While reflecting on this class I
realized how much I have learned in just a short amount of time. I did not have
much experience or knowledge about English Language Learners and did not
realize how much the number of ELL’s is increasing in schools. Out of the four second
language acquisition theories discussed in chapter three I agree with the
sociocultural perspective the most. When teaching students a new language I think
the most effective approach to take is to expand the amount of opportunities they
have to interact with one another and experience the American culture. “As
students learn the new language, they gain knowledge about how to use the language
in sociocultural contexts and construct their social identities through their participation
in language-mediated activities” (Wright, 2015, p.58). This theory proved to be
true because during my interview with an ELL she said she learned the most by socializing.
To do this I will incorporate lots of group work and partner work in my
classroom.
Something interesting is during my
observations last semester I observed at a bilingual school and while observing
in grades K-2 the instruction was done in Spanish only. At the time, I disagreed
with this and did not understand why they were not being taught in English.
After taking this class, I learned that the program that school was using was
home language content-area instruction. I no longer disagree with this program
and support it instead. I understand how the students must master the content
first before learning the language and I think doing so will actually make
learning English easier in the upper grade levels. This program will help them
succeed and stay up to standards as well. “Providing ELLs with content-area
instruction in their home language while they are learning English as a new
language helps to ensure that they will learn complex academic content and
master grade-level content standards” (Wright, 2015, p. 91). ELL’s will have a harder time grasping grade
level content standards if they are taught in English, a language they are
still unfamiliar with. I am glad I learned more about this program so that I
could change my opinions and views about it to be more positive.
One of the things I read that most
stuck out to me to use in my classroom was the productive talk moves. These are
ways to scaffold classroom discussions in a way to accommodate ELL’s to make
sure they are understanding what the discussion is about. Within the productive
talk moves are revoicing, repeating, reasoning, adding on, and waiting. By
doing these things it is giving the ELLs another chance to hear what their
peers are saying and gives them more time to process it. I saw a lot of the
productive talk moves being used in the observation videos I watched for the
observation paper assignment. I got to see how these scaffolding methods really
made a difference in engaging the students.
Within my teaching philosophy I have
always had a strong belief in differentiated instruction and individualizing
assessments and activities based on student’s needs. This class supported my
teaching philosophy because I got to learn more strategies and methods to use
to accommodate and teach students so I will have an easier time implementing my
philosophy beliefs into my classroom. I think the blog entries was a great way
to submit assignments and interact with one another. When I first read the syllabus,
I was so nervous to do it because I have never posted videos before or
interacted in a blog before and I am not very tech savy. Now I learned how to
do it and it was not difficult at all. I think the blog made things for
personal. In other online classes we would just interact on a discussion board.
Being able to view classmate’s videos made it more engaging and I felt like I learned
more from them than just reading a discussion board post.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for
Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice.
Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
