Multilingual learners in Primary classrooms Essay

Multilingual learners in Primary classrooms - Essay Example The result is one which creates a disadvantage to students that are bilingual and in a specific environmental setting. Analyzing the policies, practices and educational needs of students that are in a bilingual setting helps to establish a stronger relationship to what it takes to work within this setting. Observations of the Bilingual Classroom The first concept approached is one which comes from observations of the classroom and the way in which students interact in a bilingual setting. When observing the classroom, I found that there were welcome signs and procedures used to guide students. These were in different languages, which showed a specific level of assistance and ability to embrace diversity. The signs extended to different learning materials, such as body parts and days of the week, all which were established in different languages. The next representation was of the teachers and staff. There was no background languages of staff employed outside of English. The first lan guage was used all of the time in all instances. It was also noted that there were not books in other languages, with the expectation that students should be able to read in English. To try to keep with the diversity of the classroom, students were placed in groups named by planets, all which were based on the evaluation of learning. This allowed students who did not speak English as a first language to have he ability to work at their own pace. This shows that there is an embracing of diversity and culture in the classroom. However, the teacher competence and ability to meet the needs is one that is currently not being met. Policies for Bilingual Children The diversity in classrooms follows with policies which are expected for bilingual children. The policies that have been used for the education of bilingual children are based on the observations created through meeting standards and statistics which have been observed within this. Through a recent analysis, it was noted that bili ngual children who had already advanced in the language had stronger results and improvements than other children. More important, schools which were advancing into higher numbers in terms of performance were able to meet more of the needs of bilingual children while creating mainstream results within the needs for students. The study conducted by the Department of Education also indicated that the gap with bilingual students came from the ability for teachers to have a sense of confidence and expertise with the students. This particular aspect would begin to close the gaps of learning while creating more possibilities with the learning initiatives for bilingual learners. Similar to observations in the classroom, this shows that the gap is with teacher diversity, lack of learning materials and substitute materials that lead to the learning gaps (Department of Education, 2007). The creation under the Primary National Strategy in 2004 has tried to alter the gaps with policies and prog rams which are required by region. The strategies have combined with finding different ways to work with teachers while offering new programs for students who are bilingual to learn the needed materials. The policies are based on strategically finding new solutions that don’t allow children to be left behind within the school system while setting standards and requirements for children of diverse backgrounds to have the same achievements. The concept used is based on