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.
Hello Fei, thank you for sharing your interview with us. Something that I really appreciated about the teacher you interviewed is that she focuses a lot on evaluation and student placement. In chapter 1, Wright (2015) emphasizes the importance of placement and levels to ensure that the students get the help they need. Being that she takes the time to evaluate the student's abilities/level she is able to make the best judgement on the kind of help they need. Another thing that Ms. Thorne does to help her students is, make the necessary accommodations to help her students perform their best on exams. These accommodations include giving exams in their home language. Wright (2015) defines accommodations as "assessments in language and form most likely to yield accurate data on academic content area, until students have achieved English language proficiency" (p.129). Her techniques such as placement based on behavior and accommodations have yielded positive outcomes in teaching ELL students.
ReplyDeleteHello Nadia,
DeleteYes, Ms. Thorne places emphasis on evaluating her students to make sure the are given the correct accommodations for success. How important is this step, as future educators we must know where each of our students stand. Placing importance in this evaluation process would assert the students success. By giving her exams in the child's home language would provide her accurate data that she can use to determine the student's weaknesses and strengths. Accommodation is so important to help the student feel confident and will eventually set them on the path of learning without fear. With such an understanding and patient teacher students can and will reach success. Great points Nadia!
Hi Nadia
DeleteThank you for watching my video and wrote this great comment. I'm very happy that Ms.Throne let me interview her, she is a great teacher, and she provided a lot of awesome information for us as a future educator. As Wright states “To ensure that ELLs receive effective language and content instruction, all teachers must have an understanding of theories and research related to how students develop proficiency in a new language” (Wright, 2015, pg. 48). Overall I learned so much from Ms.Throne.
Hi Lori!
ReplyDeleteIn Ms. Thorne classes, she speaks 90% in English and 10% Spanish; I think it’s very meaningful and effective to Spanish ELL students. Wright states that “Teacher may provide a lesson in home language and then teach English, allowing groups of students to discuss in their home language a story they read in English” (Wright, 2015, pg. 59).
I’m also agreeing with her about the important of motivation. I’m teaching Math and you know what, most of my students don’t like Math because they don’t like to make mistakes. I told them that “It’s ok to make mistakes and we will learn from that.” I think it’s similar with learning English. If the students afraid to speak or ask questions, they can’t learn. Therefore, it’s very important to motivate students. Thank you for sharing your interview.
Hey Quynh
DeleteThank you for replying my Blog, I hope you had a good time watching the video. I think is really important that Ms.Throne speaks both languages and she is doing her best to help that student who's struggle with a new language. As Wright mentioned in the book, "Teachers who understand second language development and who engage in effective instructional and authentic assessment practices speak to their students..." (p. 4, 2015). As a future educator, we really need to think about how to encourage and motives our students.
Hello Fei,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed watching your interview with Mrs. Thorne, she provided a clearer understanding of the difficulties ELLs students have to go through. She mentioned that with higher testing ELL students struggle a lot and face many challenges. This is because ELLs are the most tested students in the educational system in addition they must also take all the state and federal test (Wright, 2015, pg. 119). ELLs began school by taking multiple exams so the school can assess what level they are in. Mrs. Thorne mentioned that most of her ELLs students are at Level 1, this is also because she is an elementary teacher and usually a lot of ELLs students enter school at that time. She does talk about placing the students in small groups this is very important because she gets a better idea of how a student is doing within that group. Mrs. Thorne states that when school starts she starts observing her students and getting to know them, this is the easiest way to assess ELLs by simply watching them. To see if they are progressing the simplest way to asses them is to listen and to talk to them (Wright, 2015, pg. 139). Mrs. Thorne advise us as future educators to have patience and to use a lot of visuals, I believe this information is very valuable. ELLs students are counting on us to succeed they have fears, anxiety, and at time confusion therefore we should always have patience to take a little extra time to take away all those negative feeling and doubts and help them in their journey to embrace another language.
Hi Rubi
DeleteI'm really glad you enjoyed my video. I have learned so much from Ms.Throne; she is a great Teacher. During the interview, she provides a lot of useful information for us as future educator。According to Wright (2015) "Experience leads to expertise. Thus, the more the teacher knows about a students' experiences, the more he or she can assume about the expertise that student is likely to have" (p.17). To be a great teacher like Ms.Throne, we really need to understand our kids.
Thank you for sharing your interview Fei! I think it is amazing that you were able to hear about Ms. Throne’s experiences as a teacher who has a class of all ELLs. It is obviously very different when all of your students have English as their second language. That requires Ms. Throne to modify all lessons for all of her students. Ms. Thorne seems like she is successful in this area by knowing about her students English level proficiency. According to Wright (2015), when teachers know their ELLs’ language, literacy, content, and culture strengths and needs, they can compare them to the students’ language, literacy, content, and culture instructional goals (pg. 64). I was able to learn from Ms. Thorne’s experience. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Genesis
DeleteThank you for watching my Video: ）Ms.Throne is truly a great ELL teacher. She worked so hard to help her students to achieve their academics. According to Wright (2015), “teachers who look at language teaching and learning from a dynamic perspective see translanguaging as an integral part of the perfectly natural and normal ways bilinguals use their languages in their everyday life” (p. 59). Ms.Throne would speak both languages to help her student.
Hello Lori, I think it is wonderful that Ms. Thorne is a fluent Spanish speaker. I think it is exceptionally useful in situations that were described such as when she gets a student who is entering or beginning to learn English. The teacher I interviewed, although certified to teach ELLs, is not fluent in Spanish. I wonder what would happen at our school if she received a student who was in the entering or beginning level of English proficiency because she is the only 2nd grade teacher who is certified.
ReplyDeleteHey Ashlyn, thank you for commenting my Blog 3. The school I'm student teaching with, is 90% of the population is Spanish speakers, so in each grade level, there is a self-contained bilingual class. Also is helpful when most the teacher on our campus can speak Spanish fluently. What I think is really important when the teacher knows their students, according to Wright " Teachers also need to know their student's cultural backgrounds and how culture influence learning at school"(pg. 17). It's gonna be hard for your school if only two people can speak Spanish.
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