Hello.
For my second vblog post, I interviewed the ESL facilitator at my placement school in Lamar Consolidated Independent School District. The ESL facilitator, Kimberly Handstad went to the University of Wisconsin where she majored in Education and minored in English as a second language. After graduation, she taught ELL students in South Korea. According to Wright, " An English language learner is a student who is in the process of attaining proficiency in English, as a new additional language" (Wright, p.1). This helped her get experience with working with students who speak in varying degrees of English. Handstad said that her favorite thing that she ever did in her career, was work with English language learner's or ELL's. She especially loves working with beginning ELL's.
Handstad said she really tries to get the message across to ESL teacher's that English language learner's should not be viewed as having a deficit. She tries to get across the message that ELL's have so much potential and can succeed. As stated by Wright, " How educators choose to view their ELL's affects how they organize teaching and learning in their classes and how administrators structure programs in their schools and districts" (Wright, p. 3). Handstad said if you look at the data across Texas, reclassified ELL's score higher on the STAAR test than the average population. She said it is up to teachers to help get English language learners to the point where they are language proficient. She said once they reach that, ELL's do extremely well.
Handstad said that it is very important for ESL teachers to understand linguistics. She said at times there can be an English language learner who also qualifies for speech therapy. Individuals will often question, how is that possible? Handstad said that if an individual understands linguistic structures of the different languages, then you can determine that. For example, if you see that there is some sounds that is seen in both languages, and the child can't pronounce it in either language then that shows that there can be a speech issue present.
Handstad said when looking at the beginning ELL, one of the most effective methods a teacher can use is total physical response which is also known as TPR. An example of using total physical response, is when a teacher shows a picture, and has the student do a motion. So that they are putting together the language with the physical movement and it makes a kinesthetic, physical, and linguistic connection. She said other great practices to use for ELL's include using visuals and sentence stems.
Hi Ruth!
ReplyDeleteThis interview was full of information that can help us as future educators who will have ELL students. There were so many great points in this interview that I walked away with. I thought it was interesting that the people you and I interviewed both shared that they use total physical response, visuals, and sentence stems. It helps me see that these are good strategies to use when teaching ELLs.
I thought it was great how Ms. Handstad acknowledged that there are so many different types of ELLs and how each of them could have different experiences in the US education system. This reminded me of how Wright (2019) mentioned that there is not one single way or program that can work for ELLs. There are so many different factors like resources, policies, and the desires of the community that affect which programs are in which schools (Wright, 2019, p. 121).
It is exciting that Ms. Handstad, who has such a large influence on ELLs and general education teachers, has such a strong mindset about the asset versus the deficit model in education, especially when it comes to teaching ELLs. I think that it is a crucial idea that all teachers should hold when teaching ELLs and to recognize that their abilities and knowledge may be different but that they are still students with so much potential. Wright (2019, p. 3) mentioned the two orientations when it comes to how some teachers view language: language-as-resource and language-as-problem. As teachers, we should strive to see language as a resource and acknowledge that our ELLs bring much into the classroom that can help us become better teacher in order to help them learn English.
Reference:
Wright, Wayne (2019). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy, and practice. Caslon Publishing. Third edition.
Hello Betsabe,
DeleteI also think it is interesting that both of our interviewee's agreed that using certain strategies like total physical response, visuals, and sentence stems are effective tools to use when teaching English language learner's or ELL's. According to Wright, "ELL's are entitled to equal access to educational opportunities...[like] high quality language instruction to develop proficiency in English and high quality academic instruction across the content areas" (Wright, p. 2). I can definitely tell that our interviewee's are definitely fufilling that and are providing high quality language instruction to English language learner's.
Hi Ruth, thanks for sharing! I can feel the passion that Ms.Handstad has for what she does. I appreciate you sharing that with us. One of the things that stood out most to me was the part that mentioned not viewing ELL students as deficient. Sadly I think that happens often in school systems. ELL students are sometimes pushed to the side and not given a chance to show their full potential. I think it is our jobs to provide the support they need to be successful. Because, like you mentioned when given the chance they can exceed the ability of other non ELL students. The second thing that stood out to me was the TPR. I think often we only hear and see teachers using visuals to help scaffold ELL students. But, it is so interesting to hear about this method being use. It makes so much sense to include multiple ways to represent what is trying to be said.
ReplyDeleteHello Hope,
DeleteYou're welcome! Yes, I loved that Ms. Handstad mentioned in the interview, that ELL's should not be seen as having a deficeit. They should be seen as having a strength. They should be seen as having a lot of potential. I agree with what Ms. Handstad said, wholeheartedly. These students can do anything that they put their mind to. As teachers, we just need to teach them and give them the resources needed so that they can do that. According to Wright, "How educators choose to view their ELL's affects how they organize teaching and learning in their classes and how administrators structure programs in their schools and districts" (Wright, p. 3).