Entry 3: Teacher Interview

For this interview I interviewed Ms. Wise who is a sixth grade English teacher. This is her second year so she stated that she is still new to how to approach the most effective ways to teach ELL students and to motivate them. During this interview she gave insight to the importance of incorporating ELL students culture into the classroom. One thing that I liked that she does is find out more about their native language and use that to build a community in her class. I believe it is important to make students feel welcomed and still allow a great learning experience for everyone when they share their culture. Ms. Wise goes into brief detail on what motivates her students and she believes it is the progress they make that motivates them. I think this is great because it is intrinsic motivation and because they are driven by this they are rewarded with the results they see. This supports what Gardner has stated “Integrativeness is defined as ‘a genuine interest in learning the second language in order to come closer to the other language community’

(2001, p. 5).” This supports what Ms. Wise notices in her class, her students exemplify integrativeness by their motivation and desire to learn their new language. This not only benefits the students who are learning their new language but also builds classroom community for all her students.  Ms. Wise did tell me that there are times when students struggle and feel unmotivated but her other students help with those moments and if not she reminds them the importance of practicing. She stated that she continues to encourage her students to practice English whenever they can. Ms. Wise explained that she does believe that students must practice in order to get better. 

During this interview Ms. Wise gave me an insight on how to motivate ELLs’. Also, on  how to use certain strategies and techniques to build a community in your classroom that welcomes everyone while still building ELLs’ academics. 

https://youtu.be/IOdxjw5QuyY

Entry 2: Bilingual Interview

Entry Two: Bilingual Interview- Jessica Maldonado

 For this interview I selected my bilingual friend and co-worker Jessica. Jessica was born in El Salvador and the first language that was taught was English. A few years later her family moved to the United States and have lived in Houston ever since. Throughout this interview I gained insight on Jessica’s upbringing and her challenges and journey of learning a second language.                                                    

One of the many things that I learned from the interview with Jessica is that both of her parents speak Spanish fluently, but she learned English through school. Jessica stated that the way she was able to become more fluent in English was with the help of her sister and friends. I found this interesting because she was able to not only speak Spanish fluently, but learn English fluently while only practicing it at school. This makes me question how much time is the necessary amount of time that it takes to learn a new language even at a young age? As Rowland stated “One factor that has a major effect on multilingual language development is the age at which the child starts to learn each language…a second issue to consider is the type and amount of input that the children are receiving” (Rowland p. 175). This further supports the experience Jessica underwent while learning English.  Since Jessica and her family moved to the US when she was relatively young she learned English at a young age. This made me inquire whether she felt it was easy to learn two languages at a young age or maybe she was in the critical period of learning a new language. She stated that she felt it was easy for her to learn a new language.                   

Another aspect that I found very interesting during our interview was that Jessica stated that neither one language was her dominant language. I have witnessed this when we are at work she speaks only English due to our customers speaking English. But, when we are with her family or out she will speak Spanish. She has been able to maintain both languages as dominant ones in her life without one overshadowing the other. The reason I found this interesting was because I would feel that to learn two languages and still feel like you use them both somewhat equally is amazing. Throughout the interview I learned many things about Jessica and have a deeper understanding of learning a second language. I was able to connect some of the material we have learned in class to her personal experiences.  Please see our interview below.


https://youtu.be/EEF4pDUrT9I

Entry 1: Course Introduction

Hi my name is Victoria Leon, I am beginning my senior year at the University of Houston. I plan on graduating fall 2019 to teach middle school English. I am very excited to be closer to graduating and eager to learn all that I can from this course. Please see my video below, I hope you enjoy it!

Victoria Leon: Entry 1 Course Introduction