The misinterpretations found in Parish’s book, Amelia Bedelia, are similar to some of the communication issues that English learners have in our classrooms today. Even cartoon artists, as seen above in Get Fuzzy by Darby Conley, see that Amelia is not alone in her misinterpretations. English has many homonyms and idioms that make learning English difficult. When we examine the issues with communicating that Amelia Bedelia has, we can easily see how similar miscommunication happens with our English learners. Teachers can approach these language barriers and others using the theories and teaching techniques such as Vygotsky’s ZPD, metacognition and multiple intelligences.
One way for a teacher to approach the issue of homonyms and idioms …show more content…
The idea behind metacognition and classroom learning is that students will learn more when they think about their learning. According to Tanner, studies have shown that students who have low metacognitive skills also perform low. When students use metacognitive strategies they increase their abilities to transfer information to new contexts and tasks. Metacognition also helps students become aware of their strengths, and more importantly, their weaknesses, which allows them to focus on what they really need to learn. Amelia Bedelia does not appear to think about her learning nor is she aware of her strengths and weaknesses. She doesn’t appear to even recognize that she is being corrected, “‘And what a nice bunch of cows.’ (Amelia) ‘Herd of cows,’ said Mr. Rogers. ‘Heard of cows?’ asked Amelia Bedelia. ‘Of course I have heard of cows’” (Parish 11). If Amelia’s teachers teach her how to think about her learning, she will begin to look for and recognize the cues that are given to her when she makes these misinterpretations, and she will be able to recognize that she needs to correct her mistakes, and as a result, she would not get even deeper into misunderstandings as she does in the example
One way for a teacher to approach the issue of homonyms and idioms …show more content…
The idea behind metacognition and classroom learning is that students will learn more when they think about their learning. According to Tanner, studies have shown that students who have low metacognitive skills also perform low. When students use metacognitive strategies they increase their abilities to transfer information to new contexts and tasks. Metacognition also helps students become aware of their strengths, and more importantly, their weaknesses, which allows them to focus on what they really need to learn. Amelia Bedelia does not appear to think about her learning nor is she aware of her strengths and weaknesses. She doesn’t appear to even recognize that she is being corrected, “‘And what a nice bunch of cows.’ (Amelia) ‘Herd of cows,’ said Mr. Rogers. ‘Heard of cows?’ asked Amelia Bedelia. ‘Of course I have heard of cows’” (Parish 11). If Amelia’s teachers teach her how to think about her learning, she will begin to look for and recognize the cues that are given to her when she makes these misinterpretations, and she will be able to recognize that she needs to correct her mistakes, and as a result, she would not get even deeper into misunderstandings as she does in the example