VBlog #1
Hello!
Welcome to my Vblog! My name is Stephanie Thorpe, and I am in the final stretch of my college experience at the University of Houston. I will be graduating in May with a degree in Teaching & Learning, with a certification in Early Childhood-6th Grade.
English is my first language, but I do find learning new languages pretty interesting. When I was in high school, I took Spanish I and II. I remember being given opportunities to not only speak Spanish, but to listen, read, and write in Spanish. One of my favorite projects in Spanish II was a video presentation I made about my daily routine. I had to memorize my lines in Spanish as I demonstrated the activities I was discussing, such as fixing my hair and doing my makeup. I appreciated being given the option to record a video of myself rather than a presentation in front of the class because the video was lower-stakes, and allowed me to be creative.
As I plan for my future classrooms that will include ELLs, I want to take into consideration their needs when learning. Above all, my main concern as a teacher is making my students feel comfortable, accepted, and important. This means that I will be adamant about making sure ELLs feel like they are apart of the classroom community and can actively participate in it. I believe that ELLs learn best when they have opportunities to practice using new words in a low-stakes environment. The more they practice English in a accepting environment, the better they will be able to incorporate it into their everyday conversations, and eventually in academic settings. Creating a vocabulary rich environment is essential, as understanding the vocabulary involved in the lesson allows the students to engage in their learning. That includes labeling items by writing the English word and translated word on sticky notes. In any grade level, it would be appropriate to label items like the whiteboard, pencils, paper, chairs, and desks. When it comes to discussing vocabulary words during a lesson, I could state the word in English, then point to a picture of it and state the translated word. Labeling the picture with both the English and translated word would be helpful.
Other accommodations I plan to provide are sentence stems, extra wait time, pictures, and modeling. In addition, I would frequently draw on their background knowledge to relate to the learning intention. The background knowledge brought into the classroom by the ELLs will vary based on their culture. As Wright (2019) mentions, "ELLs represent a wide variety of ethnic and cultural groups. Teachers need to know their student's cultural backgrounds and how culture influences learning at school" (p. 18). Understanding my students' culture will help me to carefully plan my lessons to attend to their background knowledge.
Learning a second language can be a fun, yet intimidating experience. ELLs experience this everyday, so as a teacher, I plan to do my best to help them learn English. Being able to draw on my experiences of learning Spanish in high school will help me put myself in their shoes.
https://www.wevideo.com/view/2042214171
Citations:
Wright, W. E. (2019). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Third Edition. Philadelphia: Caslon, Inc.
Hi Stephanie!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you! I like that you want to help your ELL students and support them. I think it is important to have things in the classroom that will benefit the students. I like how you mention using a vocabulary rich environment. I think this helps all students because it can help them make connections to a new word. Also, I like that you want to use accommodations in the classroom too. I think that wait time is a really good accommodation a teacher can use for ELL students. In my student teaching classroom wait time is something I use with my ELL students and it helps give them time to communicate their response. I think that using their background culture to help them is a great way for them to build connections. According to Wright (2019), more effective schools, in contrast, engage in pluralist (or multilingual) discourses by recognizing ELL’s home languages and culture as rich resources for helping ELLs learn English and academic content, and they strive to help students develop high levels of proficiency and literacy in both languages (p.3).
Hi Nashath,
DeleteThank you for your feedback! I like the quote you referenced, because recognizing “ELLs home languages and culture” is essential to helping ELLs feel comfortable during the process of learning English (Wright, 2019, p. 3). I want to incorporate that into my classroom because one theory to learning a second language is the sociocultural perspective, in which the “context surrounding the learning. . .facilitates the learning process” (Wright, 2019, p. 57). The sociocultural perspective brings into light the students’ home language and the “cultural diversity” of the class (Wright, 2019, p. 57). Yet, this is only one piece of the puzzle; I feel that the best way for ELLs to learn English would be through a variety of techniques described in the language theories, depending on their learning needs.
Wright, W. E. (2019). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Third Edition. Philadelphia: Caslon, Inc.
Hi Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that you enjoyed learning Spanish! I also love you idea of labeling your classroom with the translation into a different language for your students. I think that helps students very much especially those who are starting to learn English. I also think that learning about the students background will help you get to know them better and give you more information and ideas on how to better accommodate that student. Not only will it give you more aid but also build a relationship with your students and their families.
Hi Crystal,
DeleteThank you for your comment! Labeling my classroom with vocabulary words for ELLs was a support I learned about last semester. This support is also useful for English-speaking students, especially in Pre-K and Kindergarten. When it comes to learning more about my students’ background, I want to incorporate an interest survey and an “All About Me” slideshow at the beginning of the year. The slideshow is something my mentor teacher and I did with the students, and it was a fun way for us to get to know them. There is also a puzzle piece activity that we did in which each student receives a paper in the shape of a puzzle piece, and they fill the puzzle piece with things about them, including hobbies, favorites, pets, etc. When everyone is finished, you take each piece and connect them to make a class puzzle. It turned out nice and we learned a lot about our students! This activity could be adapted to be a cultural activity in which every student, not only ELLs, creates a puzzle piece with information about their home language, culture, home country, etc. Wright mentions, “educators who work with ELLs must be aware of the diversity in their schools and surrounding communities,” which allows teachers to appropriately incorporate “multicultural educational strategies and techniques” (2019, p. 23). Allowing every student to participate would promote an equitable environment, and putting the pieces together would create a fun “around the world” type of puzzle. In addition, just like you mentioned, this information helps me build relationships with my students and their families.
Wright, W. E. (2019). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Third Edition. Philadelphia: Caslon, Inc.