Literacy is a key part of our survival in the every day world. But how do we define literacy? Is it being able to read words on a page, pass a test, or do you need to be able to communicate with others and understand what you are reading and doing. I would argue the last point. I think it is almost impossible to survive in a community where you cannot understand and interact with those around you.
This then raises another important question: What makes you smart? Does not being able to communicate make you stupid? It is important to consider, especially when dealing with ESL, students that just because they may be unable to communicate in English, this does not mean they cannot excel in other areas. As a teacher it is extremely important to consider the different needs of every child in your classroom. If a child is an ESL student, you may need to communicate with them in a way that is literate for them. For example, the Youtube video "The Arrival" by Shaun Tan, is a wordless video that clearly tells a story using the pictures. One is able to follow the story line of the man who leaves his family in a foreign country to deal with the hardships of finding a job and surviving in the United States. Someone does not have to be able to read at all to be able to follow this storyline. It can be spoken about and described in any language. The use of pictures might be a good example for a teacher with ESL students.
In conclusion, it seems that literacy can be defined in many different forms, and as a teacher, it is your job to decide what methods and definitions work best for the students in your classroom.
I agree that as teachers we need to take into account the needs of our individual students. Not only does this tailored curriculum help each student more than applying blanket teaching for the whole class, individualized teaching allows us to find what our students like. When we can make assignments or work interesting for our students they engage and learn more. I love the idea of defining literacy for your own classroom as well. With different students and new technology the way we use literacy will always be changing so that is a great idea!
ReplyDeleteI also agree that we need to take into account our students' individual needs. Finding ways that ESL students can understand and grasp literacy in our classrooms by working one on one with them and making it easy to connect to their language to helpt them understand better would do a tremendous amount of good. I also really agree with what you said about ESL students being able to excel in other areas than just literacy in English. We should help them see that we are happy with them for excelling in other areas even though we want them to learn and be successful with literacy.
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