ESL Teacher Interview
For my interview, I interviewed my aunt Bianca. She was born in Mexico and came to the United States when she was three years old. Her first language was Spanish. She attended bilingual classes since pre-k up until she was in sixth grade. She has overcome a lot in her teaching career and continues to lead students into lifelong learners.
My aunt was one of the reasons why I became a teacher. She frequently tells me stories about her students and about the moments that impact her the most. Those are, when students learn how to read or when she begins to see progress in their work. She tells me about students whose family recently immigrated to the United States from Latin American countries and have very little money. She has gone out of her way to purchase a few things such as clothing items and toiletries. She gives so much love to her students without expecting anything in return.
I am proud to call her my aunt because of the impact she has instilled in her students, I want to have the same impact in my students as well. She has taught me to have patience and to listen. She mentions how sometimes being a teacher we get too comfortable with what we are doing that when there are changes we do not like them because they throw us out of our comfort zone. However, as teachers we need to have an open mind set and expect change, always.
Hello Marcela! I enjoyed listening to your interview with your aunt, I think she shared some very valuable information regarding what we as teachers can do to better benefit our ELL students. Your aunt mentioned that some of the strategies she uses in her classroom is to have many visuals and to provide students with the instructions in both English and in Spanish. Wright (2015) mentions that “the purpose of primary language support is to make instruction in English as comprehensible as possible for ELLs so they can learn the content and acquire more English. Primary language support is an essential component of nearly all program models for ELLs” I think that your aunt is doing a great job of making sure that her students can understand the content in English by providing them with many supports in their home language.
ReplyDeleteReferences:
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Yes, visuals can be very helpful to ELL students.(Wright 2015) Not only is it mentioned in our textbook, but it is also mentioned in other textbooks as well. Currently in my student teaching we have two ELL students. We provide sentence stems for those students as well. The sentence stems help those students get them into talking and participating in the class. The visuals that we provide also help students to get comfortable using the academic vocabulary and learn more Spanish.
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hi Marcela, I enjoyed listening to your interview with your aunt! I thought it was pretty cool how your aunt has continued to teach in an ESL classroom throughout her twelve to thirteen years of teaching. Since your aunt’s first language was Spanish, her personal experiences with learning the English language helped her with teaching her students the language. Your aunt mentioned that it was hard for her to transition from teaching traditional bilingual classes to dual language programs because she taught traditional bilingual classes for many years. According to Wright (2015, p. 100), “dual language programs aim to develop bilingualism and biliteracy, academic achievement in two languages, and cross-cultural understanding.” However, through her open-mind and desire to better teach the students, she was able to be flexible and push through the difficulties.
ReplyDeleteWright, E. W. (2015). Foundations of Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Caslon Publishing.
Dual language programs have always been beneficial to the schools. (Wright 2015) I hope they continue to strive and become more successful. The fact that my aunt had been in previous dual language classroom as a students, it made it easier for her to relate to her students. Although it was hard for her at first it has become easier for her to lead her students into fluent English speakers. I hope that one day I can become half the teacher she is and lead students to become lifelong learners.
DeleteWright, E. W. (2015). Foundations of Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Caslon Publishing.
Hello Marcela! I enjoyed your interview with your aunt! It sounds like you have been learning from an amazing teacher! I am sure you will be able to have the same impact as her on your students. I heard some similarities from my interview with a fifth grade ESL teacher. My teacher still uses visuals like your Aunt Bianca does which I found fascinating that no matter their age pictures can be useful. My teacher also mentioned like your Aunt Bianca that she will often times provide in both languages which I think is helpful especially when they get older. I liked hearing her perspective of having to transition from bilingual to dual language. Wright (2015, pg. 100) mentions how teacher provide "daily ESL instruction for their ELLs, and instruction in the other language for the native English-speaking students". I would imagine having to plan for two different sets of students must be challenging. I like what she said though about keeping an open mind. As teachers we know there is going to be change at some point and if we want to continue to grow we need to be ready for a challenge. It is because of your Aunt Bianca's willing to be open minded and love for her students that make her a wonderful teacher.
ReplyDeleteWright, E. W. (2015). Foundations of Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Caslon Publishing.
Although it may not be the best strategy but translating can sometimes become beneficial. If students do not understand what they are learning sometimes translating it to their main language can help them understand better. I also think that having an open mind is one of the best strategies to have as a teacher. You can never be sure of the lesson you are going to teach or how your day is going to go. I also agree that visual are the best strategy to use. (Wright 2015) No matter the age children will always appreciate pictures.
DeleteWright, E. W. (2015). Foundations of Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Caslon Publishing.
Hi Marcela! It was very interesting to hear about your aunts’ journey to education. I can tell that she was a very thoughtful, caring, and understanding educator. One thing that I noted from your reflection is that your aunt was able to help families outside of the classroom by helping them meet their basic needs. Wright notes that teachers should know the “parents’ educational history, employment, and proficiency in English and other languages” in order for the teacher to be an effective educator (p.23, 2019). I think that your aunt being so caring and helpful to her students is what makes her such a great teacher.
ReplyDeleteI also think it is important that teachers know the parents history. By knowing the parents history the teacher can understand why the child would be struggling. The teacher can also understand the parents level of literacy and how much they can help at home as well.
DeleteHi Marcela! I really enjoyed watching your interview with your aunt. I think she is doing great things for her ELL students in her class. I really liked how she used both English and Spanish to give instructions to those who needed it. I think this is an important procedure that every teacher needs to use. Wright suggests “Teachers do not have to speak the home languages of their students to facilitate their effective use within different program modules” (Wright, 2015). This is useful to the students because they are able to understand their work and it makes them feel more comfortable in their environment.
ReplyDeleteWright, W. E. (2019). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon.
Hi Marcela,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching your interview with your aunt. It was much different from the interview I had with my friend mainly because your aunt has so many years of experience while my friend Michelle is a first-year teacher. I also enjoyed hearing about your aunt’s experience as an English language learner herself. Her experiences have probably shaped her into the teacher she is Wright wrote “experience leads to expertise. Thus, the more the teacher knows about a student’s experiences, the more he or she can assume about the expertise that student is likely to have (Wright, 2015).
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.