Bilingual Education Philosophy

As a future educator, I know the importance of understanding the reasoning behind

teaching methods, theories, and practices. I want the work given to my students to be valid and

authentic. There are set requirements by each school that an educator must follow, but I still want

to create assignments to fit my goals of validity and authenticity. Assignments must measure

what the lesson is teaching as well as realistically apply to the students' goals in learning the

language. Depending on the student, their goal could either be a want or a need to acquire the

language. It should not be assumed that students learning for fun will have more or less

motivation than students needing to learn the language after immigrating to a new country.

Practicality is also very important in designing lesson plans. Language learning requires a great

deal of time for both the students and teachers. I understand that some students may not put my

class as their highest priority because they have to balance their other lessons along with life

responsibilities. I also do not have the capability to grade an immense amount of assignments.

With these concepts in mind, I hope to succeed in creating a productive classroom.

Focusing on assessment and testing, I believe in concentrating most of my assessments to

be formative instead of summative. Formative assessments give students feedback so students

can improve on their weaknesses and be aware of their strengths. I do see the usefulness of

summative assessments such as vocabulary tests that have set answers so feedback is not

necessary. Assessing a student’s attainment of a certain lesson should not be completely based

on their grades on tests because some students are not good test-takers. These students may

perform well in class and effectively demonstrate their understanding of the content, but for

unclear reasons do poorly on tests. This could be due to test-taking anxiety or lack of test-taking

skills. I understand that performance and competence are different, which the latter is difficult to
assess. However, facilitating and observing participation will give me insight on students'

cognitive understanding. I prefer to use criterion-referenced grading rather than norm-referenced

grading. This puts accountability more on the individual rather than using the whole class as an

average.

As I get more experience as a teacher I would want to know what instructional tools are

right for me and my students. Some students thrive in individual or group work and I want to

cater to as many students as possible, but I want them to do both. Acquiring a language will

involve activities using the four major skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

Activities corresponding to these skills could include reading passages out loud, essays, and

practice conversations. Presentations are good tools in assessing all four skills, but I will limit

these, knowing that having too many would be impractical for the students and myself.

Acquiring as many teaching tools as possible and knowing when to use them is how I will grow

as an educator. As a language learner and hearing experiences from other language learners, it is

clear that we generally develop certain skills better than others. Questionnaires and feedback

from students are important to survey what the class feels like they are lacking so I can plan

lessons accommodatingly. Bilingual education involves more than just the target language. My

teaching method is to slowly decrease the use of the students’ L1s as they move on in lessons.

Banning the use of a student’s L1 will cause stress for students and studies have shown that

utilizing one’s L1 helps with learning an L2. My philosophy on bilingual education is to be

additive, not subtractive. I do not want students to lose their L1 skills along with a connection to

the culture because language could be a vital part of some students’ identities. Questioning their

belonging would be detrimental to their language learning experience.

 Each class and individual is different so building a good relationship with students is one

of my top priorities. I do not plan to be their friend who they can manipulate or disregard

thinking I am their peer. Nor do I plan to be a figure of absolute authority that they fear. I want to

be a kind and respected mentor. Maintaining their privacy with personal meetings and being

honest in my critiques and compliments will help achieve this trust. Being as open minded as

possible to the diversity of my students will also build our relationship. As an educator, it should

be expected that learning works on both ends. I want to learn about the cultures of my students

and understand that certain behaviors are usual in certain cultures. Some cultures such as Asian

cultures have more reserved students so class participation is not always their strong point. I

would design other types of work to count for participation such as online discussions. Showing

empathy and patience can help such students slowly open up so eventually I would like them to

be active participants in class. Good relationships with colleagues and superiors are also

important. Having someone to ask for help is useful in providing the best education possible for

my students. Someone who has more experience than me will likely have advice to give so that I

will not make the same mistakes they did. My philosophy is the same in teaching and life. It is

that I should always keep on learning.