Video "How to support a non-native child"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snE9SgJuq9k&feature=youtu.be

Video "High context culture - low context culture"

Language - the vehicle of thoughts

“Language is the vehicle of thoughts” – this statement clarifies that thinking is only possible when you are able to speak a language. Expressing your thoughts is impossible without language. But the language used in a school class is mostly different than the language used at home or with your friends. So the interest in work from children depends on how far they have ownership of the different forms of languages used in classroom. Children can only have assurance in speaking when they have a high degree of ownership of the words pronounced, and an ability to create and construct meanings independently in ways which listeners recognize. Speech is immediate and dynamic and it unites oneself with others. For children who learn a language which is closer to the “authorized” language are often more successful learners.

Vygotsky identified 3 different aspects of speech. First the “inner speech”, which only exists on your own head. Second the “oral speech”, which is vocalized and immediate. And third one the “written speech”, which is the most elaborate one, because it is planned and rehearsed. So Vygotsky said that in class children need space to think about their ideas and what they want to say. If they have space to rehearse and to develop their own interpretations they will make sense of their learning and in further consequence that leads to a new level of understanding.

Summing up it can be said that a good teacher should give the children time for thinking. Good ideas are not coming with stressing the children, good ideas need time to think about. So if you give them the time they need, they will achieve a new level of understanding.

I really like this quote, because I think every teacher should heed it. Especially for me, as a teacher in primary, it is very important to explain things on a very simple level. Therefore it is necessary to understand about what I am talking and then it is no problem at all to explain it to the children in class. So for managing that children understand you, you first have to understand it yourself.

School and home language

Between the languages a teacher speaks at school and at home is a difference. Also pupils use another language in writing an exam and communicating at home or with their friends. At home dialects and even other languages are common. The pronunciation is often a different one and pupils feel more comfortable. That leads to the fact that pupils are more fluent in talking at home, because they have more self-confidence.

There are two different types of language proficiencies. BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills = home language) and CALP (Cognitive academic language proficiency = school language). BICS are the skills of listening and speaking in everyday life. They can be acquired within 6 months constantly confronted with the language (when you live there). CALP is the academic language, which is normally not used in everyday life. To acquire CALP it takes much longer. If you want to be able to communicate in a foreign language on a CALP level it takes 5 to 7 years.
You can only express yourself in the sophistication your language level is. And a foreign language can only be as good as you master your mother tongue.

So how should it be possible for a child who immigrated, to learn a new language and become better in it than in the mother tongue? Languages are important, especially because of the fact that globalization is an important topic today.
In some schools in Belgium there is a sign which indicates that only Dutch is allowed also during breaks. Even on some public playgrounds you will find such a sign. In my opinion this is very stupid. You can not prohibit someone from speaking any language he or she wants to speak or is able to speak.

This weekend I also read an article from Austria about the same topic. In one of the Vienna Business Schools in a kind of village next to Vienna there was a letter posted in the school which says that it is only allowed to use German to communicate, also during the breaks. The letter was signed by the principal. The only exceptions are the foreign languages (English, Spanish, Italian and French) which are taught in the school and only during the lessons or to the teachers of these languages. These rules are also effective for phone calls. If a pupil can only communicate in his or her mother tongue on the mobile phone with his or her parents, then the pupil should go to a place where nobody else is disturbed or can be offended by the phone call.
These strange rules are caused by an intercultural conflict with the cleaning stuff it’s written in the letter.

That’s really not the way it should be and that’s not the solution for a better integration of immigrants and that doesn’t ease the language acquisition. I think it even makes it more difficult, because I really can imagine that if you are forced to speak a language then you are not motivated to learn it. As it also says in the news the formulations in the letter were misunderstood. But I think they just said it to the press to save their reputation, because I think the reactions of the society were not very positive about the stupid idea to only allow German in the school.

The posted letter from the principal

David Pinto - 3 step method

It is a fact that immigration and integration totally belong together. You always hear in the news or read in papers that “they” have to integrate. But who should integrate and in what do “they” have to integrate?
Often immigrants are welcomed very warmly in their community/neighbourhood, but some people think very doubtful about foreigners.

In the HLN.BE you can see following data (published in July 22, 2009):

Attitudes towards immigrants/Muslims:
1. Immigrants contribute to prosperity in our country - 26.4%
2. Immigrants can't be trusted, in general - 25.4%
3. Muslim families are in general very hospitable - 44.8%
4. Immigrants come here to profit from our social security - 49.4%
5. Muslims are a threat to our culture and customs - 42.6%
6. The presence of different culture enriches our society - 51.4%
7. If the number of workplaces deceases, immigrants should be sent back to their own country - 33.5%
8. We should warmly welcome foreigners who want to live to Belgium - 25.9%
9. People who belong to ethnic minorities should marry among each other - 18.7%
10. When people would get to know Turks and Moroccan better they turn out to be friendly people, in general - 58.8%
11. Foreigners who live here should adapt to the culture and customs of our country- 87.7%
12. Muslim women and girls should be allowed to wear a headscarf at all times and everywhere - 19%

David Pinto is focused on intercultural communication. Caused by the fact that he was an immigrant on his own, he knows how important intercultural communication is. He says that there are “fine meshed” and “coarse meshed” cultures. In a “fine meshed” culture everything is structured and it is clear how everything works. In a “coarse meshed” culture there is not really structure and everything is very open. On these two statements David Pinto built a 3 step method. With that he focuses on problems in intercultural communication.
Every individual has his own values, norms and perceptions. We tend to see our own values, norms and perceptions as universal and attribute it to others. So in intercultural communication the problem is often a difference of norms and values between different cultures. 

The 3 steps to dealt with difficulties in intercultural communication:

Step 1
look at yourself: what are your own norms and values? What influences your ways of thinking, acting and communicating?

Step 2
look at the others: what are their norms and values? What is the meaning behind their “unusual” behaviour?

Step 3
How will you deal with the observed differences in norms, values and behavioural codes? Tolerance for the other parties is important

Especially as a teacher it is really important to accept the norms and values of other cultures. In this job you have to deal with different cultures every day. Sometimes it complicates your work. For example, if I think about the feast days, people with other cultures often have another religion and so they have different dates to celebrate e.g. Christmas. In some other cultures women have a lower repute than men and so it can be also very difficult for a woman to teach a child, whos parents think like that.

Summing up, I think that David Pinto’s steps for intercultural communication can be very useful and I will use them in future career as a teacher.