Multilingual Students and the ESL Experience

"Teaching Multilingual Children," Virginia Collier (2004)

Many will tell you, that one of the worst afflictions hounding children over generations has been, and will always be, school. For one reason or another, children, especially those in secondary schools, has found the act of learning to be extremely exhausting. So much so, that kids find any reason they possibly can not to go... A truth known to students even before Mr. Bueller took his day off in 1986.

So, kids find school to be difficult... what of it?



Let's pretend you're all taking a trip.

 A trip to another country entirely, and somewhat backwards in time as well. Let's pretend you're back in grade school, learning Physics, Algebra, Chemistry, Shakespeare, and proper essay structure, and all the other crazy intense stuff for your age.

And now, let's pretend that you now are taking all these classes and learning all this complex stuff in Sweden. That's right, Sweden. And did I mention you don't know a lick of Swedish, and the only thing your ever heard about Sweden is something to do with delicious red gummy candies?

Now really think about how difficult it would be for you to adjust, let alone to learn.

How you would like to be taught Swedish, as a native English speaker? How would you like your teachers to treat you? 

Suppose you are put into a classroom where the teacher only speaks Swedish. You're incredibly confused for most of the lesson, but you've got a few Swedish phrases down, but then you realize that you have to use the bathroom. And for the life of you, you can't remember how to ask to use the facilities.

So you go up to your teacher, and you say, "Ursäkta, lärare... um...Bathroom?" And your teacher looks at you and babbles Swedish. Of course you give a blank stare, because you have no idea what they're saying, so you try again,"Var... är... bathroom? Where is the bathroom?" And once again your teachers babbles in Swedish again, but this time pointing to the clock, and then to your seat. So, you go back to your seat feeling frustrated in your ability communicate, and wondering why the hell the teacher was pointing at the damn clock. After class, the teacher pulls you aside and tells you, for the umpteenth time, "Talar svenska endast i klassen. Nej , talar engelska." Which you have come to find out means, no English in class.

*English to Swedish translator used!

Welcome to the life of an English as a Second Language learner. 

Of course this is only an example, out of many other difficulties, I have thought of to give us some perception of how difficult life for a ESL student must be. In Virginia Collier's text, "Teaching Multilingual Children", it is situations like this Collier urges us as educators to avoid. 

If you look back at our transcontinental time-travelling example story, you'll see that the Swedish teacher taught in a way that directly conflicts with what Collier said was important when teaching an ESL learner (or SSL -- Swedish as a Second Language in our case :] ); specifically her listed guidelines #3 and #5.  

3. "Don't teach a second language in any way that challenges or seeks to eliminate the first language." 

• In relation to Collier's text, the Swedish teacher chose to teach in a way that did seek to remove or eliminate your native language English from the classroom, and this can be seen in the teacher's refusal to use any other language but Swedish to teach the class.

5. "Do not forbid young students from code-switching in the classroom. Understand the functions that code-switching serves."

Virginia Collier

• Now let's think about how you attempted to communicate your needs to the Swedish teacher. You could not remember the word for "toilet" or "bathroom" in Swedish, so as you attempted to communicate in Swedish you used words from your native language, English. Collier states that doing this is called "code-switching," and this linguistic feature is very important. In Collier's text, she says "Accepting code-switching 'might produce better academic  results than a constant preoccupation with maintaining a single language'" (230). Collier stresses that doing this, when learning a new language is neither bad or lazy. 

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Now, let's think about the Swedish educator in the example. The teacher made no effort to communicate in a way that would be easy for a struggling multilingual student. The teacher relied heavily on complex verbal communication; although  provided with some gesturing, the message remained unclear to the original question, and left you, the student, feeling inadequate in the way you were able to communicate.
Collier would disagree with the way the teacher conducted the conversation because she states that, "...teacher should be aware of the special kind of speech that mothers and fathers use automatically with their children, and try to emulate this" (224). Collier calls this "caregiver speech"; and two important parts of this speech consists of:

• "Caregivers speak in short and simple sentences"

• "Caregivers provide models to children by saying for them what the children seem to want to say"

The teacher in this example obviously did not work to incorporate these guidelines in the conversation. Instances like these may hinder a student's courage to further engage in conversations with their educator, and may result in further engagement in the classroom.

As you pictured yourself as the student, did the situation make you mad? This is only one instance. What if you had to go through similar situations of miscommunication everyday, would you start to feel defeated and out of place?

So, again; what's my point? If life as a adolescent student is difficult and tumultuous at best when speaking only one language, when integrating a student into a curriculum or cultural setting that differs from their own native background, the everyday stresses of schooling may seem tenfold to a struggling multilingual student. I believe that Collier is absolutely correct in her assessment of how multilingual children should be taught. Although it is the educator's job to "facilitate academic language development" (225), it cannot be lost that it is extremely important "to allow the child to express [themselves]... which encourages learning" (230).