Hi Pam,
We ran into that problem in the 1970's, at Community College of Philadelphia, when there was a large influx of students from Southeast Asia. We hired someone to translate all our safety information and our experiments for the first semester of general
chemistry into the appropriate language. (Mostly Vietnamese) We assembled a laboratory manual with the Vietnamese on the left-hand page and the English on the right-hand page. It helped transition the students into the course. By the second semester, most
of the students had a reasonable command of English.
Best regards,
David
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David A. Katz
Chemist, Educator, Expert Demonstrator, Science Communicator, and Consultant
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5003 Canby Dr. * Wilmington, DE 19808-1102 * USA
voice/fax: (302) 509-3282 * email:
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----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, March 5, 2019 6:19 PM
Subject: [DCHAS-L] English in Lab
I was wondering if anyone might help me with this issue. I have a number of English language learners in my classes. Recently there was a near miss accident that was in part due to the student not understanding me and me not being able to catch the issue as
their conversation in lab is not in a language I understand.
I want the class to be inclusive but it is hard monitor issues when the conversations among students are not in English.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to handle this?
Thanks
Pamela Auburn, PhD
2041 Branard
Houston TX 77098
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