Language Acquisition

How do children acquire language, I guess it depends on who you ask and since you asked me, I think it’s a combination of nature and nurture. I believe that children are born with the capabilities needed to acquire language and when you combine that with the modeling they experience every day, their language develops. I agree with the articles that we read that there is a critical period for language acquisition and that if we miss that period, a child may never be able to fully grasp language. That being said I also believe that if we teach more than one language during that same period, the child will grasp the language being taught. This was never more evident to me than when my high school Italian teacher told us that her daughter at age six spoke five languages fluently. She explained that from birth her and her husband had modeled the languages to their child, and they had a whole plan that by the time she reached high school she would be able to speak at least ten languages fluently. She brought her to class and we soon learned that she knew much more than us high school students who were completely struggling trying to acquire one new language.
I believe that language acquisition and reading go hand and hand. I know that my daughter could repeat a story back to me word for word or know that I was skipping words long before she could actually read it. She would then point to the words as I read them aloud which eventually lead to her becoming familiar with the sounds of letters. Which is a great example of how she used the language she had already acquired to assist her in learning to read.

The First Readings

I read through the articles last night and thought about what I got from them about reading and literacy, the first thing would be some terms were defined and I was able to relate them to my own experiences. I have worked with both Ortho-Gillingham and Reading Recovery, the article from wikipedia, let me know that one is a phonics based program and one is whole language based program. It now gives me a clearer picture of what they are.
The second and most important thing I have taken from the readins is that there are no clear definitions on what literacy is and how reading should be taught, there are many different opinions, strategies and theories out there and we should learn alot about them in order to differentiate our instruction for our students. I could not believe what I was reading in the article "Silencing Teachers...", we hear all the time about schools teaching to the test, this school took it to the limit with their scripted reading program. The article also showed how when you have parents in the community that speak out the program may be altered but in the poorer areas where that is not likely to happen, the students fall even further behind with programs that are not tailored to them, it's like a vicious cycle.
This brings us to some of the key issues I found in the articles, such as "What is Literacy?" It can be defined in so many ways, does it or should it include modern technology, can it ever be the same in all countries? Should it be the same? I though alot about this, when doing a search on my ancestors, I found the census for my grandfather and was surprised to see in the column where it said reads and writes, the NO column was checked. I had my whole life heard what an intelligent man he was always questioning and debating current events. Does this mean that because he couldn't read a whole newspaper he was illiterate or was he literate because he could read enough to be able to comprehend a story without knowing every word.
The other key issues that grabbed my attention are differentiating instruction and how to teach. I put these two together because I do not think there is one way to teach to all students and we will all have to differentiate for our students. What happens when a school district adopts and implements only one programs to the students who just don't get it? As teachers what can we do? I think this is an issue that we do not hear enough about.
Finally, what I'm wondering most about is how I will guide my students interest into a love of reading. I will be teaching somewhere in the K-5 range, is it okay at an interview to ask about the reading program and differianting instruction? Or can I find out how much teacher input is used in program selections?

Intro

Hi, I'm Rosemarie. My motto has always been Live-Love-Laugh and hopefully I can remember that during this class!