Reflection 6: If only she knew…

This is “Mrs. X”. She is a teacher of Spanish as a Foreign Language. Mrs X is a very good teacher, and a very intelligent person; but like all the people over the world, she doesn't know everything about education, neither how languages are most effectively learned. Mrs. X does not yet understand that people can learn a new language supporting themselves on their first language, and on their first culture, too. She ussually ignores her students' first language; besides, she tries to avoid all the contact that students may have with their L1. For example, she ussualy tells her "first level Spanish language learners" that she doesn't understand what they are saying to her in their first language; even, when the students cannot find the word they want to use to explain a complex concept; she acts as if nobody had talked to her, and she doesn't give them the opportunity to convey the meaning of that word in their first language in order to clarify their own ideas.

I think that the teacher should be awared of what Freemen & Freeman (1998) say in their research about Bilingual Education: "supporting first language development is critical because students learn concepts best in their primary language" because it is important for her to know that "literacy and content knowledge developed in the first language transfer to the second language"; besides, students who are biliterate have more chances for getting academic success than students who are not.

For getting a better understanding of what I have been arguing, I am going to present you a series of links which may help you to get a clearer idea of what I have been discussing here.

http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/eslbil.html

Resent research

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Jwcrawford/biling.htm

http://www.ericdigests.org/1997-3/bilingual.html

Video

Reflection 5: Websites that might help

This is “Aaron”, a pretty new Spanish-speaker in the ELD class. He is 15 years old. His notions of English are basic, almost nothing. Aaron arrived at the ELD class just two weeks ago. During the first days he was very afraid of the teacher to asked him; the only response he gave her was “yes”, or simply he avoided her. Since the days have being going on, Aaron has been gaining more confidence in the class but not enough to participate actively in it. However, he has so much potential! He learns everything incredibly quickly. Besides, he learns and is able to use what he learns from that exact moment.

I am convinced of Aaron could get more proficiency in the English language if he had constant practice and support in the target language. I mean, if Aaron could exercise what he knows, and try new contents by himself, he would obtain greater results in the four macroskills (Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing). Moreover, Aaron would succeed more and more if he took risks in his own learning. In that last point, I personally think that a series of websites pointed to a revision of some repeted patterns of the English language would be useful for him, in order to give him some hints of how the English language works campaired to his native language.

I think that Aaron has not specific needs, he just needs help in every aspect of the language in order to commuicate with others. That is the main goal; make him participate a little bit more in class. And, when he goes getting more confidence using the language to communicate with his classmates, and be understood by them, he will be able to get into more difficult and challenging tasks.

These links take you to a series of different webpages where English is taught through games. It is enormously useful for students to learn some new vocabulary because by getting the lexicon bigger, they are more prompt to speak and communicate with others.

http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids.htm

http://eslbears.homestead.com/Contact_Info.html

http://www.vocabulary.co.il/

http://www.saberingles.com.ar/games/index.html

The idea is that the student uses these webpages whenever he feels the need of learning some new vocabulary. But, as he is an teenager, and he must have many other things in what to think of, I would suggest him to use it twice or three times a week until he really feels he is doing good in what relates to vocabulary.

By using these websites, the student should get some more vocabulary to use when talking with people inside and outside of the school. He should be capable of using at least some content words to get right track in the communicative process.

Reflection 4: A topic in language education that I want to know more about

Since the first day I have been doing my internship at “The Highschool” I have been wondering what it would be the best ways or strategies that the teacher should use to maintain motivational levels in classes made up of students from different parts of the world.
Most of the time that I have spent there, the teacher has had to apply different strategies to keep the class hooked in what she is teaching. All those strategies have got success, and that success is what has triggered in me the interest of wanting to know more about “Strategies for motivation in classrooms”. Maybe, this is because of I really expect to be a good teacher; I have faith in my future students, even when I haven't met them. I have faith in them because I am convinced of everybody has a gift, and as teachers we are the responsible people who must discover it.


The students in that class come from different parts of the world, they have different interests, and different learning styles. In this point, the teacher must not only be the learning facilitator, but also she must be the leader of her class. And leadership is not an easy task. Being a leader-teacher means addapting your ways of teaching to lead your class forward; it also means carrying out a series of activities which are interesting to all the students in the class; activities that you know will create interest in each one of the students. But, how can you do that, taking into account that you are teaching a completely new language?; How can teachers manage their own classes to engage students in just one common activity which involves aspects of their own background?

Here there are some links that can be helpful to understand a little bit more what we can do as teachers to motivate our students in EFL clasrooms:

http://www.tefl.net/esl-articles/motivation-esl.htm

This link is useful because it gives you some hints that help you to adecuate or modify our lessons in pos of more motivating classes.

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Hazzard-MakingMovies.html

This link takes you to a good experienced lived by a group of EFL students who discovered a new way to learn English.

http://teacherjoe.us/TeachersMotivate.html

This link takes you to a really energetic webpage. Its creator is "Joe", and he gives you very good ideas for the ESL classroom. In this case: "Teach your students to speak out in English"

All these links have taught me the importance of motivation for carrying out a good class of English. Motivation, and leadership go hand to hand, and it is important to be aware of that. Thus, by applying at least some of the strategiees that these webpages suggest you, your students will learn, and you (teacher) will feel full of yourself for having reached what you proposed to yoursef.

Reflection 3: Response to a question about English teaching

A Plan for introducing a new ESL student to your class

Questions by Shelley Cole

"Hi, I am getting my teaching certificate and ESL is part of my certification. I have a few questions that I was wondering if someone could help me with?I'm trying to learn as much as I can about ESL and how I can be a better teacher to ESL students.
These are my questions: 1. What would you do to help the student overcome first-day apprehension? 2. How would you introduce the student to the class? 3. How would you convey classroom rules and expectations to the new student? 4. How would you communicate these expectations to the student's parents? 5. What type of documentation would you keep to track the student's progress?"

These are my answers to Shelley's questions.

Hi Shelley!!

I have been doing an internship in a High School these last days. One of the classes that I attend is a “Newcomers Class” where there are students from many different parts of the world, most of them come from Burma and Russia, but there is also a couple of Cuban students (A and B). “A” is a girl. She is 14 years old, and has been attending school since 3 months ago. She had a previous formal education in her country, but her English was nothing strong. “A” has been working hard, and it is possible to appreciate success in the way she answers. Student “B” is a 15-years old boy. He began his classes the same day I began attending to the School. That day he was extremelly quiet. He just said “hello” and looked very scared of responding questions, even when those questions were in his first language (Spanish). Student “B” arrived to the USA just 15 days before he entered to school. Everything is new for him, specially the language.

From what I could see in the classroom that day. The teacher didn't introduced student “B” just in the moment he arrived. She began her lesson, and let “B” interact with “A”. Student “B” began to talk a little bit more. In the second period, the teacher introduced him to the rest of the class. The teacher told them they had a new classmate who didn't speak English at all, and who really needed their help. Then, the teacher asked the whole class to intruduce themselves. This fact made the class, and the experience of introducing himself easier and more comfortable for student “B”. He could overcame his first-day apprehension, and at the same time the teacher could establish a good environment for “student B”'s future emotional and academic developments. I think this explanation reflects what you wanted to know in questions 1, 2 , and 3.

In relation to question 4: “How would you communicate these expectations to the student's parents?” I would say that this is a trigger question. It is extremelly important to involve parents in their children's academic development as they are one of the main participants and supporters of their children. Giving students tasks in which the assistence of parents is required is the best way to begin involving parents in their children education; thus, at the same time we will be communicating them the expectations we have in relation to their children.

I personally think that the best kind of documentation that we can keep to track the student's progress is a kind of formative evaluation, in which you don't put pressure on your student by marks or grades. I think that the best way we can accomplish this is by writing about the student's improvement, and supporting him as he is enhancing his learning. Of course, getting to know him, his learning style, his way of thinking, what he likes and what he doesn't, would be a wonderful way to take him to success.

I responded to this question because it involved many of the topics we studied in our Bilingualism and Bilteracy course. The teacher mentioned expectations, parents, rules, among other well-known concepts for us. Words that sound in our heads, and that are very important in the teaching-learning process. Apart from that, all those questions have a direct connection with what I have been observing during this period of internship. So, these questions seemed to be very meaningful for the teacher as well as for me. My answers to the teacher reveal that my beliefs about language teaching have changed since I got here. I have learnt a lot. I think that I am a better teacher now because I have strong arguments which support what I am able to say about teaching techniques or strategies.

Reflection 2: A case of effective language teaching

November 14^th, 2008: Students leave the classroom; the purpose is clear: “To make a presentation about their own culture”. The whole group of students walks towards the “International Language Classroom”. They are very anxious about how they are going to be welcomed. They are wearing their typical clothing, and they carry pieces of paper with some useful information they want to talk about; such as how they say some words or phrases in their language. Also, some of them bring objects such as current money of their country, maps, drawings of their flag, etc. to clarify, and help themselves with what they are trying to explain.

The teacher is always supporting them emotionally. She gives them confidence enough for them to develop a good performance,. The teacher doesn't interfere in the decisions they make or in what they want to present, but she suggests good ideas of how to present the contents. She performs like a guide, and she observes the class all of the time, and she never let the students totally alone. Moreover, the teacher always tries to be a facilitator of resourses for her students.

When the students are all inside the International language classroom, the teacher of the other group introduces the “new comers” to her class. She uses very slow English for them to understand what she is saying. Most of the “newcomer students” seem to understand; they are very willing and motivated to learn; they have the need for understanding and catching the most English they can. Besides, this activity of presenting their own culture to other people makes them feel really engage and motivated to learn. This activity makes them feel “owners of the topic”, they are the people who know, they have the power to talk about those places they are presenting because they have been there. This factor really helps them, and the teacher knows that; in that way they feel comfortable speaking in front of “English native speakers”, and they uncountiously develop their ability to express themselves without fear.

When the whole group finished with their presentations there was a great round of applause. The “newcomer students” felt very good, they realized they are capable of expressing themselves on their own. That experience helps them greatly. Finally, when back in their classroom the teacher made them questions about the term “Culture”, the students made excellent guesses, and those guesses helped the teacher building a very ellaborated and meaningful explanation.

I believe that this activity was really effective. The teacher could make relationships not only between first language and the target language, but she also took into account the children's background, their previous experiences, in general, she considered their valuable culture. Furthermore, even when the students didn't know what the term “Culture” meant, they did it excellent, and they could realize for themselves what that term means, what the term involves, and how important it is all over the world.

"Reflection 1": Podcasting my way to mastery of English

Bringing Disneyland Home is a video series dedicated to all Disneyland, and Disney fans. This series includes home video tours and attraction ride throughs from the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, CA. Besides, this video series may be used with educational purposes, since it talks about familiar aspects for children, and it uses easy words for them to use.

Webpage link:

http://www.oakfan.com/BDHVodcast.xml

In any case... This is the webpage where I took the link from:

http://www.videopodcasts.tv/feed/382/Bringing_Disneyland_Home

I chose this video series because this offers me a great variety of topics which I can use with my future students. Moreover, this video series gives me the opportunity to continue improving my comprehension of listening texts, and my ability for reflexion. I think, this video series will help me greatly when needing of ideas to engage my future students on a task, because the topics that these videos show are very motivating, especially for young children who really enjoy using technology when learning. Also, this video series will give me the chance of being always updated with some authentic language used in the United States.

Finally, I will use this webpage, and the podcasts present in it three or four times, twice a month (at least).

I hope this will be a good tool for me, and for my future students.

The Classroom story

Stone Fox:

Strategies: - High expectations on students learning

- Effective

Wine Box Sledding:

Strategies: -Social interaction

- Support on L1 and C1

- Outdoor activities

- Effective

Scene-Setter Visuals:

Strategies: - Teaching through content

- Association of parts or words present in the book with actions performed

by students.

- Pre-reading activity (summary)

- Paraphrasing for facilitating understanding

-Effective

Power words:

Strategies: - Multimodality (use of colors, images, lists, etc.)

- Respect for learning styles

- Preview- view- review

- Effective

Spin-Off stories:

Strategies: - Respect for students' Multiple Intelligences

- Use of the four skills (listening- "read aloud"; reading- the story; speaking-

about their own experiences; writing- about Willi's loss of Searchlight in

their journal.

- Relation to factual events -when students describe their own experiences

and thoughts

- Social interaction.

- Effective