Dual Communication Experience

I remember the pale, indigo, wooden steps which led to the classroom that hid palm-sized cartons of milk in the dusty cabinets, bearing a lost child’s picture on each. Beginning at a young age, I was exposed to different forms of communication. From working alongside my grandmother in her classroom as she taught severely handicapped children; to my adult career as a teacher’s assistant in a dual emersion setting. Both of these experiences with different forms of communication are significant to me because literacy is the ability to comprehend and adapt in a world where people communicate in ways above and beyond the written and spoken word. Experiencing the job of a teacher in automatic-mode is quite different than being the student or teacher …show more content…
For clarity, the students who attend the school are taught in Mandarin alongside the English language starting as young as preschool. I am able to observe my Mandarin colleague, whom I collaborate with, lecture our students in a language I am completely unfamiliar with. Characters besides simple numbers and letters are shocking for me to look at and decipher, yet, my students write and speak in full sentences at the age of five. Although I am not fluent in Mandarin, I am learning to understand a few words and interpret their meanings. Becoming literate in Mandarin as a second language for these kids is a bonus because many students go home to a household that resides in an English-speaking community and has family that are native to the Chinese language. Each child either needs to brush up on their English skills, their Mandarin skills, or both. Learning another language besides your own is beneficial at a young age because they are able to comprehend and remember information on a better level than an adult with an added gift of travelling being more pleasurable. Experience with children who speak, read, and write another language has taught me the importance of literacy because no matter the language spoken, children have needs that adults are charges with meeting and without literacy, you would not know what is