LEA for Cross-Cultural Reading and Writing

Summary: The purpose of teaching reading and writing via language experience approach (LEA) is to remover barriers between students in a multi-language/multi-level setting.  In classrooms that are composed of students with different value systems, beliefs, ways of living, routines, language, habits of time and space, etc., this approach allows students to seek understanding of these differences while learning to express themselves in reading and writing.  The reading materials used for instructional purposes are created from students retelling their owns stories of home and community events.  It integrates the use of pictures, all types of communication skills, a range of levels, and a learner-based resources.

This article was very interesting to me because I had never heard of this kind of approach. I am slightly exactly where it is used though. Would a normal classroom teacher use this kind of approach? Personally, I do not see how this approach would work compared to the other models used today. However, under certain circumstances, such as the the Nigerian example used in the article I could see how this would be a possibility. For many students, true learning and understanding will not take place when barriers are up that high. While this article wasn't extremely practical for me in the area of math, I could relate to it teaching English in Thailand.

As soon as I viewed it through that lens, the article became much more applicable.  Some of the things I could take from this article were: news on the board. When teaching English to students who that is not their first language, it is much easier and more enjoyable to learn when done on a topic that is of interest to them. And rather than assuming you know what they like, giving them the opportunity to share such as with news on the board gives you insight into what they like, but also allows the teacher to share their expertise on that subject in English. Because not only are languages different, but cultural differences will play a huge role into barriers coming down.

Another great thing I will take away from this article is the idea of students sharing stories about events in their home and community, and then turning those into teaching resources. Not only is their very economical, but again it lets students express themselves and feel like they are part of the process. Sometimes the lessons that you have prepared don't go as you thought they were going to. So this would be a great example of something that you could do that wouldn't take a lot of prep work on the teachers end and would allow students to feel like their stories and input are highly valuable.

Great article and it is always good to see what other people are doing around the world.

Landis, D., Umolu, J., & Mancha, S. (2010). The power of language experience for cross-cultural reading and writing. The Reading Teacher, 63(7), 580-589.