Vblog Entry 1
My parents are from Mexico and Honduras so I grew up speaking Spanish. I gradually learned English through my older sister and through media, like cartoons and movies. I was in bilingual classes until 5th grade. During my education in bilingual classes, I was only ever with other Spanish speaking students learning English so I did not have much experience with people from other backgrounds who spoke languages other than English or Spanish.
It was not until I reached late intermediate and high school where I began to really notice that there were students who spoke other languages, such as Vietnamese and Hindi. That is when I had the chance to be in classes with students from other backgrounds who had been in dual language and who were fluent in Spanish as we took AP Spanish together. I think this was the period where I truly began to be more interested in language and wanted to learn more about my classmates' home languages, beliefs, and lifestyle because I realized that though we were diverse, we also shared similarities. Because I saw how kids from other backgrounds than mine enjoyed learning about my culture, I was motivated and intrigued to learn about other cultures too. This is how I began learning a bit of Korean during my free time, watched Japanese shows, read about Greek culture, and more.
Through these experiences, I have learned the importance of valuing other cultures, especially in the classroom. We will have students from many different backgrounds and I want to ensure my classroom is a welcoming and safe space for all students to learn. I hope to create a classroom community where students can share their culture and ideas from their home and not think of school as a place where they have to hide their identity. Therefore, it is really important to establish connections with our students and as mentioned by Wright (2019), knowing students' origins can "allow the teacher to incorporate multicultural education strategies and techniques into the curriculum" (p. 23). By doing that, we can make our teaching relatable and meaningful for ELLs so they know their culture is valued in the classroom and so that they can grow academically. This also means that as teachers, we have to be flexible in our teaching strategies to make sure that we reach our students because every student has unique ways of learning or may have an unidentified learning disability. Additionally, not every student will have the same resources or living situations and it's necessary to keep equity in mind when teaching our students, especially during these current times.
A statement that truly stood out to me in our reading was the idea that teachers "should build on the considerable strengths that ELLs bring to school" (Wright, 2019, p. 17). Just as I mentioned in my video, I want to teach my students, but I also want them to teach me and their classmates. Everyone carries different experiences and knowledge so having my students share that with me will help me learn as a person and will help me become a better teacher for them and for future students.
References:
Wright, Wayne (2019). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice. Caslon Publishing. Third edition.
Betsabe, your Vblog entry is insightful and informative, and you touch upon several important factors for creating an effective learning context for ELLs (valuing culture, creating safe space, flexibility). The most salient thing for me was your final comment about teacher as learner. Thank you for sharing. Cheers, Grace
ReplyDeleteI do agree that teachers should establish connection with their students. By doing this teacher will able to relate to student and make the learning meaningful for the students which would help student engagement. Not only should the teacher know about the student, but their classmates as well. According to Wright (2019), "ELLs also face cultural adjustment, challenges, including pressure to assimilate"(p. 26). Thus, it would be important for teachers to build safe and positive learning environment where students are able to get know each other so they share their ideas, thoughts, or feelings. According to Wright (2019), "teachers need to know their students' cultural backgrounds and how culture influences learning at school” (p. 19). When Wright mention culture, he is talking more about food, dress, art, music, and etc. of that student ethnic group. This could be like how students talk to other students or teacher, eye contact, way they cooperate with others, etc. We should other details like their family or which country or school that I have been too so we could find out how much they learn before entering our classroom. Thus, we can figure where each student is at and seek out instructional strategies that will benefit the each student because they are different.
ReplyDeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Calson, 2019. Print. Third Edition.
Hi Tiffany! Those were some really great points you mentioned. Thank you so much or sharing! I do believe that many students may face the pressure to assimilate into the culture of school because their cultures at home might be so different. However, this is where we, as teachers, have to step in and be the "agents of socialization" that Wright (2019) mentioned (p. 31). Wright (2019) highlighted the idea that teacher should try to organize their class in ways to help students make transitions from their home culture to school culture while making sure we do not put their family's culture and beliefs about education to the side and impose our own. We want to make sure students continue to hold their onto their culture and we can do this by establishing a welcoming classroom and making adjustments to help students adapt and learn in an environment that may be different from what they are used to.
DeleteReference:
Wright, Wayne (2019). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice. Caslon Publishing. Third edition.
Hi Betsabe,
ReplyDeleteLike you, I was born to Mexican parents and my first language was also Spanish, only thing is I learned English quickly before I started school and was in mainstream classes. Although I do wish I would've been in bilingual to learn more about the language (reading/writing) I am grateful to still know a second language. You shared lots of useful and insightful ideas on how we can provide better support for our students. You mentioned learning the background and culture, in the textbook Wright (2019) mentions how below-the-surface of culture the iceberg is massive. "Some of these below-the-surface aspects of culture, include etiquette involving eye contact, notions of modesty, ways of ordering of time, conservational patters, approaches to problem solving..." (p.19). One way we could do this is by having community circle everyday and asking children is they would like to share/ talk about their culture and maybe differences within others. Having these kinds of discussions will help our students in creating that community feel like classroom and building respect for our peers and their differences. It's great that you were able to have that safe and nurturing environment in your AP Spanish class and know first hand how it feels when you have a teacher that creates that kind of atmosphere for their students. Because you've had this experience I know that you will provide just that for your future students and I know they will feel safe, loved, and welcomed in your classroom. Great video!
-Christine Iniguez
Wright, W. E. (2019). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice (3rd ed.). Calson.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas, Christine! I think that doing community circle in our classes can be a great way for us to get to know our students and for them to know each other. In addition to that, getting to know our students can help us identify ways that they learn best. This means finding if they are certain types of learners like visual, musical, kinesthetic, or a mixture of these and others. Wright (2019) mentioned the idea that "teachers have found that multiple intelligences approaches to teaching help them identify and teach to their ELLs' strengths in both language and content-area instruction" (p. 65). We can become even better teacher to our students by getting to know about them as much as we can and really build a connection with them to teach them in ways that will engage them and help them grow.
DeleteReference:
Wright, Wayne (2019). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice. Caslon Publishing. Third edition.