Hi, my name is Stacey Stary. I am a Senior at the University of Houston Sugarland. I am graduating May 9th this summer and I could not be more excited. I am happy to be taking this as one of my last courses before I enter the classroom in August as a teacher. I hope to have an amazing semester and learn alot from this course. Best of luck to everyone! Enjoy my blog.
Click the link below for Vblog 1
Hello Stacey,
ReplyDeleteIt is very nice to meet you, I agree with you. I also think that speaking more than one language and being bilingual is very important, nowadays because as teacher we are exposed to different families that come from many cultural background, that may not even speak the English language. Therefore, i believe that that it is up to us to take that extra step and find ways in which we can make our students and families comfortable when reaching out. As mentioned in the text " Knowing the students home language or languages allows the teacher to provide primary language support that can accelerate the students acquisition of English and comprehension of academic instruction." (Wright, 2015, p.17) In addition, I just wanted to say how I think that with enough practice and determination you ca develop and learn the Spanish language, it is a bit difficult due to the different accents but I know anyone can learn anew language if they set their mind to it.
Wright, Wayne E. (2015) Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners, Philadelphia, PA: Caslon Publishing
Yadira,
DeleteWe will be exposed to many languages and cultures because of the area we live in. It is very important that we as teachers take the time to reach out to the families of our students to learn about our students and their cultures. Wright says “…teachers who respect their students’ home language and cultures can be most effective in helping students make the necessary transitions…”, (Wright, 2015, p. 29). When teachers show they care and are genuinely interested in their students, they know how to engage their students and their students in turn are interested and motivated to learn not only languages, but also content.
Stacey,
DeleteYes exactly, Students are in fact exposed to language and the culture they are surrounded in depending in their living are. I feel like educators must genuinly show interest in teaching their students, by the way they incorporate past known knowledge, their culture,language, and something the stduenrs can relate to this is supported by the text as it states “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, p.17). This clearly shows how the more one knows about the students , therefore the teacher is able to provide the assistance needed to get the student where he/she needs to be and b able to make class work relatable to them.
Stacey,
DeleteI also believe getting to know your students and letting them know you care about them as person to person will make a great different. As you mention in your quote Teacher will be the facilitators in the class. We want to start the year off in a warm, safe and nurturing environment for our students. With that as our goal, students will feel will be comfortable. In my placement I have seen ELLs who are still very shy to speak in public. Although during recess and lunch their voice level is as loud as a screaming child. If I can see that I know the child is making those important friendships where they can practice social language first before feeling comfortable enough to speak more of the languages we tend to use when it comes to academics.
Hello Yadira,
DeleteI agree that it would be great for us to speak the home language that our ELL students speak. With that being said, there are so many different languages that students coming into our classrooms could speak. It would be extremely difficult to be able to speak all the languages that our students speak. Although we live in Texas and it might seem like Spanish would be the most prominent language, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Polish and a few more are spoken at the school I am currently student teaching at. I agree with Wright that knowing the home language will help with instruction and comprehension, I think that would be very difficult to accomplish.
Hi Stacey,
ReplyDeleteIt was great to watch your video and learn so much about you and your experiences with a second language! I am so sorry to hear that you weren't able to learn as much as you would have liked in high school or in the previous course taken. It is wonderful though that you are able to have two close friends who can speak Spanish and will be accessible to you if help is needed in that aspect. I absolutely agree with you that as educators it is our duty to be conscientious and helpful to our ELL students. Wright states, “Knowing the students’ 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” (Wright, p.17). This is accurate with your beliefs about being able to facilitate a rich learning environment for all students.
My two close friends have been a tremendous help throughout my ELL classes. They have helped me not only with language, but also with cultural understanding. My closest friend learned English in public school here in Houston with ESL support. In our text Wright says, “Understanding student talk is essential to teachers’ ability to analyze what students know, how they understand, and what teaching methods would be most useful,” (Wright, 2015, p.29). She also said that her ESL teachers were instrumental in her second language acquisition. She said they had a deep understanding of the Spanish culture and helped her with learning not only to how to speak, but also how to write in English.
DeleteGreetings Stacey! I enjoyed watching your first entry video for this course. I admire your bravery to teach Kindergarten age all day. You must have tremendous patience for the little ones. Just like you I took Spanish classes in my High School for two years and I was not able to grasp the language in order to carry on a conversation. The activity that teachers provided during the Spanish class were not reinforcing the skills of learning a new language amongst the students. It is challenging to learn a new language in that short compressed time. I also think that it’s very important for educators to be able to communicate with the ELL parents in order to make them comfortable and important. Also, I appreciate you acknowledging ways that we as teachers should accommodate our ELL students’ needs to reinforce learning with different tools and strategies such as technology, media, and good old story books. For that, teachers must know their ELL cultural background to assure that the students are safe and feel important in the community of their class and school. As mentioned in the text, “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, p.17). As Wright states, “Knowing the students’ 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” (Wright, p.17). I do believe just like you that teachers must create an environment in the class where there are enough modeling and examples of the language is presented to the ELL students to facilitate their success. Best of luck to you.
ReplyDeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.