First I’d like to apologize other the noise with the vacuum
cleaner, after school it is very hard to find a quiet place! I chose to do my video blog 3 with a teacher
who is ESL certified here at Fiest elementary school where I am student
teaching. She has been teaching for three years and has had ELLs in her class
all three years. This year she has both classes of ELL students which was a
different experience than her previous years. She did not have to deal with the
differentiation like she does now. I
thought it was interesting that she first mentioned some of the behavior issues
that might stem from kids getting frustrated when not understanding.Although teaching these kids may present different
difficulties but making sure that their environment if safe and enjoyable is
still a must. However, she did say she wanted a challenge with teaching, she
defiantly got it this year.
Ms. Madden commented on how much students
working together helps them in their learning. I think the fact that they get
to join with friends in the class to work together is especially helpful for
kids this age.The
cooperative learning environment when they are on the same level of still
learning English, or just that they came from the same type of learning back
grounds helps them feel more comfortable for when they are working both
together and alone.
I love
getting the opportunity to learn about how these people, who all have some type
of ELL experience talk about how they learn or teach others. The different ways
that these teachers have to differentiate instruction to make sure that it
works for their ELL kids. This is a great way for us as future educators to
learn about the differentiation in our own class.
Hello Kate-Lynn. I really enjoyed watching your video. I completely agree with you that it is great to talk to people with ELL experiences. It is really a great experience to learn how they learn as well as how they teach others!In your video, Ms. Madden talks about how students working together helps with their learning. According to Rowland (2014),"Berko Gleason (1975) has suggested that these types of challenging interaction can serve as learning experiences, helping children identify what aspects of their conversations are problematic and helping them learn how to address these difficulties" (p. 163). When children are given multiple opportunities to have conversations, it will better help their learning experience.
ReplyDeleteRowland, C. (2014). Understanding child language acquisition. Routledge.
Hello Rachel, I totally agree with everything you said about Kate-Lynn’s interview. I do believe knowing someone with ELL experiences can be as beneficial as us knowing multiple teachers in our first year as teachers. I also agree with the belief that ELL student’s benefit more from working in pairs. My beliefs are for the same exact reason as yours which is because they are able to improve their language fluency and their use of vocabulary by working with others and just unconsciously learning how to be fluent in their second language without even knowing.
DeleteHey Kate-lynn I really like watching your interview. It's so great to see how many people have interviewed different teachers and heard that students and ELLs working together helps their learning. I think it's so important for teachers of ELLs to realize how vital a cooperative learning environment is for the students. Ortega pointed out that "It should be clear that not all things that can go wrong in interactions can be blamed on the non-native speaker and their level of interest, engagement, politeness, cooperativeness or willingness to learn. Ehrlich et al. (1989) found that not all people who happen to have grown up with a language are equally skillful at using it to deliver the kinds of explanations required from the tasks that researchers typically use in cognitive-interactionist studies (p. 78, 2013). The reason I point this out is because ELLs need to see where native speakers are in their own progression with the language that the ELLs are learning. Informal interaction will allow ELLs to gauge their environment and progress towards learning their L2 and the mistakes that will inherently happen along the way, from both the native and non-native speakers, will be constructive to their learning process.
ReplyDeleteHi Megan! i really liked your comment about cooperative learning when it comes to ELLs. I think it is crucial and something I have seen across the board with the teachers we have gotten to interview. I think the informal interactions can be just as valuable as the formal interactions when a student is beginning to speak another language. These informal interactions they have can even progress to a quicker understanding since they are working with their peers who may need the same practice.
DeleteHi Kate-Lynn your interview was great. The relationship between teachers and students is so important and seeing that ELL’s and teachers helps our experience too. I like the idea of cooperation between student interaction as well and not just between the student and teacher. According to Ortega (2013), “the more acculturated a learner can become (that is, the closer to the target society and its members, socially and psychologically), the more successful his or her eventual learning outcomes will be” (p. 59). This is a prime example of one of the ideas throughout your interview of interactions with peers and is interesting to see the connection.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hey Kate-Lynn! I loved watching your video and I agree that cooperative learning is important to implement because it is beneficial for ELLs since they get to practice English with their peers. This makes the experience of learning and transitioning to a new language easier. I also think that teachers should take the time to get to know the students, such as their background, mother tongue, and environment at home. According to Ortega, “the most important and well-studied sources of universal influence are age, mother tongue, environment and cognition” (Ortega, 2013, 9). By getting to know the student personally, teachers can help students in the most effective way possible.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hi Kanwal, I enjoyed reading your comment. I agree that it is important for teachers to get to know the students in their classroom. I also believe it is important for ELL students to practice their English with peers while speaking about their interests, and not just school related concepts. Ortega (2013) talks about how students open-up and become more vocal when “talking about things that [are] familiar to [their] world beyond school” (p.238).
DeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge
I enjoyed getting to watch your video with Ms. Madden, Kate-Lynn! I got to work with her last semester and she is great and really knows what she is talking about. It shows in her classroom! I liked that Ms. Madden talked about how confidence can affect her ELL students. She explained that partner interactions are a good way to build that confidence and I do agree with her too. The more kids interact with each other the more comfortable they will become! In out textbook Ortega states that “an individual’s communicative confidence in the L2 greatly contributes to her or his WTC in the L2” (Ortega. 2015) Confidence is key when wanting to build your kids up and increase their interactions!
ReplyDeleteHello Katelyn, I want to start saying I really enjoyed watching your video and listening at your mentor teacher experience with ELLs. Something that caught my attention is when your mentor teacher talked about having trouble with her ELLs, how they act up do to their frustration. I have several ELLs and with some of them I have the same experience as you and your teacher. Something that Rowland mention helped me understand that situation ),"Berko Gleason (1975) has suggested that these types of challenging interaction can serve as learning experiences, helping children identify what aspects of their conversations are problematic and helping them learn how to address these difficulties" (p. 163)
ReplyDeleteHi Karen, I enjoyed reading your comment. I have multiple ESL students in my first-grade classroom, a majority of them speak English very well and need little support. However, one student, who moved here from Jordan, speaks Arabic and very little English. At first she was very quiet and shy, but as she has become more comfortable in the classroom, she has become more disruptive. We have had many issues with her pushing and grabbing other students. I think this is because she doesn’t know the words to communicate her emotions so she acts out physically instead. I use a translating app to talk with her about keeping her hands to herself. If she needs help, she needs to find a teacher instead of touching another student. She has gotten a lot better, but I can still tell she gets frustrated because she cannot express herself properly.
DeleteHey Kate-Lynn! I love listening to your video and getting to hear you discuss ELL students and their learning with an experienced ESL teacher. It’s so great that you both seem to agree that having a relationship with your students is important. When students are emotionally and physically safe it is much easier for them to learn and actually absorb information. (Ortega, 2013) I love that she also agrees that students working together is especially beneficial for ELL students. “The motivation level of a social unit, whether an entire classroom or a small group or pair working within the class [can also be based] on the social interactions framing the activity" (Ortega, 2013, p. 184).
ReplyDelete