Hannah's teacher thinks that Spanish is her L1. This is based on the fact that Hannah’s stronger language is Spanish. It is true that Hannah's more dominant language is Spanish, but she is growing speaking and learning two languages concurrently. So she is not an English as a second language learner. I don't, in any way, have a problem wit her being an ESL learner, but what I fight is the assumption that speaking a language other than English creates a deficit. And this seems to be the attitude her teacher has.
How did I come to this conclusion? This morning I had a conversation with her teacher. As the proud mother of a bilingual child, I said: Hannah is doing very good! And the teacher, with an expression that showed doubt, said, well... It's coming. Her first language is Spanish. Her Spanish vocabulary ia great (meaning that her English is not good enough) To describe Hannah, she also said: she likes to play and is not yet listening, (though I should note that she sees listening as a skill that will come with time).
The one strength this teacher identified was Hannah's social skills.
It’s unfortunate that this teacher, who is a very good and committed teacher, has not had an opportunity to see Hannah’s interest in science. Hannah loves to watch her soft warms and her cocoons develop into moths and butterflies. She knows the vocab in English and she loves to talk about animals!
Hannah is also doing a lot of inner speech, I can hear her using rehearsal as a strategy she uses to practice and learn English.
And how about the cognitive flexibility she is developing?
I have emphasized learning through play. How can a child get to enjoy school if it is not through play?
We need to change people attitudes toward bilingualism! See the article on the bilingual brain http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha210
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