Entry 2: Interview with ELL student

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1hMYAArRk5JEIZErSl7oH6qyzsqjmKUth


Hello everyone, for my vlog #2 I interviewed Abbas Isfahany. I enjoyed this interview because it gave me a new perspective on other ELL students. As I was interviewing Mr. Isfahany, I found it interesting that he had said when people think of someone speaking a second language here in the US that it is first assumed to be Spanish. I feel like that is partially true, especially for Texas there is a large Hispanic population. It made me think that often times we can forget that there are other races that struggle as an ELL learner. Also, we as future educators need to remember that there are not just Spanish speaking children but children of all races and languages who need our support and guidance when it comes to learning English. It is how Wright (2015) says, “ELLs vary widely by race, ethnicity, home language, level of schooling, socioeconomic status, parent’s level of education, parent’s proficiency in English, proficiency and literacy in their home language, and proficiency in English” (p. 2).

As the interview went on, it was nice to hear that Mr. Isfahany had a good teacher that helped him a lot during his early childhood schooling. That the teacher would take the time to see how he was doing and asking him questions on what interests he had. She would try to get him involved with talking with other students and try to have him be a little more social when he was still learning English. Teachers are much more than just educators, now the thought is of “teacher as communicator, teacher as educator, teacher as evaluator, teacher as educated human being, and teacher as agent of socialization” (Wright, 2015, p. 29). I feel that educators need to know that they are not at a school to just teach children, but they are also there to get to know the children and help them grow as an individual.

Reference:

          Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.

Entry 1: Course Introduction

Caroline Lopez's Blog

          Welcome to the first entry of my blog! My name is Caroline Lopez and I am a senior at UH. I am very excited to be getting my bachelor's degree for EC-6 generalist. I can't wait to take what I have learned and incorporate it in the classroom.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=13JXo9AaxFLKda-3BtB1X7EP1WgR1KB8C


          I grew up with English as my first language and learning some Spanish throughout my life. When I was in school there were not many ELL students in my classes and the children who had spoken another language had already learned English well enough to be able to have conversations with the teacher and classmates. It had seemed to me that the children were able to learn English quickly because even though the children had a native language to be in a second or third grade class with no pull outs or help form other teachers to translate was interesting. According to Wright, (2015), there is often a misconception that children who are migrants and their first language is not English learn English at a slow level (p. 7). I think this is true because now I hear people saying that if a child speaks a foreign language they will never be able to understand English nor make it far in life. When I hear that it makes me upset and want to make sure that any student I have knows that they are capable of anything they put their mind to. 

          I have talked to friends who have said that their first language is not English. However,  since being in America and having to speak English more they have lost much of how to speak their first language. I always found it interesting that some would say that even though English was their second language it became their dominant language. As the text states, “immigrant to the United States willingly abandon their language and culture to become Americans” (Wright 2015, p. 18). Seeing that people lose their culture to fit in and be accepted by others is a sad thing to see and I hope my students know that they do not have to so that. 

Reference:

          Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.