Entry 1: Course Introduction
Welcome to my blog! I'm excited to frequently use a blog and to make video for the class. I'm Karen Silva and I'm studying to become an ELA teacher for 4th-8th grade.
I've learned a lot about ELLs, being that I was one and have worked with others, but there's always more to learn! I really want to learn more about what strategies I can use in the classroom to better assist my ELL students. The thing I want to get from this course is just to be prepared for my own classroom that will have ELLs in it.
Watching your video, I enjoyed hearing about your perseverance through school and talking about your support systems. That is a great way of identifying how far you have come and how you got to where you are. By knowing the struggle to have to constantly switch from Spanish to English and back as a child, I know that brings great insight to your students. You can use that as a way to show your students that they will struggle, but they will aslo perseverance. Having that compassion towards your students to guide them into learning a new language while also helping their reading and writing skills is something that I think will make you a great teacher.
ReplyDeleteYeah, one of my students was upset the other day because he couldn't read correctly and I had to calm him down and explain that he could always ask me for help. Even though I know how to speak Spanish I don’t think I’d be comfortable teaching an ESL class because I’m not proficient enough in Spanish to teach it. I could probably help 2nd year ESL students more than 1st year ones because I’m bad at translating words.
DeleteBeing bilingual is a bit hard because sometimes you will want to say one thing in one language but only know how to say that in the other language. However, we know first hand how frustrating that can be. This will help us bring confidence to our students because we are physical embodiments of someone who struggled to perfect English and is there at the finish line. Not only that but by“knowing the student’s home language or languages allow the teacher to provide primary language support that can accelerate the student’s acquisition of English and comprehension of academic instruction.” (2015, p. 17) This helps us and works to our advantage because if the student simply can't understand something in English and they are Native Spanish speakers, we could help bridge that gap and help them understand in a way that someone who isn't fluent in Spanish couldn't.
ReplyDeleteJeanette, both you and Karen inspire me in the way that I can use your stories to help me understand my students and some of their struggles. I obviously always want to help my students, but now I can see that when they are frustrated with reading and writing they are trying to work through their language barriers, especially when we do STAAR Prep in class. I probably will never be able to speak spanish fluently, but I want to learn so I can do my best for my students to do their best.
DeleteThe first day at Stevenson one of the students in my 1st period asked me if I spoke Spanish. Now he loves talking to me every morning and tells me about his weekend in Spanish. I think when students realize we have something in common with them they’re more likely to open up to us. He likes to talk about stuff going on in Mexico and comes to me whenever he has any problems. This makes me feel good about knowing Spanish and being able to communicate in it.
DeleteI think that is going to set you up for success, Karen. Wright mentions that “educators who work with ELLs must be aware of the linguistic diversity in their schools and surrounding communities” (pg. 6). By actively showing an interest in their language and their culture, those students are feeling comfortable and safe. They will feel as though they don't have to hide who they are and where they are from. I think that that is something that I struggled with a lot and It makes me really happy to see that you are making him feel great about who he is.
DeleteI understand how difficult it is to translate, my sister and I have always struggled with it. Fortunately enough I was one of the few students who was fluently bilingual in primary and in secondary school so I was always called on to translate between parents, teachers and some students. So instead of subtractive bilingualism taking over my life being able to practice my Spanish to and from school contributed to improving my Spanish.
ReplyDeleteI love that you said your ELL students are important to you and that they will be in every classroom. Our text also states that with the growth of diversity the number of ELL students will grow as well and all teachers must take responsibility for their ELL students making sure they get the help and extra instruction needed.
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Caslon Publishing
You’re very lucky that you got to improve your Spanish while growing up. I feel like my Spanish has been slowly dying out of my every day speech. I agree that ELLs will just continue to increase, immigration is rising and lots of people want to come to the United States. I think it’s really great that all of the teachers at UH have to take Second Language courses so that they will be able to help ELL students in their classrooms.
DeleteAll I can tell you is that practice makes perfect! I still stumble over words in Spanish and become very embarrassed when I do but I always tell myself "this just means I still need to practice." I know that it may be discouraging feeling like you’re losing a language or even stumbling over simple words but you should feel encouraged to practice.
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