title: Teaching mathematics to English language learners: A comparative study of issues faced by teachers in New Zealand and the United States

authors: Jourdain, Laura Violet

subjects: education

abstract: New Zealand and the United States are both ethnically and linguistically diverse. With this diversity comes high numbers of English language learners in school classrooms. This is a challenge for teachers of mathematics, both mathematics specialist teachers, and those who teach mathematics as part of a wider primary/elementary curriculum, because mathematics is bound by language and culture, leading to challenges when teaching mathematics to English language learners. Understanding the issues teachers face when teaching English language learners mathematics enables these issues to be addressed. 

This study sought to understand the issues teachers face when teaching mathematics to English language learners. A comparative, qualitative study of ten teachers was undertaken; five teachers from New Zealand and five teachers from the United States. Each teacher participated in an individual, semi-structured interview over webcam. 

There were issues that teachers in both countries faced. Culture and building parental relationships impacted all teachers. Teachers in both countries had issues with mathematical language and word problems. There were also concerns about the amount of training teachers’ received and funding for English language learners. There were also issues unique to each country. In the United States, teachers were concerned with their own ability to speak Spanish, while in New Zealand teachers were concerned with the cultural appropriateness of the Numeracy Project.

Further research could be undertaken to gain a deeper understanding of the issues teachers face, especially because of the small sample size in this study. Understanding these issues can enable positive changes both in policy and at the school level to better support teachers in teaching mathematics to English language learners.

text: Teaching mathematics to English language learners: A comparative study of issues faced by teachers in New Zealand and the United States New Zealand and the United States are both ethnically and linguistically diverse. With this diversity comes high numbers of English language learners in school classrooms. This is a challenge for teachers of mathematics, both mathematics specialist teachers, and those who teach mathematics as part of a wider primary/elementary curriculum, because mathematics is bound by language and culture, leading to challenges when teaching mathematics to English language learners. Understanding the issues teachers face when teaching English language learners mathematics enables these issues to be addressed. 

This study sought to understand the issues teachers face when teaching mathematics to English language learners. A comparative, qualitative study of ten teachers was undertaken; five teachers from New Zealand and five teachers from the United States. Each teacher participated in an individual, semi-structured interview over webcam. 

There were issues that teachers in both countries faced. Culture and building parental relationships impacted all teachers. Teachers in both countries had issues with mathematical language and word problems. There were also concerns about the amount of training teachers’ received and funding for English language learners. There were also issues unique to each country. In the United States, teachers were concerned with their own ability to speak Spanish, while in New Zealand teachers were concerned with the cultural appropriateness of the Numeracy Project.

Further research could be undertaken to gain a deeper understanding of the issues teachers face, especially because of the small sample size in this study. Understanding these issues can enable positive changes both in policy and at the school level to better support teachers in teaching mathematics to English language learners.

year: 2015

title: (Chloromethyl)pentacarbonylmanganese(I): a crystal structure with a non-crystallographic centre of symmetry

authors: Nicholson, Brian K.

subjects: chloromethyl

abstract: There are two molecules in the asymmetric unit of the P2₁/c unit cell of ClCH₂Mn(CO)₅, the first halomethyl complex of manganese to be structurally determined. The molecules are crystallographically independent, despite an apparent local centre of symmetry. The average bond parameters include Mn–Calkyl 2.128(8) Å, C–Cl 1.811(8) Å and Mn–C–Cl 116.4(4)°

text: (Chloromethyl)pentacarbonylmanganese(I): a crystal structure with a non-crystallographic centre of symmetry There are two molecules in the asymmetric unit of the P2₁/c unit cell of ClCH₂Mn(CO)₅, the first halomethyl complex of manganese to be structurally determined. The molecules are crystallographically independent, despite an apparent local centre of symmetry. The average bond parameters include Mn–Calkyl 2.128(8) Å, C–Cl 1.811(8) Å and Mn–C–Cl 116.4(4)°

year: 2008

title: Worlded object and its presentation: A Māori philosophy of language

authors: Mika, Carl Te Hira

abstract: In an era concerned with the survival of Indigenous languages, language as a general phenomenon needs to be thought of as thoroughly connected to one’s worldview. In this article, I propose a different conception of language that sides more with what I call ‘the worlding of things’ than linguistics. To foreshadow my speculations on language, I consider the possibility that, within the representation of one entity in perception, there exist all other entities. An entity is hence ‘worlded’—a key aspect of the term ‘whakapapa’. I then turn to think about language as a general phenomenon for Mäori, and its complex ability to world an entity even as it adumbrates that thing’s backdrop. I consider the verb ‘to be’ in that light, arguing that Mäori identify language as a sort of gathering of entities rather than an instrument for singling out one thing as thoroughly and separably evident. This article is therefore as much about the full participation of the world as it is about language; it also aims to counter the belief that language is merely a conveyor of ideas.

text: Worlded object and its presentation: A Māori philosophy of language In an era concerned with the survival of Indigenous languages, language as a general phenomenon needs to be thought of as thoroughly connected to one’s worldview. In this article, I propose a different conception of language that sides more with what I call ‘the worlding of things’ than linguistics. To foreshadow my speculations on language, I consider the possibility that, within the representation of one entity in perception, there exist all other entities. An entity is hence ‘worlded’—a key aspect of the term ‘whakapapa’. I then turn to think about language as a general phenomenon for Mäori, and its complex ability to world an entity even as it adumbrates that thing’s backdrop. I consider the verb ‘to be’ in that light, arguing that Mäori identify language as a sort of gathering of entities rather than an instrument for singling out one thing as thoroughly and separably evident. This article is therefore as much about the full participation of the world as it is about language; it also aims to counter the belief that language is merely a conveyor of ideas.

year: 2016