Cross Cultural Virtual Learning

This article contains some of the advice and resources we received from Dr. Jan Dormer in our recent webinar. Dr. Dormer grew up as a TCK and attended local schools in Brazil. Later she and her husband served with their two girls in Indonesia, Brazil and Kenya. Currently, Dr. Dormer is an associate professor of TESOL at Messiah University. She has been training teachers and getting lots of feedback recently regarding their experiences in teaching virtually.

 Our webinar featured questions from education consultants throughout the world who are supporting families using national schools during this unusual year of the pandemic.

How can parents reach out to local schools to get help during this time?

•     First, it is most ideal to have a working relationship already in place with the school. Ideally that would happen before enrolling the child so that there is always a pathway for dialogue.
•     If there is little or no relationship with the director or teacher, it may be possible in some cases to negotiate for a reduced workload, maybe dropping a subject or lowering the number of assignments. Also, requesting that some assignments be completed in the child’s mother tongue may be possible if he or she is still not proficient in the new language.
•     There are translation programs/apps that may reduce the load as well.
•     If none of these suggestions are possible, hiring a tutor is a good option. During this time, they may have to work virtually but this person could take the place of the parent in monitoring and explaining assignments.
•     Help your child make the best of this current situation by creating a motivating space to work and encouraging them to move around from time to time.

When is it better to return to the mother tongue than stick with learning in another language?

•     If there are strong emotional factors such as a high level of anxiety, bullying or shaming, it may be time to discuss whether long-range goals can be met.
•     If the child is older (perhaps upper elementary or older), their language level is low, and the school is providing little or no support, it may be an indication that this choice may not be successful.
•     If long-range considerations such as where the child will go to university don’t point toward needing a high level of the local language, it might not be useful to continue. Perhaps a social level of language is enough.

How can a parent help if their language is not sufficient to support the child’s learning?

•     Again, a tutor is a good option here. Parents may need to work with the school to define the role of the tutor, especially if they will be with the child at the school.

What are some key things to consider when transitioning from one language to another?

•     Ensure that the child is on board and has been included in the decision to move.
•     Ideally, have dialogue ongoing with both the old and new school situations.
•     Create social experiences in the new language if possible.
•     Have family talk times (perhaps in the evenings) to talk through what they are learning in the new language. Have them rephrase it in their mother tongue so they have the vocabulary in both languages. If they can use academic vocabulary, they will be better able to write in it.
•     Make plans for how you will keep up the language they are leaving.

How can we help children become balanced bilinguals in multicultural homes where there is more than one language spoken?

•     Simultaneous bilingualism is when there are two native languages from birth (each parent speaks his or her own mother tongue to the child).
•     Sequential bilingualism is when a child has one mother tongue but learns another language to a high proficiency.
•     The home is the place to maintain the native language(s).
•     Family relationships are more important than learning languages and parents can parent best in their native language.

Resources from Dr. Dormer:

1.     Six Principles for Teaching English Language Learners (offers good principles for what schools can do to help any student learning a new language)
2.     Also check out Six Principles for Remote Learning at that same organization.
3.     Dr. Dormer’s new book comes out on January 1, 2021: Language Learning in Ministry (Available on Amazon)

Dr. Dormer’s email address: jdormer at messiah.edu

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