Chapter 4

The reading this week in Gibbons regarded the growing problem for second language learners but also the gap in language development in low income urban areas. This is a problem because we ofter know that society coins people who do not speak the "norm" dumb or uneducated. There is a large gap between minority students and their white counterparts. Often we see the language used in their environments to be very different. The model according to Gibbons must be set early on and be consistent through out the year. It stated that instruction should be led though appropriate language that is consistent with cultural norm. He said this is a difficult task for teachers but can be done through corrective speech and explanations that model appropriate terms and vocabulary. The trick is to explain things in words and ideas the students can understand. This is more difficult and means that we need to be careful to fist use the cultural accepted speech then further the explanation in terms that might be more relateable. With my students in the class at Cavanaugh Elementary we see several off them with poor grammer and speeking skills. When kids talk with me I will often say the correct form of speech back in way thats not corrective but allows them to hear the proper form.