Chapter 8: Teaching Teenagers Who Are Still Learning English

Chatper 8 of Fires in the Bathroom was all about students who are still learning the English Language, whether they are learning to speak it or read and write in it. A part of the chapter that jumped out to me was when one of the authors said that they learn best in a classroom that uses both their own language and English. Forcing students to jump directly into a language they are not comfortable with is bad for students’ learning, as it discourages them and makes them feel like outcasts. The students’ comfort should be the first priority – they won’t learn without it.
This section of the reading really jumped out at me because I only speak one language. If I hope to teach my students well, I recognize that I will need to study other languages such as Chinese or Spanish.