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Dear Kristin,
Some things I have read about second language learners engaged in math activities suggest that a difficulty may come in translating a written description into a symbolic equation, e.g., there are twice as many girls as boys, may be unclear in terms of, is that: B=2G or G=2B.
What I'm wondering is how to link these different things - math, equity and academic language associated with both word problems and symbolic representations.
I just had a thought. I wonder if anyone
has ever tried providing a symbolic equation and asking students to create
their own story about what kind of situation or issue the symbolic equation
may be trying to address. This would help children to see that there
can be several different kinds of stories behind a given equation and their
own stories or examples may very well give a lot of insight into things
they think about or that are important to them.
e.g.
Equation: 365 - X = Y
Story: This equation is about how many days there are until my next birthday. If X is the number of days since my last birthday then Y will be the number of days until my next one.
Obviously this example is a little prompting with the number 365. Other equations could prompt in different ways.
It also may be that an activity like this requires talking to students. Asking questions like: What do you think X could be? What is Y? And help them understand that if these things are in the same equation then there is some relationship between them.
I haven't thought this through so it may be a little convoluted, but it may help students understand that symbols can tell stories and that the same symbols may tell more than one story as each story revolves around what the "variables" are.
