Rt5Chelsea Neal Nelson

Field Experience
EDUC 215
10/16/14
Language
Language is defined as a written or spoken type of human speech. A language enables
people to be able to communicate with each other and have the ability to share their thoughts,
views, and ideas. It shapes the way our culture and others communicate with one another;
therefore we need to be respectful to all diversities of language. This is especially important in
schools, and in the classroom. Non-English speaking students should be learning to speak the
dominant language, but we want to make sure to preserve their language, as well. Culture
pluralism goes hand in hand with language. The idea of cultural pluralism is maintaining cultures
equally in contrast to the dominant culture in society. Students need to be aware and
knowledgeable about the dominant culture, while still preserving their personal culture views
and characteristics.
After researching the diversity in Harrisonburg Public Schools, I found that in total there
is 42 different foreign languages found within this area. Spanish with the highest percentage of
75%. These statistics do not surprise me at all; my host school was visually diverse the first time
I attended. Keister Elementary participates in the Dual-Language Immersion Program. In order
for a school to qualify for this program they have to be able to create a 50/50 classroom. This
means 50% of the classroom must be primarily English speaking while the other half is primarily
Spanish speaking. The use of the program really helps to encourage children to use their native
language and English, instead of eliminating one. When I was first told about this program from
my host teacher I did not know what to expect since I am in a kindergarten classroom. Mrs.
Shifflett explained that she has two different classes; where she teaches the English portion to the

students and the corresponding teacher teaches the same material in Spanish. The first day I
quickly learned that a lot of her Hispanic students come from homes where Spanish is the only
spoken language. This adds another challenge for the teachers because they have to make sure
parents understand what is going on in the classroom. The students have a harder time coming
back to English when going home and speaking only Spanish or vice versa. These challenges are
all considered before placing this program into a school.
So far my first experience in this type of classroom has had a huge impact on me. This
concept of a 50/50 classroom is new to me and the idea of it intrigues me. I have enjoyed seeing
the students interact in both English and Spanish speaking classrooms. I attend an hour of the
English portion in the morning and about ten minutes of the Spanish part. It is the most
interesting to see how there is such a smooth transition from each language with the students.
After talking to Mrs. Shifflett, she explained how she could see the positive outcomes of both
languages, even with the challenges. One thing, she has noticed that is common is that
sometimes the students will forget what language they are speaking when they are answering a
question so she has to remind them. Overall, I feel like this experience is helping me to gain
some knowledge on how to be the best multicultural educator I can be. With the 50/50
classroom, it is giving me a new insight into a whole world of diversity that I am unfamiliar with.
Being in a 50/50 classroom is teaching me how to put all of my before thoughts and opinions out
of the way and focus solely on the children. I want to be able to put all of my passion for
teaching into the children, not on where they are from or their differences. I am hoping that this
experience will help me learn different ways to include and celebrate diversity in my own
classroom one day.

To be a successful multicultural educator you need to be able to address cultural diversity

within not only your classroom, but also the entire school. This includes incorporating the
different languages that are represented in the school you teach in. I do not want to ignore
someones language and completely remove it. I want the kids in my classroom to be
comfortable sharing their language and learning more about anothers.

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