The Language of Friendship

[Unkotare]

Many of my classes are comprised of all or nearly all speakers of the same L1. This can be used to the students advantage in learning English if applied correctly. However, it is much more productive to have classes made up of students from a variety of language backgrounds. In positive environments, kids tend befriend one another whatever the obstacles. When kids make friends but do not speak the same first language, they will rely mostly on English. Often these kids make much greater progress in English because needing to use a language is more imperative than wanting to learn a language.

 

[August West]

Many of my classes are comprised of all or nearly all speakers of the same L1. This can be used to the students advantage in learning English if applied correctly. However, it is much more productive to have classes made up of students from a variety of language backgrounds. In positive environments, kids tend befriend one another whatever the obstacles. When kids make friends but do not speak the same first language, they will rely mostly on English. Often these kids make much greater progress in English because needing to use a language is more imperative than wanting to learn a language.

My 4 grandparents, my father and an uncle were born in Czechoslovakia and growing up listening to two spoken languages was pretty cool. The old folks could speak to each other in a language that only they knew, keeping us kids in the dark. Good for them.

 

[Unkotare]

In one class I have a very conservative Muslim student who has befriended an obviously gay Latino student and they not only get along great, but they (out of necessity) use English to communicate with each other. They have both significantly improved their English as a result. Many similar stories. Sometimes kids get it better.

 

[Unkotare]

It's great to see young people who under other circumstances would never have met each other, or if they did would not have had any chance of communicating, joking and laughing like old buddies. This is how the world gets a little bit better.

 

[Unkotare]

At one point in a class yesterday, I found myself listening to about ten kids from Guatemala, two from El Salvador, one from Honduras, and two from Haiti all singing a song (as best they could) in Arabic. I was thinking, "what are the odds of observing such a thing?" They were swaying back and forth in their seats, laughing, and having a grand old time.