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In my interview with Cesia, we discussed the different times that she used her first and second language. During the interview, she marked Spanish as her primary language and English as her second language. There were several times where we discuss how she used the different languages and her primary language was used in the home to speak with her parents while her secondary language used with her sisters and at school. This type of learning is additive bilingualism for her as she learned both languages and has not lost the ability to use Spanish but has also learned English. Cesia learned how to speak English at a young age and was not able to remember much of the different things that occurred to her as she learned English due to them occurring in elementary school. There were a couple of examples where she had wished that there were more pictures and that the vocabulary that she had been learning was a little more explained. Cesia grew up in a Transitional Bilingual Environment where after 5th grade she did not receive near as much support for her primary language and her classes were taught in English (Wright, 2015, p. 96). The one example that she mentioned that she wished had been confused by the meaning of the word block. The word block was used in a way that made her confused. She had been acclimated to the word meaning like a piece of wood, but in this case, it was meant as a city block. Here she sis not understand what was being asked of here and wished a more direct method of understanding was used. This is the case where she wishes that more scaffolding was used in here classrooms but felt like her teachers had done a good job of teaching her and getting her to the grade level if understanding that she needed to be at.
Hello, Andrew! It is good to have another class with you, and hear from Cesia as well! Both of you have an interesting commentary on the different treatments ELL students face as they progress through the education system. One fact I found interesting was Cesia's struggles with proper phrasing and vocabulary after her supports from younger years were gone. Rowland, a scholar in child language study, also mentions the importance of scaffolding one's questioning, and that struggles with phrasing are a commonality many ELL students share (2014). Do you agree with any accommodations or supplementary tasks Cesia experienced? Since I am in the process of strengthening my second language skills, I have been singing songs and watching some of my favorite shows in the language I am studying.
ReplyDeleteRowland, C. (2014). Understanding child language acquisition. New York: Routledge.
Hey Ila, it good to have you in this class too. I think that there are many different thinks that a teacher can do to help scaffold their students. I believe that the methods that her teacher used were effective but also could have been improved on. The fact that she was still confused with the language that is commonly used such as the block example she provided shows that while there was understanding, there could have been focused scaffolding on word problems to assist in the understanding of the problems.
DeleteHi Andrew,
ReplyDeleteCesia stated that she learned English through naturalistic settings such as talking with sisters and watching cartoons on television. This is what ortega stated as one of the best ways to learn a new language because it drives the learner to be a part of something instead of the classroom drag of being forced to learn it (Ortega 2009). This style of learning a new language also helps the learner pick up on things within a smaller period of learning because they want it for themselves. Another part of the interview I enjoyed was when she described a problem that was talking about walking blocks. She couldn't figure it out due to her pragmatics being underdeveloped. By watching these videos it helps break down the information from the book in very relatable ways. This is my final post of the three and I feel that all these interviewees would have grasped the language because of the environment they were in. and the elasticity of their brains. By moving here so long, I feel like it is inevitable for them to not only began speaking English, but to thrive in it.
Hello Lawrence, I appreciate the feed back that you have provided. I agree about the cartoons. This was an activity that was very beneficial for Cesia which although is anecdotal evidence it still shows the effectiveness that learning the language through every day interactions such as watching TV. This is something that could benefit students while they are trying to learn English even though the students may not seems as if they are learning the language through it.
DeleteI think it's interesting that Cesia mentioned that she learned how to speak English through watching TV. I know a lot of people learn English that way and it proves to be very effective. For example, I learned how to Speak a lot of my English through cartoons, while my mom and dad both learned from watching Friends. My friend Jeff, who i conducted this interview with, also learned some words and social cues/sayings through cartoons and TV shows.
ReplyDeleteI think that is a really good point and is a great tool that teachers can encourage parents to use while their children are at home to help teach new languages. This is a natural way that students can absorb the knowledge without in necessarily feeling like they are learning something. This is something that even large names such as a band called abba used to learn the language. They have stated that through singing their music, they learned how to speak English and often this style of learning gets overlooked.
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ReplyDeleteHello Andrew,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your questions and liked hearing Cesia’s background and experiences with being placed in a bilingual program as an ELL student. I’m always blown away at how students so young are able to speak one language at home, while also learning a new language at school. Some of Cesia’s experiences that stood out to me the most was how she learned English, some of the aspects of English that was tough for her to differentiate from her own, and just her experience being in an ESL classroom. Cesia mentioned her struggle with homophones, words that have different meaning, but sound the same (Wright, 2015, p.33). She mentioned the word block and how she wasn’t familiar with the different uses of it. One way the teacher could have differentiated this word, is to have a pictorial model of it next to the question so that their students would not be confused.
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Caslon.
I think the point about homophones is really important. There are many words that even native English speakers struggle with, like when I was younger I remember struggling with the fruit pear and pair meaning two of something. These seem like common sense to me now but that is something that I really struggled with and I can see ELL students having even more difficulty. From my limited experience I have found the best way to teach this is through illustrations or descriptions but sometimes it can be difficult to find out if a student does not understand the difference between the words.
DeleteHello Andrew,
DeleteI also had trouble with homophones when I was younger. These are great examples of what we all seem to struggle with at the beginning English learning. One of the toughest homophones that I struggled learning was the differences between the words "their", "there", and "they're". I used my own strategies for myself to remember the differences, however, it took a long time for me realize that there were different ways of spelling these words, and that all three had different meanings. I agree with you method of teaching homophones. Pictorial illustrations is a great way for students to differentiate between words that sound exactly alike but have different meaning.