Extended comments on Teaching Multilingual Children by Virginia Collier

     In this blog I will be responding to Shaelyn's post on the same reading. I really enjoyed reading your blog post on Collier's reading. I fully agree that students should feel that their primary language is part of their educations. Their education should not disregard the language they already know, it should be used to help them learn a second language. She writes that "The picture, which has emerged thus far from first language acquisition research, is that children actively engage in a gradual, subconscious, and creative proof-discovery procedure through which they acquire the rule system of the language." They are only going to learn the rules of the second language through using commonality to their first language.

Code- Switching:

Collier writes, "Linguists consider code-switching to be a creative use of language by bilinguals who know both languages well." I like what Shaelyn wrote about code-switching in her blog post, she covered this topic very well. A student who can successfully speak two language is more than likely to code switch. It shows their understanding of both languages and their intellectual development. A student should not be put down for their tendencies to code switch in any way. I think Collier writes about code- switching perfectly when she writes, "Code-switching, the most creative and dynamic process of the three, is highly structured. It is governed by the gram mars of both the first and second languages. It is not a linguistic weakness." We have to stop thinking of having a second language as a weakness, it is not a weakness it is just different than what we are used to.

In the article I found online called, "South African teachers Switch Language in Class: why policy should follow" on The Conversation, it is said that "research has proved many times that pupils learn best in their own mother tongues." This is done so that students don't lose touch with their own language and so that they can learn more easily. By doing this the students are allowed to keep a piece of their identity and use it to learn another language. 

Article: http://theconversation.com/south-african-teachers-switch-languages-in-class-why-policy-should-follow-122087

 (picture is from article above)