To Better Help Your Students

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My reflection will take the following concepts into consideration: 
1. The linguistic background and 
2. Students with special needs

1. The linguistic background 
     This concept is related to languages. It gives information about the mother tongue and other languages spoken by a student.

Why is it important?
     The linguistic background of a student does not only give information about languages but also it teaches some very important aspects of the student's culture, and more importantly, it gives a clear understanding of the native speakers' view of the world around them. 

How is the teacher going to use this knowledge to do a good job?
     This knowledge can help any responsive teacher to understand their students' needs and it help their make the best decisions for their students individually.

Example # 1
    A Chinese person takes longer to lean English than does a French person because English and French are from the same family... So the teacher must understand that the SILENT PERIOD of the Chinese speaker will be longer than that of the French speaker. Now the teacher's role is to show the student that he or she understands their situation; the teacher will not force that student to speak in the classroom.

Example #2, (Scenario)
     Mazanmbeh is from Ghana, his father is a tribe Chief. One day, Mazanmbeh wore a yellow dress to come to school, as soon as the other student saw him they began to laugh loudly and some of the students threw paper balls towards him. He was angry and he was about to leave the classroom but the teacher said loudly, STOP it! Suddenly the students stopped yelling and shooting balls, and the little boy stopped in front of the door of the classroom. The teacher kindly took him by his hands saying, forgive them, they do not know anything about your culture, I am going to explain them why you wear this dress today, I am sure they will apologize for what they just did, they will learn some about your customs and culture, which is going to help them not to laugh when they see you like that again. And I want you to know that here in America we have a different culture and that we respect other people's culture as well. I am terribly sorry for that misunderstanding! The teacher, then explained to the classroom that yellow represents royalty and power in the African culture and that Mazanmbeh came from a royal family... He told them many other things related to the African culture and customs. After his lecture all the students stood up and apologized for what they did and Mazanmbeh was not crying any longer, so he said to his classmates, I forgive you all  for being rude to me because of your ignorance. Then all the students said, we are sorry, but now we promise not to do that to you or to any other student anymore...

2. Students with special needs
     Any teacher who wants to know his biggest strength and/or weakness should do that by measuring his or her efforts to assisting students with special needs. In order to be considered a good teacher one needs to have patience, love, humility, and faith that things will one day get better, and they want to be knowledgeable as well. 
Indeed, a teacher who is able to meet the needs of these students are also good parents. They will be or they are good leaders as well because they know what to do or to say at each situation. 
     
     As a summary, the linguistic background is one of the most important things that can help the teacher manage their classroom and to create a respectful atmosphere for all the students to learn. And students with special needs are very sensitive, wherefore the teacher should be a responsive teacher, a good father, and an exceptional leader in order to be able to help these students. These above reasons justify my choice of the two concepts.

Thank you,

Jeff Junior St Louis 

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