Welcome to another episode of the Equipping Ells podcast. We are in full swing of 2024, and I really hope that you listen to the first episode of this year where I challenged you with becoming an advocate and using that as your one word this year to fuel what you are doing. And I love, love, love hearing different ways is that you have taken on that word, taken on that identity, and you have been advocating for yourself, you've been advocating for your students, and you're already seeing changes happen. Just last night, I was in a training that we had inside equipping Ells, and one of our members was sharing how she advocated for herself because she had over 100 students and was working part time. That is just not acceptable. She can't do that. And so she stood up for herself. She was able to lower her caseload where she's only focusing on newcomers. And that has helped to alleviate a lot of her stresses because now she can use the newcomer materials with all the groups that she's working with instead of working with mixed level groups. And so she was just sharing how helpful it's been, how excited she is to have really stood up for herself and for her students. And now that she has seen some change already happening. So keep advocating and share. I'd love to hear what are the things that you are advocating for and see how we can come around and support you, maybe with future podcast episodes, or maybe if you even want to come out and be a guest and share about some of the things that you're advocating for. I would absolutely love that. So don't hesitate to reach out and let me know. Now, right now, we are in a series on supporting bilingual learners and really promoting bilingualism, because that is our goal as teachers of ESL. And you might be thinking, well, yes, my job is to teach them English. I understand that, and I agree with that. But our goal is for them to become bilingual. We want to continue as we're teaching them English, to support and to encourage their native language to be continued, to be spoken, to grow in their native language, for that to be that cultural piece to be preserved. I have seen so many students, or even just people, peers my age, who spoken in their language in the house. And really, when they entered the US, their parents said, no more, we're speaking only English. Or the students felt that at school that they only could speak English. And so when they came home, they didn't want to keep their native language. They want to speak in that native language. And now they're 30, 40 and unable to speak that second language. They've lost their native language completely. So we do not want to do that to our students. So the next we're going to be walking through what is bilingualism? How do we support even if you don't speak their native language, there are still so many. Promote bilingualism. And today I want to talk about just some really beautiful ways and embracing the richness of your bilingual students and what they bring into your classroom and what they bring into our classrooms, because what they bring, there are so many incredible qualities and characteristics and gifts that happen because of being bilingual. And it's really a huge blessing to all of us to have students in our classrooms that speak multiple languages, that have different backgrounds. And that's we're going to get into today because I know if you have not gone and learned another language, and that's okay, that was me for a long time. And so it's really hard to understand or to see the inside and some of those strengths that maybe if you have learned another language, you know, oh, yeah, that's absolutely what's happening inside my brain as I'm switching between two languages. If you don't have that experience and background, it might be harder to appreciate it. And so this is part of that advocating is educating and saying, okay, what are the strengths of bilingualism? Why is this important? Why should we be advocating for that? And so that's what these next few episodes are going to be all about. So I want you to begin by taking just a minute with me, okay? I want you to picture your classroom and the group of students that you are currently working with. I want you to think about where your students have traveled from to arrive in your classroom. I want you to think about the stories they have to share about what they've experienced so far, even sometimes at a very young age. I want you to think about what their home life is like. I want you to use your senses as they walk through the front door, what language is being spoken, who's around them when they're at home, what smells are coming from the kitchen. Now, when you have that picture in your head, I want you to think of your role in this, and I want you to see what an incredible privilege it is to get to be their teacher, that those students are in your classroom for a purpose, for a reason, and for a time. It might be a short time, or you might build relationships that last forever, but the opportunity you have to educate and impact the global community right in your neighborhood is something that we do not want to squander. It's a privilege. Now, over the years, in all my experiences, I keep coming back to this, that it's not just a gift to help a student learn English, but it's a gift to help students. And let me repeat that in all my years of experience and over the years. What I've really come to see is this. That our role is not just to teach our students English, but our role is who help our students become bilingual. That is what's going to set them up for success. In the future, that is what's going to preserve their cultural identity. And you might be thinking, why is this important that we don't just focus on learning English? Because bilingualism brings in some very important characteristics into our classrooms that don't just impact our bilingual students, but it impacts all of us. And I promise it makes us all better people. Now, before I dive into this list of five incredible qualities that bilingual students bring into the classroom, I want to make this clear because I know a lot of you have a lot on your plates, and I don't want you to take away from this and go, how about one more thing to do? Now I need to translate everything. Now I need to learn Spanish so that I can communicate with them and I can promote bilingualism. Now, I need to do this. This. That's not what I want you to take away from this. There is a lot you can do without even having to speak their native language. We're going to get into that in a future episode, but I want you to hear me. It's not about you doing more or having to translate everything or having to speak in another language all day. Your job is to teach them English, but you can still support and nurture that bilingual model because it really matters. Now, let's dive into five incredible qualities that bilingual students bring into our classrooms. Because, like I said, it doesn't just impact our bilingual students. It impacts all of us for the good.
The first quality is that they bring in a multilingual advantage. There is so many studies out there that are showing that a bilingual brain is actually set up differently than a monolingual brain, that the left and right sides of the brain have this piece that is so strong, that's connecting the two, unlike a monolingual brain. Now I'm speaking from having a monolingual brain. So this is something that if you are not bilingual, it's nothing against you or it's nothing to make you feel bad. I've been there. I'm that I wasn't bilingual from birth. I now can speak another language, but it's taken a long time, and I still have a long ways to go, so I don't want you to take it that way. I really want you to see the incredible qualities that those students have, and so their brains actually are set up differently, especially with those students who learn another language before they're five years old, after it really becomes more of a second language. So that strength between the left and the right hemispheres are not the same setup as those who learn before they're five years old. But there have been so many studies that have found that multilingual students, students who are bilingual, they're better at multitasking, they have improved problems, skills, have a makeup. Now, how often do we share this with our bilingual students? How often do we encourage this and show them, hey, your brain actually has incredible makeup that allows you to take on things differently, approach things differently. You're able to persevere and have problem solving skills differently. And that skill is a way that they can help to show how that works with other students in the class and how they just approach something differently. Now, next week's episode, we're going to get more in depth on the bilingual brain, because as I've done research on that, it is so fascinating, and I can't wait for you to hear that. So if you're interested about the bilingual brain, that's going to come next week. But they really do have a multilingual advantage of just operating in those two languages, of moving back and forth between two cultures, of really having an understanding as they approach a situation and reading body cues and cultural nuances and understanding how they fit into that. There's so much that's happening in the brain as they operate in those languages. So they definitely have some incredible brain skills that they're bringing into our classrooms. The quality, number two, is the reflection that they are a reflection of the real world. Now, I've shared this before. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago, and we did have large populations of people from all around the world. If you've been to Chicago, you've probably been to many different pockets of different cultures and countries right in Chicago area. But where I grew up, we did have different diverse students in our schools, but they really separated the classes. We had our monolingual classroom, and we had our bilingual program. And so there was very little interaction between the two. And so I grew up not really understanding other cultures and hearing other languages. I just knew that there was another class of students who spoke Spanish, and we really had no connection with them. What a disservice to us to not have that interaction, to not from a young age, learn and become interested in other students culture and their identity and their background and their language. And so we really want to celebrate this, that your classroom, the cultural diversity in your classroom is a reflection of the real world. When we look at current migration statistics, we are seeing that more than ever people are moving and displacing around the world. And the US has the highest number of people entering the US, and then Europe is second. So we have also doubled this since 2000.
So, according to the UN International Organization for Migration, in 2020, they share that 281,000,000 people were international migrants, meaning that 3.6% of the world's people lived outside their country of that birth year. And then we can break it down and we can see even further how different countries are impacted by the movements of different people groups. As we can see happening right now, as wars are breaking out, as there's just destruction happening in key parts of the world, we have a huge exodus of people groups to other areas where we're seeing the world is becoming a melting pot. Everywhere you go, you are going to be working alongside people from all around the world. And so I say this because what a gift for us and our students to get to reflect that right in the classroom, that they, at a young age, get to learn how to celebrate cultural diversity, how to have a more inclusive and accepting environment, how to have empathy for other people in their cultures, even if it's different than yours. How to have cultural sensitivity and global awareness. These are things that, to me, are just such a beautiful thing about where we are in the world today that we can really have a global understanding that our students can have. Know, one of the big reasons why we live here in Panama is because of this. My own children are surrounded by students from around the world. And to hear my daughter talk about her friend who speaks four languages and lives in Norway and whose dad is from Syria and knows these things, I'm always just mind blown, because when I was eight years old, I don't even think I knew the next town over, let alone another country. And so to just see the shift that's happening with our children these days and our students who are growing up in such a global world and the beauty that our classrooms reflect that, and we get to have that as an opportunity to teach and support and model what cultural sensitivity looks like, right in classrooms. Quality number three. Our bilingual students bring in a resilience and a perseverance. Ells are often faced with challenges when it comes to learning a new language, or they've just already gone through so much of where they were and how they've gotten to where they are today. And so there's something that I've seen over and over as I speak to ells all around the world. Here in Panama, I'm constantly asking the story of these people and students that I'm facing and that I'm talking to. Let me delete the right. And so I'm constantly so intrigued to hear people's stories. And the theme that happens and I see over and over is a resilience, a perseverance, a determination to succeed. That is a common thread that I see, whether it's a student who's eight years old or an adult who's 45 and goes back and tells me their story of how that they learned English. It's truly an incredible gift to have students show and be that example of what resilience and perseverance and discipline and determination looks like. It's inspiring for you as the teacher and also for the other students in your class. And so that's something that we hope that when our other students are able to witness their peers and their ell's resilience, that it can motivate them to also overcome obstacles and to persevere in their own academic pursuits. As they see this newcomer enter without any English, and they start to see them pick it up, and they start to see them just, wow. I remember so many times when my other students who already spoke English or that was their first language, and they would just get so excited for that newcomer, they'd say, wow, did you just hear John Carlo? He just used that word in a sentence. He just told me a whole sentence. He just asked me a question. And they celebrate the success, and they see these students not give up. They see these students overcome, and it does something to all the students in the classroom, and it really helps to create a supportive classroom environment that values effort and determination. And that's what we want for all of our students. That is such a skill that all of us need to learn in the days that we're living in of how to persevere, how to have resilience. Quality number four is that our bilingual students bring in enhanced communication skills. And I think sometimes we overlook this because we think our native speakers can communicate pretty well or pretty clearly. But even recently, I've been talking with my daughters and hearing, like, they'll use a word in the past tense incorrectly, or they'll just say something, and I'm like, wow. I would think that you would know that because we speak English at home, but it just is a reminder that when our ells hone in on those skills. Skills, they work on those grammar skills that sometimes we overlook with our monolingual students. We realize, you know what? They need that support, too. They need those academic language stems so that they can work on expanding their vocabulary and expanding the way that they respond in an academic setting. And so when we have that example from our ells, as they show us how to actively listen, how to interpret spoken language, how to repeat and use what they're hearing, and using the pronunciation as a guide for how they respond, those things are huge lessons for all of us to learn. It also, when they can listen in and really attune to you, it enhances classroom discussions. And a lot of times, I found that my ell students aren't afraid to ask for clarification or to say, can you go slower? Or, I don't understand. And that's a huge skill for all of us to learn. We want all of our students to be able to feel comfortable enough to say, I don't understand. Can you repeat that again? And so what a cool and incredible example that our ell students bring in by just, they're honing in on those communication skills and really setting the example for the other students in the class. And then quality number five is their global perspective. So this kind of goes with, our classrooms are a reflection of the world. And so, again, what a gift that we're giving all of our children these days, all of our students, all of our high school students that they get to work alongside students from around the world who might have a very different perspective or experience from other students. And so having the different viewpoints, having exposure to that, having conversations around that, especially for those who are teaching middle school and high school, when you can really create an environment of safety and trust, and then you can have conversations that might be tough to have, but if you have set that up where there is respect, it's a gift to be able to teach your children how to engage with others who have a different viewpoint, how to listen and understand, and not just become combative or have arguments like we see in many adults these days. We have this opportunity to teach our students something different about how they engage with this global perspective, how people bring their perspective into a situation. And someone's background might be very different than another student's background, and that's going to shape their perspective on a topic. And so when we get to have those conversations in our class, we get to really foster an incredible global citizenship and empathy among all students. We help our students see that there are different perspectives to life, that different experiences. Happen in each student's life. And so it really helps to humble all of us and to desire to learn from others, to hear their viewpoint, to listen, to ask questions out of respect. Understanding diverse perspectives is crucial for developing well rounded individuals. We know that even if you're in an area that's maybe not as diverse now, we know that our students are going to be entering college, are going to be entering the workforce, where this is their reality. They are going to be working alongside people from all around the world. So what a gift that we can help them now become well rounded individuals that get excited to hear from somebody else, they get excited to hear their viewpoint, hear out might be different from their viewpoint, that they are willing to listen and learn from others. What a gift that is for all of us, teachers included. So our bilingual students bring some really incredible qualities into the classroom, and if we can encourage it in them, if we can show them these incredible qualities that they bring in and how it benefits all of us, and we can show that to our students as well, that all of our students have something unique and special to bring into our classrooms. And so I want to challenge you to create that space where this can be a reality, that you really are becoming this incredible melting pot right in your classroom, where you get to have test conversations, where you get to hear unique perspectives, where you get to learn and grow together. That's a beautiful gift that we get by having bilingual students in our classrooms.
Now, you might be on board with this. You might already have thought about all these things. And since you're already supporting this and these are kind of conversations you're having in your class already, I hope that's the case. If you're not, then just start small. Start with one quality of just encouraging that in your students, sharing that with them. But also advocate for this and share this information with other teachers in your building who maybe aren't as aware of the qualities and the gifts that the bilingual students are bringing into their classrooms. Because as we learn, as we really open our eyes to see the incredible gifts they bring into our classroom, it helps us to then, in turn, advocate for their needs and help create classrooms where they feel welcomed, where all of our students see their purpose and their benefit into being a part of that class. So next week, I will be back with another episode all about the bilingual brain. So get ready for that. And then after that, we will be talking. About some ways that you can support bilingualism even if you do not speak their native language. So stay tuned for those upcoming episodes. And again, reach out if we can help with anything. We are here to support you to equip your english language learners.