Entry 3: Interview With an ELL Teacher
Click here to watch my Entry 3 Vlog!
https://youtu.be/WPAnHmSjrWM
https://youtu.be/WPAnHmSjrWM
For this interview, I decided to interview one
of my 2nd grade team members Ms. Sosa. Ms. Sosa is one of the second-grade bilingual
teachers at Don Jeter Elementary School. She has been teaching second grade for
as long as she has been a teacher. I loved her reasoning behind wanting to get certified to teach bilingual classes. She wants students to know that it is a gift to be bilingual and not to be embarrassed of it. Many times students feel out of place and even embarrassed and rush to learn English. Some students even begin to dislike their L1 because they hear everyone speaking English. She wants students to embrace being bilingual. During this interview I asked her several
questions about her bilingual students and her experiences with them. Ms. Sosa
shared her strategies and methods that she uses with her bilingual students.
She said that she found that having bilingual buddies was a helpful
strategy. In this strategy, the students are paired with a buddy and then they
are in charge of helping one another. She generally pairs a student that has a
good grasp of the language with another who could use more practice. This way, the students have someone they can go to for help besides the teacher. Sometimes a student may feel more comfortable speaking to their peers rather than the teacher. Another
strategy that she uses is cognates. This strategy includes using their native
language in order to make connections to the L2 they are learning. So if a word sounds similar or has a similar spelling, she will point it out. This makes a connection between their L1 and their L2 which aids in their language acquisition. Ortega
states that "knowledge
of two or more languages can accelerate the learning of an additional one, and
all previously known languages can influence knowledge of and performance in an
L3" (2013, p. 53) and this is definitely the case in her Spanish bilingual
classroom. She gives the example of science; that subject has several
cognates. For example minerals and minerales are two words that are cognates.
These two words sound alike and in my interview, Ms. Sosa says that she will
point these out to the students and eventually they start finding cognates on their own.
Hi Joselyn!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your video and listening to the Ms. Sosa’s background and thoughts on being a bilingual teacher. This is the second video I’m watching where the teacher was also an ESL/ELL student, which really helps the students. They get to include programs and models they had themselves and implement them in a way that they think best suits their classroom. They know what the strengths and weaknesses are for the students right off the bat, which can also make the learning move in a faster and more efficient pace. As (Wright, 2015) states, “strong forms of bilingual education maybe very feasible in a school with large numbers of Spanish-speaking ELLs and less feasible in a school with dozens of different languages but only a handful of speakers of each language”. Because Ms. Sosa is bilingual and Spanish was her first language, this really helps with Spanish-speaking ELLs for the reasons mentioned above.
Wright, Wayne (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Second Edition.
Hello Samiha,
DeleteI think it's great when the teacher is also a former ESL student themselves because the students can relate to that. I could tell that Ms. Sosa really understands the ELL students and is passionate about helping them succeed. According to Wright (2015, p. 17), “knowing the student’s home language or languages allows the teacher to provide primary language support that can accelerate the student’s acquisition of English and comprehension of academic instruction". Ms. Sosa knows the backgrounds and language of most of her ELL students and this greatly helps in her classroom.
Wright, Wayne (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Second Edition.
Hi Joselyn! I really liked how Ms. Sosa mentioned that being bilingual was a gift and not something to be ashamed of. When I was growing up, I think I also felt a sense of shame for my native language, Vietnamese, because everyone else spoke English. However, I began to love my native language and culture more when my teacher taught us about embracing our cultures and home languages. Ms. Sosa mentioned that her ELL students struggle with academic vocabulary, so she used strategies such as using cognates, sentence stems, and pictures to help support their learning. She would also give the students bilingual buddies so that they can have someone to rely on to help them with speaking and writing. This strategy is called cooperative learning. “Cooperative learning is when students collaborate in pairs or in small groups to solve a problem, complete a specific task, or complete a project. Although cooperative learning was not created specifically for ELLs, language educators have fully embraced it as an effective strategy for helping ELLs learn both language and academic content” (Wright, 2015, p. 170).
ReplyDeleteWright, E. W. (2015). Foundations of Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Caslon Publishing.
Hello Angela,
DeleteI also liked when she said that. You can tell that Ms. Sosa has a passion for teaching ELL students. She relates to them and their experiences and I think this makes her an even more effective teacher. She definitely uses a lot of cooperative learning, especially with her bilingual buddies program. Cooperative learning has been proves "an effective strategy for helping ELLs learn both language and academic content” (Wright, 2015, p. 170).
Wright, E. W. (2015). Foundations of Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Caslon Publishing.
Hello Joselyn,
ReplyDeleteThe teacher that you interviewed mentioned that she has quite a few students that have older siblings and parents that speak to them in English at home. I have heard the same from people that I have interviewed. Also, in the text it mentions this too. According to the text, “If the student is one of the younger children in the family, and the family has been in the United States for several years, it is likely that the older siblings speak English and use it often in the home” (Wright, 2015, Pg. 17). On the other hand, she mentioned that she has had students that are the first in their family to learn English. I am sure that is a big challenge!
Wright, Wayne (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Second Edition.
Hi Tory,
DeleteYes, I have heard the same and actually experienced this while growing up. I grew up with an older brother who had previously learned English and had lived here a long time. He was the one that first introduced me to English, although Spanish was the primary language at home. Wright states that “if the student is one of the younger children in the family, and the family has been in the United States for several years, it is likely that the older siblings speak English and use it often in the home” (2015) and that is definitely true in most cases.
Wright, Wayne (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Second Edition.
Joselyn,
DeleteThat is great that you had an older sibling that introduced you to this new language, that was going to end up being very beneficial for you to know. In the text it continues saying, "But if the student is the oldest or only child, such support is probably not present" (Wright, 2015, Pg. 17). Considering your brother is the oldest, I am sure he had even a harder time learning this new language.
Wright, Wayne (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Second Edition.
Hey Joselyn,
ReplyDeleteYour teacher mentioned how she has seen a higher level of english mastery in the ELL students she has. Wright says “If the student is one of the younger children in the family, and the family has been in the United States for several years, it is likely that the older siblings speak English and use it often in the home” (Wright, 2015). Which is something your teacher mentioned she said some of the parents are more fluent in English, as well a how they have other family members who speak English. She mentions how it is all a case by case some students have the benefit of having these people who are speaking English in their household and then there are others who do not have that at home. She mentions how she allows them to pair off into bilingual buddies she is creating "...a safe and enjoyable classroom environment." (Wright, 2015.). Where students are okay sharing maybe not to the whole class but to their peers who might speak the same language.
Wright, Wayne (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Second Edition.
Hi Tory,
DeleteLike I mentioned in the previous reply, I actually experienced this while growing up. I grew up with an older brother who had previously learned English and had lived here a long time. He was the one that first introduced me to English, although Spanish was the primary language at home. Also I believe that cooperative learning is "an effective strategy for helping ELLs learn both language and academic content” (Wright, 2015, p. 170). This is essentially the method that Ms. Sosa uses when implementing bilingual buddies.
Wright, Wayne (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Second Edition.
It is very important to know how to motivate students to learn. When it comes to my ESL students I give a lot of praise for their success and created a reward system to continue their learning. We do not use buddies, but we do have groups of kids that work on learning the English portions of our lessons. When students have trouble understanding story problems they will work together to chunk the words in order to understand the questions. My mentor teacher and I have noticed that we have to be very consistent with the vocabulary we teach and to not give them a lot of different things to learn at once. We will usually use similar phrases and vocabulary until the ESL students really understand the information.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteI think it is awesome Ms. Sosa encourages and praises students to be bilingual, to be proud of their language. When in grade school, I was an ELL and I could remember the pressure a lot of students had to learn the English language. Like Ms. Sosa, I believe the students should embrace knowing multiple languages and not lose their native language. As stated in text, many ELLs tend to lose their native language due to speaking English for the most part of the school day (Wright, 2015, pg. 18). It will be much beneficial to be bilingual in the long run.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hello Patricia,
DeleteI also think that embracing the students background is very important. According to Wright (2015, p. 17), “knowing the student’s home language or languages allows the teacher to provide primary language support that can accelerate the student’s acquisition of English and comprehension of academic instruction". Ms. Sosa clearly does a good job of incorporating this in her classroom culture. Her students are all respectful and embrace each others differences and similarities.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.