know in their language and then
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using it to transition into English can be beneficial. If the student already knows the

concept of reading and how to read, then those skills can be used to teach them how to

read in English. The same is with knowing the sounds of letters. If the student knows

the phonetics of the letters, then they can apply it when learning to read in English.

There is no reason to waste what the student has already learned.

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References

Escamilla, K., Hopewell, S., Butvilofsky, S., Sparrow, W., Soltero-Gonzalez, L., Ruiz-

Figueroa, O., Escamilla, M. (2014). Biliteracy from the Start: Literacy Squared in

Action. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon Publishing.

Escamilla, K., (2000). Bilingual Means Two: Assessment Issues, Early Literacy and

Spanish-speaking Children. Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages

Affairs (OBEMLA). 100-128.

Beeman, K., Urow C., (2013). Teaching for Biliteracy: Strengthening Bridges between

Languages. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon Publishing.