the grid and fill in each square with a symbol (sentence, picture, drawing, poem, etc.) that answers the question with regard to your own life experience.
- Share your Culture Quilt with your students. Then, invite them to create their own individual Culture Quilts with the help of their families. You will need to modify the questions in the fourth column to “Cultural Self – Student. You may also modify other questions to make them more age-appropriate for your students. However, be sure NOT to change the intention of the question. Depending on the ages of your students, you might consider inviting a parent, relative or other caregiver to help the student present the Culture Quilt to the class.
- Reflection & Application. As your students share their Culture Quilts, use the opportunity to actively listen to and learn about them and their cultures. Take notes, if possible. After all your students have shared their Culture Quilts write up your reflections regarding insights you had about your students, the responses from the rest of the class, whether or not and how the assignment influenced the dynamics of your class. You might even want to note things you learned about individual students that surprised you and think through what caused you to be surprised. Finally, reflect upon ways that you might modify your teaching throughout the year in response to the cultural knowledge you have gained about your students.
Here’s a lesson plan for adapting this activity for students:
Activity 3: Phases of Language Acquisition
Review Robertson, K. & Ford, K. (2008). Language acquisition: An overview. This is available on the Colorín Colorado website: http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/26751
This article examines the stages of language acquisition, highlights instructional strategies for each stage and provides readers with recommendations for working with English Language Learners.
Create a matrix to summarize what you’ve learned about language acquisition that identifies the stages of language acquisition. You might want to review the Robertson and Ford overview and other readings. The matrix will begin something like this:
- What is “culture” to you?
- How is your cultural and linguistic background affecting your instruction?
- How do you view your students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds?
- How is your cultural and linguistic background affecting how you see your students?
- What do researchers suggest as the best way to involve students from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds?
- What do researchers suggest as a way to engage students who may not speak English (including Standard English) as their first language? How can teachers assist in English learning? How can teachers support bilingual or multilingual development?
- What do you know about yourself now that is different from before?
- How will you change your approach to instruction?
- How might you assist a new teacher in this kind of introspection?
A shared set of beliefs, attitudes, and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization.
A socially constructed category of people who share biologically transmitted traits that members of a society consider important.
A social category of people who share a common culture, such as a common language, a common religion, or common norms, customs, practices, and history.
A variety of techniques used to adapt instruction to the individual ability levels and learning styles of each student in the classroom.
English Learners/English Language Learners (ELs or ELLs)
Individuals who are in the process of transitioning from a home or native language to English or who are learning English as a second (or other) language.
Pull-Out Language Instruction Model
A trained professional pulls small groups of students who are learning English as a second language from general education classes. This is often used in the process of transitioning from a home or native language to English.
Push-In Language Instruction Model
A trained professional co-teaches with a general education(and/or special e