Check out this Expanded Home Language Survey
How can these linguistic assets benefit your Content Areas?
Will you add a comment or click the heart at the top after you read? I’d really love your feedback.
Every new public school student must complete a Home Language Survey.
According to the United States Department of Education:
Local Education Agencies must identify in a timely manner EL [or Multilingual] students in need of language assistance services. The home language survey (HLS) is a questionnaire given to parents or guardians that helps schools and LEAs identify which students are potential ELs and who will require assessment of their English language proficiency (ELP) to determine whether they are eligible for language assistance services. Many SEAs either require a state-developed HLS or provide a sample for LEAs to use; thus, it is advisable to check with the SEA about HLS guidance.
The information on the form is a small snapshot into a Multilingual Learner’s language life. I suggest creating an additional survey for your understanding as a classroom teacher because the survey doesn’t delve into the nuances of language use in different settings or with their family and friend relationships. Garcia and Torres-Guevara (2009) explain the importance of moving away from viewing languages as static, dichotomous, and discrete rather dynamic and contextually situated.
Why is this important for you to know? Understanding that language is situational allows you to lesson plan with more openness. You can relax knowing that your students will draw on their linguistic repertoire without worrying about pushing them to only stick with English.
MLs arrive with varying levels of background in English language development and bring a rich variety of multiple language assets that can add knowledge to your classroom. When you understand that language background better, you can identify each ML’s instructional needs and the language resources they can contribute to the class. Here is an example of an expanded “language survey” you can use or adapt to determine how to plan and scaffold your lessons based on this information. Make sure you translate the survey into the ML’s primary language, which you can find out by looking at the school’s Home Language Survey.
Here’s a sample of an expanded ML Survey:
As a content area teacher, why would you want to have this information?
What would you add or change in this survey?
Other thoughts or insights?
I'm teaching about language and academic standards and assessments so this activity will help my aspiring ML educators and content area teachers consider the linguistic assets of our students as a means to develop instructional strategies.