Blog Entry 3：https://youtu.be/UvCQEmvOQTs
Hello everyone. Thank you for taking your time to watch my Blog 3 post. The person I'm interviewing with is Ms.Thorne, and she is currently a self-contained 5th-grade bilingual teacher at Mission Bend Elementary. Ms. Thorne has been teaching the bilingual class for over ten years, and all her students are English Language Learners. Ms.Thorne is a fluent Spanish speaker. In her classes, she speaks 90% in English and 10% in Spanish. During the interview, Ms. Thorne shared the challenges she has faced and the type of methods she used in her classroom to help her ELL students.
One of the challenges she faced is when she received newcomers in entering or beginning level of English proficiency. Those students have limited English, and it is difficult for them to get caught up at the same level with her other students in the same school years. Ms. Thorne usually needs to take extra time to work with them individually. She also provides computer programs and flash cards to build up their English. One method she uses in her class is pairing the beginning level students with the Expanding or Bridging level students. According to Wright, “Learners need opportunities to interact with other speakers to reach mutual comprehension” (pg. 53).
Ms. Thorne gave me great advice. She said, "DON'T GIVE UP, and BE PATIENT. Understand your students and think the way they do." According to Wright, "The more the teacher knows about a student's experience, the more he or she can assume about the expertise that the student is likely to have"(pg. 17).
I really appreciate Ms. Thorne taking the time out to allow me to have this interview with her, and I've learned so much from her expertise.
Wright, W.E. (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Publishing. Second Edition.
