New appreciation for the EL learner's challenges

What if English Were Phonetically Consistent? 

I've always liked this old riddle:

• What do you call someone who can speak many languages: Multilingual
• What do you call someone who can speak two languages? Bilingual
• What do you call someone who can only speak one language? An American

Despite having had a couple years of Spanish in high school and a week every couple years to practice Spanish when traveling, I really can't consider myself truly bilingual.* So I truly admire those children in our schools and immigrants to our country who are learning English.

Although it makes few lists of "world's most difficult languages," English is tricky to read, even for those who grow up speaking it. The inconsistencies demonstrated by the clever video above are just the beginning of trying to decipher a language that seems to have as many exceptions to rules as it has rules -both in pronunciation and spelling.

One of the reasons I'm excited about ebooks is that many come with a read-aloud feature. Students of any age can follow the printed text while that text is read to them. While such an experience pales in comparison to learning to read while sitting on a parent's lap with a beloved picture book, it certainly can be effective. I'm proud to have helped establish in our district collections of ebooks (MyOnReader, Macking Via, Tumblebooks, etc.) that can be accessed from students' homes and classrooms.

We can, of course, always do more in helping parents and teachers be aware that these resources exist. (I've always said that an e-book no more jumps onto a kid's computer screen than a print book jumps off a shelf into a kid's hands.) This role of the librarian is absolutely critical, especially if we want to genuinely serve our immigrant families in which every member may be undertaking the daunting task of mastering English. The resources without the teaching and promotion and reminding are pretty much a waste of taxpayer dollars.

Next time you see an English Language Learner, think of the little video above. And respect the challenge she faces.

*Last time I ordered my meal in Spanish at a local Mexican restaurant, I was kindly asked to "just speak English."

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[Kenn Gorman]

Ghoti = fish

gh = f (enough)

o = i (women)

ti = sh (action)