So today we're gonna cover some common assumptions about bilingualism and talk about some myths about speaking multiple languages. So, one of the first myths that we are were gonna talk about is that two languages would confuse a child. So speaking two languages in front of a child or teaching a child two languages might confuse them. But actually an article tells us that code switching is actually a common feature of bilingual discourse in many communities and its rule governed by everybody and it also reflects sophisticated cognitive strategy and enables listeners to exploit the features of bilingual speech and as speech is produced. So it actually positively impacts their cognitive ability and it shows that they have a skill that other students who only speak one language don't necessarily have.

The article that you presented, I feel like growing up we're always used to only focusing on quite-unquote the right way of speaking English or that theres like one way to go about a dialect and like the way that you present yourself in speech makes up how you are. But, its also not fair to the child and I think that can also affect the child's mental health becuase its like you're telling a student you know you don't have like English as their first language. That you can't mix and match languages or that this is not proper English, which is definitely not fair to a child because it's not their fault, you know. I feel like this does make them smarter because this does make them come off as more cognitive. The way that it is said in the article was that it's more sophisticated in a cognitive strategy. I feel like that does make them more sophisticated because they're able to interact in more than one way and this is beneficial towards a classroom setting. Like, there's many ways that a teacher can incorporate this throughout various lessons and teaching plans that will benefit the child and make them feel more comfortable expressing themselves. I agree with that. My best friend is bilingual, she grew up in a household that spoke both Spanish and English. And we've talked about this before. She's said that becuase of these kind of stereotypes.
She's had to work a lot harder, which has made her do much better in school because she's trying to prove those stereotypes wrong and prove that having two different languages isn't a setback for her, but its just gonna further her in her education and academically.
I feel like that story you told was similar to one of the articles that we read earlier in the year, which was about this grandfather who refused to learn English. He only spoke Finnish and it wasn't that he was giving up a part of his own identity to fit in. The narrative or kind of fit what people in American wanted him to speak, which was "proper English"
But he didn't want to, he let go of his identity in that way he didnt he didnt regardless of outside pressure which did make it harder for him to communicate with everybody but instead of. Year, I know it was a sad article. Yea, i think that goes into kind of the ideas of proper English. How students are taught proper English in schools and you know students are kind of pushed out of the answers.
Yeah, I feel like that's so not fair that like, even as you're older, older people still feel this way that if they're gonna have to learn a new language they're losing part of their identity. And that's like the way that I guess society is kind of like, made. Specifcally, this person that you said from the article is older. So I can imagine how a student feels getting criticized for the way they speak and stuff.

Yeah, definitely, I feel like its important as educators because students at a younger age aren't understanding that you're stripping something away from them when you're teaching them, or pushing out their accents. Older generations, may be like different cause he knows what can be taken away and what can't.

As educators, we have so much power to influence how a child sees themselves. And when we're teaching them to wipe out their accent, its not something that they understand, until its gone, and then theres no getting it back. But we can talk about how accents are seen in America. Accents are everywhere, not just students who are multilingual.
Definitely, I just feel like regardless of an accent or the way a person comes off when they're speaking a certain language doesnt mean they are different or not speaking English properly, because thats not fair. Second, you're basically giving, you're criticizing a person when they're trying their best to stay in line with the standardized norms that people present as normal.
Teachers in general and caregivers and people in a school setting should ensure that people's bilingualisms are expressed and not seen as a detrimental thing, so everyones confidence is not going down because of this and not feeling different from everyone else.

Earlier you said something like proper English was kind of created by society, but you'd be like maybe a student might be bullied or pressured to speak a certain way. Educators have the ability to incorporate bilingualism in their classroom so students can express themselves and use their skills in ways they wouldnt it the teacher was unaware or uneducated about the topic.
I feel it's important for teachers to stay on top of those things because you're an educator and these students look up to the way you create the classroom setting. So from the beginning theres this notion that all English is appropriate and its not something to be bashed for or excluded from. Then, everybody will feel just as welcome and that should be the overall aim of the classroom setting.

The myths that we covered were the fact that students are confused when they are learning more than one language. I don't personally feel like this is true. People in general, speak multiple languages all the time and they are able to communicate in both languages. There's an idea of code switching, where people speak one way and another way in another place. But they're also able to kind of connect those two languages and use both languages when speaking. Like they might combine the languages basically, so I feel that's not true at all. Students are more than likely not to be confused when they are speaking more than one language. However, they might be confused when they know more than one language and go to school and somebody who does not speak their language may weed out the language they speak. Thats where a child might get more confused with authority and what they seem to think is okay.
I feel that if the teacher makes it known that these things are fine then things won't happen. Not everyone is gonna have the same sort of English or tone, so just because somebody has a different accent doesn't mean they should be treated any different. This is all based off the way the teacher presents her classroom and if she makes the students feel accepted how how they speak and things like that.

I wanted to go back to what you were saying about how having two different languages or multiple langues is going to be confusing for the students because I agree with what you said that its not confusing for them, but what will be confusing is being told how they should speak or whats appropriate in a certain setting. This makes you create this idea of there are different languages or accents or dialects that are proper and improper.
Definitely, again it all ties back to the fact that the way the teacher puts her classroom up and lessons will help make sure studetns feel okay to particpate and accepted in her setting. I remember there were assignments where we had to look at posters teachers had in their classrooms that said good morning in both Spanish and English and that makes everything more inclusive in a classroom setting.
Students are able to see and feel heard you know.

I think that basically the myths that we discussed today can all be debunked and looking at real world expereinces, but cannot be thrown upon the studetns. We can get rid of the myths entirely just by being educated and making sure that when we create our classrooms they remember that students are impacted by the ways they teach and things they push upon them.