Methodology Entry 2
Click here to view my interview with an ELL.
Welcome back to my blog!
I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael T. He is an U.S. born English language learner. (Wright, 2015). His parents migrated from Tamaulipas, Mexico in search of the American dream about 45 years ago. During Michael’s early school years, his parents spoke little English, enough to get by. Michael and his older sister are about 7 years apart so he learned English through socializing with her prior to being enrolled in the United State’s public school system. His parents, mostly his mother, chose to have him placed in a traditional classroom opposed to a bilingual classroom so that he could excel in learning English and eventually transition to speak primarily that language.
Michael's experiences were very much fortunate in the classroom. He remembers having extremely effective educators who made use of music, movements, and visuals. Michael believes he didn't struggle as much as he could’ve had due to being blessed enough to have his older sister available for assistance constantly. At school, he was able to learn English while still maintaining his home language of Spanish which refers to additive bilingualism. (Wright, 2015).
It was a bit difficult trying to unpack his learning experiences. Nonetheless, I explained that not all students have access to the resources, materials, and support needed to be successful as an English language learner. A campus that I am currently student teaching at does not enforce differentiated instruction as much as they should considering the demographics of the surrounding neighborhood. Teachers should use student's native language and embrace it to help them grow in learning a second language. (Wright, 2015)
Welcome back to my blog!
I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael T. He is an U.S. born English language learner. (Wright, 2015). His parents migrated from Tamaulipas, Mexico in search of the American dream about 45 years ago. During Michael’s early school years, his parents spoke little English, enough to get by. Michael and his older sister are about 7 years apart so he learned English through socializing with her prior to being enrolled in the United State’s public school system. His parents, mostly his mother, chose to have him placed in a traditional classroom opposed to a bilingual classroom so that he could excel in learning English and eventually transition to speak primarily that language.
Michael's experiences were very much fortunate in the classroom. He remembers having extremely effective educators who made use of music, movements, and visuals. Michael believes he didn't struggle as much as he could’ve had due to being blessed enough to have his older sister available for assistance constantly. At school, he was able to learn English while still maintaining his home language of Spanish which refers to additive bilingualism. (Wright, 2015).
It was a bit difficult trying to unpack his learning experiences. Nonetheless, I explained that not all students have access to the resources, materials, and support needed to be successful as an English language learner. A campus that I am currently student teaching at does not enforce differentiated instruction as much as they should considering the demographics of the surrounding neighborhood. Teachers should use student's native language and embrace it to help them grow in learning a second language. (Wright, 2015)
Hey Anicia,
ReplyDeleteI thought your interview with Michael was great because I was able to relate to a lot of the stuff that he was talking about in the interview. I too did not have the liberty to go through the ESL program. Unfortunately, the school that I went to when I was younger did not offer this program. After having watched friends go through that program as I was growing up, I knew that it would have been very beneficial to me as well. Like your friend Michael, I had to learn English as soon as possible. The questions you asked him helped give us a good understanding of how he experienced his time in the ESL program. I was also a translator for my parents when they had to talk to my teachers at our conferences. One of the questions that you asked him tied into what was explained in the text. When you asked him when his reading proficiency and when you asked the method in which he read like sounding out the words. “Segmental phonology focuses on the discrete sounds within a language, called phonemes; suprasegmental phonology focuses on information, stress patterns, and other features that occur across phonemes” (Wright, 2015). I think sounding out words can be beneficial and helpful to all learners of a new language because it can help tie into familiar words from their native language.
Wright, Wayne (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Second Edition.
I hear it too many times where people have said that their school didn't have an ESL program for them to enroll in and it saddens me. Like Wright (2010) said, "historically, the U.S. education system has done an inadequate job in providing equitable educational opportunities to poor and minority students". Some students feel stress early on when they feel like they play a significant role in translating because of a language barrier. Some, at a young age, have to go as far as helping their parents pay bills or worse finding out bad news at a doctor's appointment that a young child shouldn't know first.
DeleteAnother thing you mentioned was about phonics learning. Teaching phonics is such an important thing to teach young so students won't have difficulty in reading and decoding words in the long run.
Hi Anicia, I agree when you say that it saddens you that some school don't offer an ESL program for students who are trying to learn English. I can't imagine the stress and anxiety that they may go through at a young age. Wright unfortunately explains that "Schools serving poor, minority, and ELLs usually have the least experienced teachers and the fewest resources" (Wright, 2015, pg. 14). This means that students who are not exposed to the resources they need might have a more difficult time in the future.
DeleteWright, W. E. (2019). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon.
Hello Anicia,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your interview as your interviewee was very clear of his journey as he become fluent in the English language. I somewhat had the opposite experience growing up. Though i mainly spoke English, my parents decided to place me in ESL so that I could read and write in Spanish first. Hearing that he was able to keep his home language is a great accomplishment. I believe one important factor is being able to differentiate the phonology of both languages. "Some phonemes may not exist in a student's home language and vice versa (Wright, 2015, pg. 31)."
Wright, Wayne (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Second Edition.
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DeletePhonics is important at such a young age. Even before phonics instruction, students need to master letter to sound correspondence so that they are able to pronounce the sound of letters that they see in words. One consideration though is the difference of phonemes across different languages just as the citation that you included mentions. The good thing about Michael's experience is that the English alphabet isn't significantly different when compared to other languages. It's interesting that you had an opposite experience. Do you think the program was effective? Most ESL programs pull students off from class and according to Wright (2015), one significant disadvantage is that they are missing out on content material.
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