Return-Path: <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h864DY707296; Sat, 6 Sep 2003 00:13:34 -0400 (EDT) Date: Sat, 6 Sep 2003 00:13:34 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <001001c3742a$ec8fc780$234cdc42@trudy> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: "Ken Taber" <kentaber@inetgenesis.com> To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9436] RE: Illiteracy X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Type: text/plain; Status: O Content-Length: 4326 Lines: 102 "I've heard sad stories where very young children simply couldn't understand what their mothers said. They were cut off from communication with their mothers at a heartbreakingly young age. This is not what we want."-Susan I have another sad story for you to hear. This happened at my old school in Florida. A mother and child go into the Kindergarten Classroom the first day of school. The mother goes to the teacher, "My child does not speak." The teacher asks the mother, "Do you speak to your child?" The mother replied, "No." The teacher then asked the mother, "Do you allow your child to watch TV?" To which the mother replied, "I do not believe in TV." The child had learned one word the week before school started. The word, "mommy." This child was not born with any learning disability. He spent both Kindergarten and First Grade at our school before having to go a special school for Language. He was a fast learner and learned many words once he was spoken to. He is still behind his peers academically. We asked his teacher how he was doing in the 4th grade and she said he was making great progress. She also said that most of her language students have problems because of similar environmental issues and that they did not have any other learning problems. We were shocked that there was even one child with this problem but to find out there was even a small classroom of similar problems was even more shocking. Literacy begins with speaking and listening. When that is lacking, progress is hindered. We may be shocked by that story but many teachers do the same thing when a foreign born student enters their classroom and no one speaks to them. Ken Taber kentaber@inetgenesis.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Susan Ryan" <susanefl@hotmail.com> To: "Multiple recipients of list" <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 9:06 PM Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9435] RE: Illiteracy > A very complex situation, of course. > > > >From: "Sylvan Rainwater" <sylvan@cccchs.org> > >Reply-To: nifl-esl@nifl.gov > >To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-esl@literacy.nifl.gov> > >Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9433] RE: Illiteracy > >Date: Fri, 5 Sep 2003 19:42:21 -0400 (EDT) > > > >No, English is *not* the first language, as long as the mother or primary > >caregiver speaks another language. Maybe I should say support the home > >language. For a baby born in this country, it may be that both languages > >could be the first language, home language plus English. Language learning > >starts at least at birth, or maybe before, with a lot of input from the > >mother or primary caregiver. That's the first language -- the one the child > >is surrounded by at home. > > > >I've heard sad stories where very young children simply couldn't understand > >what their mothers said. They were cut off from communication with their > >mothers at a heartbreakingly young age. This is not what we want. > > > >It is also true that too many children grow up with a rudimentary knowledge > >of their first language, and an incomplete knowledge of English. They are > >barely bilingual, in a superficial way. Those folks have the same problems > >that low-literacy English-speakers everywhere have, with the added burden > >of > >being scorned or teased by their family for their low skills in the first > >language. > > > >------- > >Sylvan Rainwater mailto:sylvan@cccchs.org > >Program Managaer Family Literacy > >Clackamas Co. Children's Commission / Head Start > >Oregon City, OR USA > > > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: nifl-esl@nifl.gov [mailto:nifl-esl@nifl.gov] On Behalf Of Susan Ryan > >Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003 10:50 AM > >To: Multiple recipients of list > >Subject: [NIFL-ESL:9422] RE: Illiteracy > > > >The whole point is for a toddler age, English would be his first language! > >Although we have many languages spoken in the U.S., English is the defining > >language and children born into it should be first language speakers in > >English. The other lanuage (family language spoken) would be their second > >language. They will be bilingual in reverse of their parents' generation. > >Susan > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get 10MB of e-mail storage! Sign up for Hotmail Extra Storage. > http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es >
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Mar 11 2004 - 12:16:24 EST