On Erikson
Erikson lived up to its name; its challenging and time consuming, but you get back what you put in.
In Chicago’s diverse west suburbs, Annie Perveneckis teaches a class comprised almost entirely of English-language-learners with Spanish as their primary language. When she looked for ways to improve her teaching practice and heard about Erikson’s Bilingual/ESL certificate program, she knew it was perfect for her. A generous scholarship sponsored by The Boeing Company made the program even more attractive and affordable.
“This training was essential to giving my students the education they need and deserve,” she says. “Erikson lived up to its name; it’s challenging, it’s time-consuming, but it makes a huge difference in your life.”
Perveneckis returned to her Cicero kindergarten classroom with many new methods to help her kids improve their English, while continuing to support their first language. Her favorite tool is storytelling. Once a day, she picks a child to tell a story while their classmates spontaneously pop up to act out characters, scenes, and even places and objects.
The range of narratives tickles Perveneckis. “Sometimes they’re as plain as ‘my friend went to the store, found a cat, and took it home.’ But then a unicorn might show up, and who knows what comes next?”
While the children have fun telling silly stories, they are greatly stretching their vocabularies, telling richer stories, and using more and more English. At the same time it boosts the vocabulary of the entire class as students act out the recognizable words.
In action research required as part of her yearlong reflective practice, Perveneckis explored games to enhance phonemic awareness. One she found to be very effective is the Name Game—a fun way to use children’s names to teach them the sounds that make up words. She’ll pick a child’s name, change a few phonemes to make a new name, and ask, “Whose name sounds like Marcos?”
After some murmured deliberation and glances around the room, there is a unanimous roar, “Carlos!” Once the riddle is solved, Perveneckis asks the class which sounds are different between the two names. Her students quickly grasp how changing a letter changes the sound, which create a new word or, in this instance, an entirely new person.
“They love, love, love to hear their names,” Perveneckis says. “It makes the concept personal for them, which pretty much cements it in their minds.”
Techniques like this have improved her teaching, but it’s Erikson’s focus on the role of family and culture in the classroom that revolutionized her entire approach.
“There were two big concepts that completely changed the way I teach. The first is that children need to keep their first language as much as they need to learn English. The second is that parents have to be involved in the process.”
Perveneckis says many immigrant parents, wanting the best for their children, insist on them speaking English at all times so they can excel in their new country. “Their son comes home, excited to tell them what they learned in school and the parent stops them at the door, ‘Ah-ah, in English.’” Perveneckis says the parents do this with the best intentions, but it often costs their children their first language.
To these parents, she stresses the importance of keeping their language alive at home. The primary language is a key link to their history and culture—and one that is easily lost. “Most children lose it within a few months of school. Then you have a child who can’t talk to their grandparents or their neighbors. They basically lose their community.”
And, she adds, “It’s easier for them to learn the basic concepts in their first language. Then all they have to do is translate that knowledge into English. But it is much more difficult for them to have to grasp new concepts in a new language.”
She sends school communications and homework to parents in both language, and enlists their help in the classroom, whether or not they speak English.
“I introduce them to the class as fellow teachers and let them contribute in any way they feel comfortable. The important thing is that they are taking an active role in their kid’s education, which makes the children excited about learning too.”
Perveneckis isn’t afraid to discuss her approach to bilingual education with colleagues who still believe in the old sink or swim method to teaching ESL children. Even though she understands their logic, she vehemently argues that there is a better way. Not too long ago, she was more apt to keep her opinion to herself. When considering how much more outspoken she has become, Perveneckis recognizes that the change occurred through her Erikson education.
“Anymore,” she says, “I’m not only a teacher, I’m an advocate.”
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