I had the pleasure of interviewing my partner teacher, Mrs.
Reyes. Mrs. Reyes is Kindergarten bilingual teacher in the district of
Alief ISD. She has always taught bilingual students so she has a lot of
experience with them, fourteen years to be exact. Bilingual kids learn every
content area in their native language, except mathematics. This has been where
she has seen them struggle the most. The reason probably being that this is the
one and only thing they must adapt differently.
One of the struggles she
thinks ELL's struggle with is timing. Time for the little ones need more than
just focus on exams. We as teachers do not always allow the practice to happen
because of higher up demands. A way she thinks we can deal with this directly
is acknowledging that we need to give them time to practice the language and
have visuals to facilitate that practice. Visuals are really important because
they need to have a point of reference in learning. According to Ortega, two
key questions of interest are how the two (or more) languages are represented
in the brain and how bilingual speakers switch and alternate between their two
(or more) languages, depending on a range of communicative needs and desires (Ortega, 2013, pg. 6). This is why being able to
work with the social part of speaking is crucial as well.
I really liked that she tied the social part of
speaking to their development. I strongly feel that in primary grades such as
Kindergarten this is a lot easier than the higher grades. I feel like she said
that small group conversations are key to interaction to doing so.
The reasoning for her choice
of bilingual program is because she likes to be flexible in how much of the
other language she can blend. She did say she follows her guidelines
nevertheless, she takes to her advantage when kids want to go further. In my
opinion, this is so amazing of her. I feel like she does this because she is
aware of the signs that her students are giving her and she listens. She thinks
that their opinion and when they are ready she will move on but she still puts
their reediness
first because the bilingual program lends
itself to that.
Hi Marina! I really enjoyed watching your interview with your partner teacher. I am also in a kindergarten classroom and I understand what you mean when saying visuals and social interaction are very important to have in the class when it comes to our bilingual friends. Ortega explains that, “Most people, therefore, learn additional languages from a mixture of both naturalistic and instructional experiences” (Ortega, 2013, 6). I think that having students socialize with their peers plays a very important role in learning a new language. Especially when the students are so young in kindergarten. They want to make friends and have fun but they are also learning a new language at the same time.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hi Jordin, I agree with you that having students socialize with their peers plays a very important role in learning in a new language. But also the teachers and the parents plays a big part not just the child itself. As Rowland (2014) explains this as “Support from significant others (including parents, siblings, peers and teachers), since believing that they want one to learn the language creates rewards and reinforcements that may be important in boosting motivation” (p. 172).
DeleteRowland, Caroline. (2014). Understanding Child Language Acquisition. Routledge. London and New York.
Hi Marina, I really enjoyed watching your interview with Ms. Reyes. I love how Ms. Reyes gives her ELL students have time to practice the language during centers and have multiple visuals for them. She also encourages sentence stems to be able to speak with their partners. Ortega does a great job of explain this, "the more individuals wish to learn a language because it is interesting and enjoyable, and because the activity has value to them personally, the more they are likely to learn the language because they wish to have interactions with members' of the L2 community" (p.177-178).
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hi Linda, I like the quote from Ortega you used. It is important to elicit motivation from your students and create an engaging environment for your L2 learners. Your quote talks about the L2 interacting with their community. In chapter 8, Ortega (2013) states, “integrativeness is an attitude defined as ‘a genuine interest in learning the second language in order to come closer to the other language community’” (p.170). Community is a large part of learning and feeling connected in the society, students must feel motivated and interested in order to learn.
DeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge
Hi Marina, I enjoyed your interview with Mrs. Reyes. I agree that students need time to socialize with their new language, instead of focusing on standardized tests and the pressure that comes with their results. In order for students to become confident in English, they must have time to practice it with peers in a way that is comfortable for them. Ortega talks about Rene in chapter 10, a student from Costa Rica who was struggling with being vocal in the classroom. However, he began “to engage in the kinds of language his teachers [were trying to] elicit from him…when some space opened up for talking about things that were familiar to his world beyond school” (Ortega, 2013, p.238). It’s important to focus on school standards, but it is also important to focus on student’s interests when learning a new language.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge