Hello everyone! For
blog entry number 2 I interviewed a second language learner who is now 24 years
old. Throughout the interview I asked her many question based on learning a
second language in the public school system. She explained to me in the best
way that she remembered. Based on her answers and according to Wright (2015)
she would be known as a U.S.-born ELLs (p.10). This is because she was born
here in the united states but was placed in a ESL class in the public school
system. She states that she was placed in ESL class till about the third grade.
She said she does not remember struggling too much to learn English, which to
my opinion is a great advantage because many children tend to lack academically
since they are having to learn another language. Also, she was still speaking
her first language at home because her parents could not speak English nor were
they able to help with homework. She had an older brother in the public school
system, so he would help her at times with her homework so she was thankful for
that.
At her school she was very grateful to have a teacher who made
sure she understood the content before something else was taught. According to
Wright “The
most important and beneficial listening and speaking that students will do is
through interaction with the teacher...” (pg. 170) Which I told her that was an advantage to her
learning English which is why she did not struggle to learn it, since she had a
great resource of learning. Some teachers do not take the time to help ESL
learners understand and can even excluded them from activities thinking they
are more of a problem to the class. Which in my opinion is absolutely terrible,
no one should be denied education due to any circumstance.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition
https://youtu.be/hMcZ0mewCEI
Thanks for watching!
