BLOG #7 Interest and Opportunities

The amount of people interested in their child becoming bilingual was astounding, 100% of people were interested!! Everyone was on board- parents who spoken multiple languages, parents of children who were already taking a second language at school, parents who didn't speak a language other than English, and parents of children whose schools didn't have effective or any language programs! This was very good news to hear! If only resources were made available, such as language learning classes and programs, people would take advantage of them. 

Are you interested in your child becoming bilingual? 

Why or why not?

  

Opportunities

• job

Competitiveness with interviewing, resume content, and in job searching. Makes you more marketable. More career choices are made possible. Able to compete on a global scale in future jobs. Future career choices around the world. Working as a translator or at am embassy. Being an ambassador in the future. 

• educational

Knowing a second language makes it easier to learn a third and fourth language. Have broader views of the world. Become fluent! Be more knowledgeable. Adds depth, character, and intelligence to life. Understand other ways of thinking. Appreciation for language. School opportunities such as attending bilingual schools abroad. Being able to successfully attend Second Language School. Being able to translate for others. Breaking down the barrier and stereotype of Americans mostly only speaking English while the rest of the world speaks a native language and English.

• social

Aids in communication when traveling for both business and leisure! You have more choices where you live in the future. Scheming and sharing secrets with someone without anyone else understanding you is possible :) Speaking with people who speak the same language. Have more friends! Participate in activities and groups such as the Polish Scouting Organization.

Cognitive Benefits 

• improves executive function
• aids in brain development
• improves memory
• helps in problem solving
• increased brain synapses

Culture

• know ethnic background 
• remain connected to family's culture
• be able to read great literary work by Polish poets and authors in Polish
• study a native country's history in native language
• be open to different cultures and people
• be well-rounded
• appreciation of other cultures and languages
• be able to understand, appreciate, and participate in a Holy Mass in another language
• experience traditions and holidays
• my children will be able to pass down traditions to their children one day
• stayconnected to ancestry and heritage
• show pride in ethnicity

Staying Connected to Family  

Most families expressed the importance of their children being able to communicate with their families when they travel their home countries every summer. Parents are happy to be able to speak their native language with their children. 

What is your child's preferred language to speak with parents?

Assyrian

Arabic

English

French

German

Italian

Polish

Ukrainian

29% of children choose to speak a language other than English with their parents

34% of children choose to speak English with their parents

I remember that when I asked parents to list the languages that they are fluent in, the total was eleven languages. But yet, only eight different languages are the choice for the children to speak with their parents. The reason for this might be that children are being taught only one language other than English, by one or both parents. It is interesting to see that children seem to be choosing English as their preferred language to speak with their parents. 

What is your child's preferred language to speak with siblings?

English

French

German

Italian

Polish

26% of children choose to speak a second language with their sibling(s).

61% of children choose to speak English with their sibling(s).

I remember speaking only Polish with my sister when we were little. I also remember switching over to speaking mostly English to her by 4th grade. I still choose to speak English with her. We are able to express ourselves  and communicate with each other much easier in English than in Polish. This is because of the extensive schooling in English we received through elementary school, high school, and at the university level. We participated in Polish School once a week up until high school. Since then, we have kept up with learning Polish through speaking with family and friends. We have also been able to maintain and advance the language through reading Polish newspapers, magazines, and books. For some reason, this question made me think about how I "think" in English. I remember what it was like to think in Polish and French. In a future study or survey, I would like to find out what is the dominant language that people use in their thinking processes. 

What is your child's preferred language to speak with grandparents?

Arabic

English

French

German

Italian

Polish

Thai

Ukrainian

72% of children choose to speak a language other than English with their grandparents. 

27% of children choose to speak English with their grandparents. 

It looks like many grandparents may be immigrants whose native language is still very strong! It is quite an important challenge for these grandparents to not only pass down their native language to their children, but also to their grandchildren.

What is your child's preferred language to speak with friends?

English

French

German

Italian

Polish

19% of children choose to speak a language other than English with their friends.  

79% of children choose to speak English with their friends.

Opportunities need to be arranged for children to be able to speak their native language with other children. This can be done through play dates, attending events, and sighing up children for activities and groups such as dancing, sports, scouting, and language classes. I will talk  more about this topic in a future blog!

Can your child easily switch the use between both languages?

Yes	59	84%
No	11	16%

I wonder what the reasons are behind the children's struggles to switch between both languages easily? I am guessing that it is due to an insufficient amount of practice speaking and interchanging both languages. For me, even today, when I don't speak Polish for prolonged amounts of time, my Polish suffers. My Polish was excellent during the time I was a Polish Girl Scout troop leader for 12 years. I was constantly challenged with needing to read,write, and speak Polish. When my Polish "suffers", I struggle with "finding" words and substitute them with English words. 

BLOG #6 Opportunities to Speak a Second Language

It is interesting and exciting to analyze, study, and see correlations in the data generated by my survey. I gained a lot of knowledge and insight into how bilingualism is maintained and viewed. I gathered information that I will be able to share with people, parents, and administrators that I work with in the future. Inputting data into an online survey and seeing the tabulated results organized by Google Drive is amazing! It is a very useful and easy tool to use. I look forward to using it with surveys and studies I conduct in the future. 

The ages of  101 children whose parents participated in the survey ranged from 2-8 years of age. Since our Masters of Early Childhood Education focuses on the development of children birth-8 years of age, I made it a goal to approach parents with children who are in this age bracket. Parents of ten children ages 10-13 attending a school in which they study a second language three times a week for eight years also participated in the survey.

Child's gender.....almost 50/50!

	42 boys!	48%
	45 girls!	52%

Below are my survey results that reveal the language or languages spoken by the children and family closely involved in the children's lives. In order to reach and maintain a balanced level of bilingualism, both languages must be practiced! Learning English at school is easy because instruction is balanced and opportunities to speak English are available all day long, every day. Learning to speak a second language presents challenges such as not having sufficient opportunities and time to practice speaking the language. 

Does the father speak a language other than English?

Albanian

Arabic

Polish

French

German

Italian

Spanish

Thai

Ukrainian

Ukrainian and Russian

Assyrian and Arabic

Polish and Russian

Polish and German

German and Spanish

French and Italian

German and French

German and Italian

Polish and Ukrainian

French, German, and Italian

Polish, German, and Spanish

Polish, Russian, and German

Polish, Russian, Arabic and French

Wow, ELEVEN different languages! What a multitude of languages spoken by fathers! Some are bilingual and some are trilingual, using and able to use three languages, with equal or nearly equal fluency. A person who speaks 3-4 languages is called a polyglot :)

Does the mother speak a language other than English?

Arabic

Assyrian

French

German

Italian

Polish

Russian

Spanish

Ukrainian

Ukrainian and French

Ukrainian and Italian

Ukrainian and Polish

Assyrian and Arabic

German and Spanish

German and French

German and Italian

French and Italian

Polish and Russian

Polish and French

Polish and Spanish

Polish and German

German, Spanish, and Italian

As a group, the mothers speak a total of NINE different languages. Many of them are trilingual. 

Does your child speak a language other than English?

Yes	67	78%
No	19	22%

Arabic

Chinese

German

Mandarin

Polish

Ukrainian

Assyrian and Arabic

French and Italian

French and German

German and Italian

German and Spanish

Polish and German

Polish and Arabic

Polish and French

Polish and Ukrainian

Albanian and Polish

Thai, Polish, and French

French, German, and Italian

As a group, the children speak a total of TWELVE different languages! The children outnumber the languages spoken by their parents. It looks like children are learning their father's and mother's second languages, making them trilingual and some even speaking four languages! I wonder how many of these additional languages are being learned in school and not directly from parents?! I wonder if the mothers or fathers are more disciplined in teaching their children the languages that they know? I wonder what it is like to not be able to understand what your spouse and child are saying! I think that it takes sensitivity to do this. I also think it is an art to do this successfully. Children whose parents speak multiple languages have the opportunity to learn the languages spoken by both their parents. Very interesting! What amazing opportunities for these children! 

Do the grandparents speak a language other than English?

Yes	72	86%
No	12	14%

Arabic

Filipino

French

German

Italian

Polish

Ukrainian

Albanian and Polish

Assyrian and Arabic

Polish and German

French and Polish

French and Italian

German and Italian

German and Spanish

Russian and German

Thai and Polish

Ukrainian and Russian

Ukrainian and Polish

Ukrainian, French, and Russian

Ukrainian, Russian, and German

Polish, Russian, and Arabic

French, Italian, and German

French, German, and Russian

Spanish, German, and Italian

Polish, French, Russian, and German

German, Italian, Russian, and Czechoslovakian 

As a group, the grandparents speak THIRTEEN different languages! I wonder how many of these languages are passed down to their children and grandchildren? I know from personal experience that my parents had to learn Russian and German when attending school in Poland as children. If these grandparents are immigrants, then they too had to learn some of these languages in school. It must be hard for the grandparents to be the only ones teaching their grandchildren a language that they do not hear from their parents nor in school. 

What is the dominant language spoken at home?

Arabic

Assyrian

English

French

German

Polish

Ukrainian

French and Italian

Well these results are very surprising and interesting. I thought that if both parents speak different languages, then one or both of these languages would be the dominant languages spoken at home. Most people indicated that English is the main language spoken at home. It seems as if parents choose one language as the one spoken most often. I wonder what concerns, frustrations, challenges, and successes parents have with supporting their children with becoming bilingual? What resources are available to make this experience easier and more positive?

BLOG #5 Bonjour Les Etudiants!

While conducting my survey with people, I noticed that the question "Does your child's school offer a partial or total immersion program?" stirred the most amount of questions and curiosity. None of them had heard of an immersion program. They questioned each other about the language programs offered in schools. I shared my personal elementary school experience of attending Immaculate Conception Ukrainian School. We had Ukrainian class every day, attended a mass in Ukrainian every Friday, learned to sing in Ukrainian, and learned about the culture. Immaculate Conception is a private Catholic school with medium tuition. It interests people who want their children to learn the Ukrainian language and culture and/or receive an education that private Catholic schools offer. I also told them about my teaching experience at Oakland Steiner Waldorf School, where the children had German classes three times a week for eight years.  Oakland Steiner is a private school based on Rudolf Steiner's Theosophy philosophy with high tuition. It interests people who want their children to experience an education intentionally tailored to child development and the child as a whole. But I had not heard of total immersion programs or schools! I really wish that public schools offered language programs that involved children receiving a free education with a language program that would graduate them being fluent in a language!!!

To gain a deeper understanding of what a partial or total language immersion program is like, I went to visit the French School of Detroit in Bloomfield Hills for a day. It is located in a residential area down the street from Detroit Country Day. I introduced myself to the program director in French, which made her enthusiastically introduce me to the preschool teacher in French. I understood everything she said while we walked to the class but was only able to utter a bit of French. I have taken four years of French in high school and two years at Oakland University but without constant practice, I understand more than I can speak. 

The grade school children come to the French School of Detroit for daily lessons in French that last from 8:05-10:35am. After their French immersion classes, the students travel to one of four schools within the Birmingham Public School District: Beverly Elementary, Bingham Farms Elementary, Pierce Elementary, or West Maple Elementary. The tuition rate is $12,500 per year.  In the preschool program, 19 children are split into two groups that are grouped by fluency ability of French. The children are four years old :) Preschool is seen as a "real" academic grade, the way Kindergarten is seen in the United States. One group of children spends the morning speaking and being instructed only English while the other group spends their first half of their day speaking and learning only in French. 

Most of the families whose children attend the French School of Detroit are from Germany or France working in the United States for a 1-3 year contract with the Ford, GM or Chrysler Companies. Their children must keep up with their fluency level of French in order to be able to re-enter school when they return home. 

Bonjour Les Etudiants! Good morning students! I spent the morning in Mrs Kari's English immersion class. I told her that I am here to observe but she made me feel welcome to interact with the children if I wanted to. One little girl came to the school in October speaking only French and now she speaks fluent English! When the teacher speaks to students who only speak French, she repeats it in English too. I heard a couple of children repeat English phrases to themselves while walking around the play area. I walked around the classroom smiling at their colorful artwork that is displayed on every wall. I made quite a few friends being in awe of their work and being able to compliment them using short phrases in French. 

I spent the afternoon in Mademoiselle Karine's classroom in which the children are only spoken to in French. There are at least three children who spoke 4 languages fluently-English, French, German, and Italian. Two boys interchanged French and Italian the whole time while they played. The students were very curious about me and wanted to know what I was writing. I was lucky to be able to tell them "J'ecris quelque chose pour Madame Corduries". This was enough for them to decide that I do indeed speak French. I was invited to play and exchanged conversation with them as best as I could. They were patient with me and when I asked them how to say something in French, they were able to tell me. I was also lucky because children speak slowly and enunciate each word much better than French adults who are so difficult to understand!! I also learned that the word for "chocolate" is the same in Italian and Polish, and very similar in German and French! 

The activities were center based. Manipulation, exploration, and discovering through games was evident in all the centers. One group of children had a challenging task of cutting out a dismembered leprechaun that had to be carefully cut out, colored, and then glued onto livre vert (green paper). Another group rolled dice and counted out pennies. I spoke to one of the teacher aids for both groups about her experience working at this school. I was surprised when she told me that she had been working there for twelve years but was not able to name the different parts of the human body, only the face. 

The French School of Detroit uses the French curriculum called "Maternelle". In France, children spend 2-3 years in Maternelle. The teaching style is more structured to prepare the students for the more systemic education in the elementary years.  The curriculum and teachers set the foundation for moving forward into the elementary school. Teaching is not organized by subject but in different areas of activity. This allows for more flexibility in the content and helps to work on the development of competences. It is interesting to read, especially if you're a preschool or Kindergarten teacher!! 

I was surprised to see that such young children have to learn how to write their name in cursive. The children learn how to draw curved and straight lines before the learn how to write or draw, letters. I did not see any of the children writing their name in cursive. Although many children come to Kindergarten knowing the name and sound of letters, it is not a requirement for this to be taught in American preschools. It seems like the preschool years invest in making the child confident, independent, and aware of their world. I think that the science "benchmark" Understanding the natural development of animal and vegetable life, and linking these to: growth, nutrition, movement, and reproduction is an interesting foundation to nurture and teach. I wonder how this curriculum could be merged harmoniously with our Michigan teaching standards, for example.

The four key elements of the curriculum are:

Ø  Maternelle allows time to each child to become comfortable in her/his environment, to observe, to work, to try, to experiment. It stimulates her/his desire to learn and to understand.

 Ø  Activities are based on the need to act, the pleasure of play, curiosity and the fact that they enjoy to copy what the adult and the others are doing, the satisfaction to overcome difficulties, and have success.

     Ø  Time is organized to respect the child's biological rhythm.

 Ø  A school for all and success for each individual.

These goals or standards are followed to teach the children by the end of their preschool year.

Acquiring Language Skills 

1. Understanding a message and answering it in an appropriate manner;

2. Naming an object correctly, a person and an every day action;

3. Telling an event that has really happened or a fictional story and making oneself understood;

4. Asking a question properly;

5. Giving her/his point of view;

6. Articulating and pronouncing sounds correctly. 

Discovering Writing

1. Differentiating sounds;

2. Deciphering syllables in a word (how many), recognizing the same syllable in different words;

3. Recognizing the written form of a word that is read;

4. Recognizing most of the letters of the alphabet;

5. Knowing the sound of letters;

6. Identifying different formats;

7. Copying in cursive writing, with a model, small words and short sentences;

8. Writing her/his first name in cursive.

Becoming a Student

1. Respecting others and respecting the rules for community living;

2. Listening, helping, cooperating, asking for help;

3. Showing self-confidence, being able to control her/his emotions;

4. Identifying adults at school and their jobs;

5. Doing simple tasks independently and taking initiative in class life;

6. Expressing what s/he learns. 

Physical Skills and Well-Being

1. Being able to move in different ways adapting to her/his environment;

2. Cooperating or competing in group activities;

3. Expressing herself/himself musically with or without an instrument;

4. Expressing her/his feelings through movement;

5. Understanding space and moving in space;

6. Describing and drawing a simple path.

Discovery of the World

1. Recognizing, naming, describing, comparing, ordering, and classifying materials and objects according to quantities and uses;

2. Understanding the natural development of animal and vegetable life, and linking these to: growth, nutrition, movement, and reproduction,

3. Naming the main parts of the human body and their uses, distinguishing the 5 senses and their use;

4. Knowing and applying basic rules of hygiene relating to the body, to the environment, and to food;

5. Identifying danger and taking in into account;

6. Identifying the day, the week, and the year;

7. Sequencing events, accurately in time.

Perceive, Feel, Imagine, and Create

1. First, artistic approach:

2. To increase the sensory potential of a child;

3. To develop imagination and increase the potential and the ability to express oneself.

Visual Arts

1. To experiment with different tools, equipment and styles;

2. To build objects;

3. To express oneself using appropriate vocabulary.

Voice and Listening

1. To use oral and auditory skills to communicate;

2. To learn songs and rhythms. 

BLOG #4 Anketa

While preparing to pass out my surveys on bilingualism at an event at Our Lady of Czestochowa Church, I had to think about how I was going to introduce my research project to people in Polish. Short and polite!

"Dziendobry, mam na imie Malgosia. Koncze studia magistra i pracuje nad projektem o ludziach mowiacych dwoma jezykami. Czy Pan/Pani by prosze mi wypelnil(a) ta ankete?"

"Good morning, my name is Malgosia. I am finishing my Master's studies and am working on a research project on bilingualism. Would you please be so kind to fill out this survey?"

Survey = anketa (I learned a new Polish word!)

The Polish Scouting Organization whose weekly troop meetings take place in one of my church's buildings, held a yearly bazaar Saturday and Sunday. I knew that a lot of families were going to attend, especially on Saturday because the leader scouts prepared an indoor bon fire in the evening for all of the boy and girl scouts. I put on my girl scout uniform and went to Kinko's to make 100 peach colored copies of my survey. 

I brought cake pops to donate to the bake sale fundraiser and spent some time at the table telling friends about my research project. They were very willing to fill it out and this made me feel more comfortable before branching out to strangers! I am glad that I brought a box filled with my surveys, sharpened pencils, a sharpener, and some boards to write on. It made the process easier for me to carry around my kit :)I waited until people finished eating before approaching them. It was easy to start a conversation with people because they were sitting at large tables with family and friends. I waited for a break in their conversation and sat down next to them. Sometimes I got entire tables to fill out the surveys! I lingered around while offering their children stickers, giving me an opportunity to answer questions, observe, and take note of what people were discussing. It was great to hear people having discussions!! 

I noticed that many people were not seeing the first piece of information that needed to be checked off on the survey (Child's gender M/F). I made sure to check it off correctly each time I collected a survey if it was incomplete. I also noticed that people were just checking off if the father, mother, children, and grandparents spoke a language other than English instead of listing the languages. People were curious about question #8 Does your child's school offer a partial or total language immersion program? No one seemed to have heard of such a program or school. I think that it would be interesting to learn more about total immersion programs offered here in Michigan. Shannon suggested for me to visit some of these schools. What a great idea! I remember how disappointed I was when I first learned about Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio Emilia schools in my fifth year of being in the education program at Oakland University. I wish that I had learned about these different schools earlier. I am grateful for the research aspect of studying for a Master's degree. It is making me become a responsible advocate of so many aspects of education!

I took part in conversations about the concerns and frustrations of parents and children regarding learning a second language. Some barriers with parents teaching and maintaining their child's second language included not having sufficient amount of time, resources, and opportunities for their children practicing a second language. Some of these reasons included only one parent teaching the child a second language, laziness, and an already overwhelming amount of school homework sent home. Most parents who made a commitment in teaching and maintaining their child's second language involved their children in attending Second Language School, religion classes, dance, and joining the Polish Scouting Organization (all offered through church). It sounds like being a part of a community is a big part of being successful in becoming bilingual! 

I was able to collect to collect 64 surveys on Saturday and 24 on Sunday for a total of 88 out of 100 surveys completed! I know I was successful because I chose to conduct the live survey in a personal way by approaching people. Everyone was willing to participate because people knew me, they had time to fill it out, I remained in the vicinity to answer questions and collect the surveys, and because it directly involved their children. 

I am excited to process the results and read all of the constructive response questions. I am also looking forward to seeing the correlations between attaining bilingualism and the efforts and opportunities that go along with success of becoming bilingual. I am interested to see what struggles, concerns, and frustrations people have with bilingualism. 

BLOG #3 Attainable Idealism

Thank you very much everyone for looking over my survey and for making thoughtful suggestions! It was considerate and important to add 'grandparents' to the list of people that children may speak a second language with. It is always so insightful to share ideas and get feedback from other people. There are things about the survey that I didn't notice. For example, I combined some questions together making them two part questions. I also expressed gratitude at the end of the survey! I am looking forward to reading people's responses to the constructive response questions especially how they think their child's language program at school can be improved. I am interested in hearing about the different views people have about bilingualism. I want to find out what makes bilingual families successful at keeping and advancing their child's bilingualism. This is information that I will want to share with families of my future students. After I am finished with this action research project, I will continue learning about views on bilingualism that are recent and true. I feel that there are a lot of fears, and myths about bilingualism. 

 I also have a hypothesis that language programs at most schools are either non existent, have been removed or are ineffective. I think that language programs need to be improved in regards to teaching languages to children effectively and tailoring language programs according to recent research. In my literature review research, I read how important it is for children to begin learning a second language at an early age when it is easier for the child to grasp it. The older the child or person (as we all probable have experienced), the more difficult it is to learn a new language. Extensive and daily practice with learning a second language is also necessary in order to truly learn and retain that second language. I know that it may be idealistic to implement a language program that focuses on learning one language in depth from K-8th grade but I think it is realistic. 

There are schools such as Oakland Steiner Waldorf School in Rochester that chose a language, German in this case, to be studied by the students during their entire elementary school journey. I met with Frau Martina, a lead German teacher who has been teaching German at Waldorf schools for fifteen years. She teaches 1st-8th grade, 3-4 times a week. Grades 1-3 receive four lessons per week and grades 4-8 receive three lessons per week. The language cart she brings with her to the lower grades is filled with items for games played in German, award systems she keeps track of, and books. The upper elementary cart is filled with literature in German, German items to draw and write about. She invites German speaking parents to come into each class and participate in teaching songs and games from different regions. Parents come in and bake and cook authentic German food with each class, sometimes in the classroom and sometimes in the school's spacious kitchen. The students recite poetry and perform plays, all in German. Since the whole school is learning German, there is a remarkable opportunity to practice speaking German with each other. Frau Martina also organizes grades to collaborate together during and outside of German class. I spoke to some 4th graders and they were able to carry on a conversation in German! They were also able to translate any English word that I presented them with. The 7th and 8th graders are pretty much fluent! Their main course of study is reading, writing, and speaking. When these students go on to high school and college, they will be able to take independent studies in German because of their high level knowledge of the language. 

I definitely support the idea of concentrating on one language for a prolonged amount of time as being effective. I know many schools offer an introductory language program called "Exploratory Language" to children as young as preschool. The students receive 1-3 introductory lessons per week of up to four languages. I don't think that this is enough practice to retain any of the languages. In my research of literature reviews, I found two fascinating journals talking about the relevance and important of learning a second language that is similar to the language that you already know. This helps students create a more meaningful relationship between the two languages. It also makes it easier to understand  concepts such as rules of grammar. So if a child has knowledge of a tonal language such as Chinese, it would be more beneficial for that child to learn a second tonal language. I remember reading a scientific journal about how learning two completely different languages stresses the brain out because it tries to make connections and find commonalities. I think that this piece of research should alter school's decisions in choosing languages that seem appealing or impressive to people. 

I was able to get 12 parents at Oakland Steiner Waldorf School to fill out my survey! I enjoyed physically going to a school and observing the language program. I like speaking with people and exchanging ideas. I learn a lot from listening to their conversations, joining in, answering questions, and watching their expressions. It was effective to carry the survey in a box filled with freshly sharpened pencils and stickers as incentives for their children!

Here is a link to a survey that I made on Google Drive for people who will be participating taking my survey through e-mail and Facebook. 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1V5hnW4WKb135M6tiiRviHPMwgPXZY9slqOWNpLS_T6U/viewform