Vblog entry 4
I have learned a great amount of information in this class of Second Language Methology. Before this class. I honestly was not sure of what we would be learning about in this class. This class has now prepared me to be a more effective teacher for not only English Language Learners but also for all of the other students. I have learned that it is important to learn about each of the student's backgrounds, for their diversities are all different. According to Wright, "Teachers must know enough about the structure of language to speak and write so their students can understand them, and they must be able to understand what their students are saying" (2015, pg. 28). This is the type of effort that a teacher needs to give to be able to help accommodate assignments and make learning easier and more beneficial for the students. If the teachers are able to communicate with the English Language Learners, then it also creates a bond. This can also help the rest of the class learn to be able to communicate with their friends and creates a classroom family environment.
With wanting to create the connection and bond within the students, I have come to realize the importance and the need for dual language programs. Wright mentions, "For both groups of students, dual language programs aim to develop bilingualism and biliteracy, academic achievement in two languages, and cross cultural understanding" (2015, pg. 100). I think that this needs to be enforced into more schools, especially in towns that are super diverse such as Houston. Having dual language programs can benefit the students not only when communicating with English Language Learners in the young ages but also in the future when finding a job, traveling, etc. Not only has learning about dual language programs through this class, but also through my teacher and student interviews has made me feel more passionate about it.
I have also learned the importance of how every student learns differently and at their own pace. With having English Language Learners, this is something super important to know and adapt to. Wright says, "Whole language, multiple intelligences, and cooperative learning were not designed specifically for language teaching and learning, but teaching of ELLs have found them well suited for use in language learning classrooms" (2015, pg. 63). Teaching students and having them understand the content is not an easy task to accomplish. But when a teacher makes the lessons fun, interactive, and in different types of learning styles, there will be more success for the students academically.
I feel like this class has definitely prepared me more for dealing with English Language Learners. In the beginning I was not sure how this course was going to go or how much I was going to learn. But with the interactions through my classmates' blogs, I feel like I have learned more through them and their experiences. I wish that we would have had experience with ELLs while taking this course, but due to it being a summer course, that is not possible. Overall, I do not really have any complaints or wish that the course would have gone any differently. I am super excited to get into the classroom and use the knowledge I got from this course and use it with ELLs. Thanks for reading!
References:
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hello Harlie,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing how this class has helped you. I was feeling the same about not knowing what to expect from this class. I agree a key component with connecting with ELL students, is knowing what their academic needs are. We need to be able to understand our ELL students, so we know how to help them. According to Wright 2015, “understanding students talk is essential to teachers’ ability to analyze what students know, how they understand, and what teaching methods would be most useful” (p.29). I agree that all students learn differently. I find it important as a future educator to find ways to tailor my instruction, so it can fit the needs of all my students.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
All teachers play an active role when it comes to teaching ELL students, regardless of what the teacher specializes in. One role that a teacher has is “teacher as agent of socialization.” This role focuses of the first encounter a student may have outside of their native backgrounds (Wright, 2015, p.29). ELL students may come from homes where they are only familiar with their own culture. Once they step out of that comfort zone and start school, the teacher has to play an active role in helping ELL students transition into that new environment.
DeleteHello Andrene! I believe that it is super important as a teacher to know about your students to be able to help them succeed academically. I love that quote from Wrights text that you provided, I believe that is super important and it stuck out to me as well. Another thing that Wright mentioned that you could do is "Once teachers have basic information about the home countries, ethnic and cultural groups, and languages of their students, they can obtain further information by searching the Internet" (2015, pg. 24). Which is another useful idea to be able to be a more effective teacher for our students.
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hello Harlie, I enjoyed reading your Reflection Vblog. It sounds as if you learned a lot through this course. I understand what you mean about this course preparing you for teaching all students. Many of the strategies that we learned about would work great for non-ELL students in the classroom. Another good program that would greatly benefit ELL students is the developmental bilingual education program. According to Wright (2015), the developmental bilingual education program helps students in developing higher English proficiency while working with their home language as a resource (p. 99). Like other programs similar to this makeup, by using home language as a resource the teacher can help the students make deeper connections to the content. In doing this, the teacher can make other parts of the lesson more interesting for the students.
ReplyDeleteWright, Wayne. (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice(2nded.). Philadelphia, PA: Caslon.
Hello Eddy! I did indeed learn a lot and glad we agree that we both will use this information for all students. I definitely agree that there should be more programs such as the one you mentioned, in schools to benefit all students. However, Wright mentions, "Currently, many schools with DBE programs are facing political pressure to push English literacy earlier and faster, particularly in states where high-stakes test are administered only in English" (2015, opg. 99). This is not something I agree with in this program, however there can be a change made to that.
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hi Harlie,
ReplyDeleteIt was enjoyable to read your thoughts and ideas in the reflection. Thank you for sharing it with us. I agree with you that every student learns and grows differently in their own pace. It is the teachers’ job to identify each of the students’ backgrounds, cultures, strengths and weaknesses in order to find an appropriate teaching strategy that best benefit their needs. When teachers know their students well, they are able to understand the struggles that the students have to face in their learning and figure out effective ways to help their students. Similar to what Wright said, “ Effective teachers use a principled approach to select strategies based on an understanding of second language learning. Teacher identify the strengths and needs of ELLs in their classes, with attention to their ELP level, home language literacy, background content-area knowledge, and cultural considerations. They also identify the knowledge and skills (content, language, literacy, cultural) students need to participate and achieve in the activities, lessons and units that they develop. This information about students and goals enables teachers to (1) select strategies that will enhance the oral language use and develop of specific ELLs and (2) differentiate instruction for the range of learners in their classes (2015, pg. 165).”
Reference:
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon Pub.
Hello Trinh! I would not exactly say that it is the teachers job to identify each student, but rather the teachers job to make a connection with each student and find out information that way. Teachers are able to then make accommodations to the assignments and set the students up to be more successful academically. For example, if a student learns better through listening, then you can make some assignments to do through listening. Wright mentions, "A listening center is a designated spot in the classroom with a tape, CD, or MP3 players with multiple headphones, where students typically listen to recordings of books and follow along in hard copies" (2015, pg. 167).
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hi Harlie! I completely agree that dual language programs are the best way to promote bilingualism and biliteracy. However, “dual language programs vary considerably in the amount of time spent for instruction in each language, which language is used for initial literacy instruction, and which subjects are taught in which languages.” (Wright, 2015, p. 101) With that being said, do you think any of these variables would make it difficult to incorporate into all schools? Especially in some of the lower income schools that we typically see in Houston. Like I mentioned earlier, I completely agree that this is one of the strongest program models we read about, this is just something I found myself questioning as I was reading.
ReplyDeleteWright, Wayne. (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Caslon
Hello Kallie! I understand your concern with what Wright had mentioned. Wright also says, "Scholars have identified several issues and challenges related to dual language programs in general" (2015, pg. 102). With that being said between your concern and what I just mentioned, there are always going to be some issues with these programs. I'm sure that there are some possibly ways around the issues to make the program accommodated to each school. I personally think that programs like this should be put into more Houston schools since we are such a diverse city.
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hi Harlie! I am glad you mentioned dual language programs. What I like about them is "that theoretically it puts the ELLs on an equal footing with the English-speaking students. When instruction is in the non-English language, the English speakers must rely on their ELL peers, just as the ELLs must rely on the English speakers when instruction is in English" (Wright, 2015, page 102). I like how it gives an opportunity to students to learn from each other and I am glad that they have become more popular and have gotten an increase in federal support. While issues and challenges have been identified such as programs in languages other than Spanish being difficult to develop, "dual language programs have been found to encourage friendships and cross-cultural understanding between English-speaking students and minority-language students" (Wright, 2015, page 103). It is good to know that there has been such a positive impact with socialization in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hello Marissa! I just cannot help but view the dual language programs as a positive addition to each school. I think especially living here in Houston, a super diverse city, dual language programs would be super beneficial. Wright says, "Dual language models have grown in popularity with increases in federal support and the growing demand of ELLs' parents and parents of monolingual English speakers who want their children to be bilingual" (2015, pg. 102). I have actually witnessed that statement a lot and understand the want of having their children bilingual.
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hi Harlie! I complete agree with you, this class gave me a great deal of information. It provided a great insight into what it takes to work with English Language Learners. I love that you also feel that you have to make a connection with your students in order to best understand their learning style. Since I am not an English Language Learner I feel that I will have difficulty making that connection with my students, but I still want to work to the best of my ability to ensure the student is able to grasp the language learning. I believe that the best approach is the natural approach which emphasizes the use of comprehensible input in the classroom so that students can acquire the language. (Wright, 2015, p.61)
ReplyDeleteHi Harlie! I thought it was interesting that you mentioned creating connections and bonds within our students by using the dual language program. After learning about the benefits of the dual language program during this course and during my personal interview, I found it to be the best program to fit the needs of our diverse city. Especially since they can include “programs for speakers of Vietnamese, Russian, French, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Navajo, Arabic, Japanese, Portuguese and others (Wright, 2010, p.101-102).”
ReplyDelete