Blog entry #1
Hello everyone! My name is Luz Alonzo, I am an EC-6 Generalist at the University of Houston. I am currently in my senior year of college. I have a passion for teaching and enjoy working with children building future leaders of America. I plan to give back to my community by providing elite education to the students with low income. I eventually, hope to have my own school back in Mexico where my parents are from. Hope you enjoy my video!
Check out my video here:Second Language Methodology (CUIN 4361)
Hey luz I am Isabel Uribe. I think that you are a bit like me. I have younger nephews and nieces that I help with homework and such to prepare me for when I have my own classroom. I also believe that I am the important part of my students achievement. Like you said we need to learn who are students are and where they came from in order to help them as much as we can to succeed as an ELL student. This is also stated in WRIGHT's book, it says that the more that the teacher knows about the students and the community they are teaching in the more they will succeed at helping the ELL students (WRIGHT Ch.1 Pg. 16).
ReplyDeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.
Hello Leslie,
DeleteThank you for your wonderful words. I was always the teacher of my family. Actually it is an impressive thing when you help the people that you care. I do agree that as a successful professor we need to get to know our students and their way of everyday living. It will allow us to understand their individual needs and their reason of struggling. Thank you for taking your time to comment lovely words.
sorry, I do not know why I put Leslie! my apologies Isabel. .
DeleteIt's not a problem, we read a lot and it is easy to get confused. Yes, my teaching philosophy will probably always be to make a relationship with my students, learn all I can abut them and use that to help them succeed in my classroom and for years to come. I believe this will help me make a difference as a teacher.
DeleteHi, Luz. My name is Michelle, and I want to say that I enjoyed getting to know you in your video. To me, I can tell you are given a wonderful gift of being able to teach. Your younger siblings look up to you, and you are improving your teaching skill at the Children's Learning Center in UH.
ReplyDeleteOnto a serious note, I do agree you that we should relate, or at the very least understand our students, especially those are struggling to learn English. Some of them came from different countries and/or come from families who rarely speak English. According to Wright (2010, pg. 16), helping ELL students requires helping to adjust to the culture of the classroom and giving them the access to what McKinney and Norton would call "dominant or privileged ways of knowing and doing". Without being able to adjust to the new classroom environment, students are more likely to have difficult time to learn new language and content areas. It's important that we must be aware of that.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2010. Print. Second Edition.
Hi Michelle,
DeleteThank you for your lovely comment and precious time. I am also thankful for given the opportunity to be a teacher to my younger siblings. I also enjoy working at the Children Learning Center where it allows me to practice my teaching methods. As I know the struggle of transiting into an ESL classroom this will eventually allow me to understand the stages that my students’ go through. It is important as a future educator to understand your students and meet their needs. I agree for me it was a bit of a struggle, but with my personal experience it will allow me to connect with my students’. Thank you for your time Michelle.
Hello Luz!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed watching your blog! I feel like I could relate to a lot of what you talked about. I'am also the oldest in my family and was inspired to take on the teaching career because of my role with my siblings. According to Wright(2015), me and you were probably part of the "...redesignation as fluent English proficient. This redesignation means the student no longer requires specialized language and content instruction and is considered ready to participate in mainstream classrooms" (p.3). I was placed in a mainstream classroom in fourth grade, just like you were placed in a mainstream English speaking classroom in third grade. I think your background and experiences will definitely help you with understanding your students and making sure ELLs are welcomed in your classroom.
Thanks for sharing!
Ana Gonzalez
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing.
Hello Ana,
DeleteThank you for your amazing comment. I am glad that we have something in common and have something that we can relate. I am glad that my siblings and my neighborhood looks up to me. I actually enjoy helping regardless and have the need to do more and go above and beyond to help others. As well you must be an amazing sibling as well that your siblings look up to you, it might be a full responsibility but at the end it will be worth it. You are exactly correct definitely our experience will allow us to create that connection that will allow us as future educators meet the needs of our students that are transitioning to English. I am always welcomed to learn new languages and just have a mentality that is open without limitations. Thank you for your time,
Hi Luz!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know how much we had in common! Even though we both speak two different languages, we both grew up not knowing how to read or write in our own native language. Like Spanish, the Vietnamese language have different accents that could completely change the entire word and meaning. Being able to go gain further knowledge on our vocabulary is beneficial for us then and now in the future. "In addition, ELLs will typically have literacy skills in their home languages only if they have had the opportunity to learn to read and write them in school, either in their home country or in the United States in a bilingual program or an after school heritage language program." (Pg.11) I think we can both agree on the importance of bilingual programs in school or out of school. Even though at the moment it felt forced, I am happy that both you and I could proudly read and write our native language when some people unfortunately are not able to! So, I hope in the future we could still keep these programs going! Thank you for sharing your blog with us Luz!
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing.
Hello Taylor,
DeleteThank you for your kind words. I believe we did an amazing job keeping our native languages. I am also very fortunate to have parents that implemented the importance to become fluent in both languages. It will later benefit our careers, and future families. Yes, certainly I hope that other students will be lucky to have a program like you did and be able to lean how to write and speak fluently in other languages. Thank you for your comment!
Mucho gusto en conocerla. Me parece que usted es una de esas personas que son maestros por naturaleza, por ello creo que será una gran profesora. Me pregunto por qué considera usted que pasar los niños a leer al frente es una buena técnica, sobre todo cuando los niños apenas están aprendiendo el idioma.. Siempre he considerado que este tipo de actividades deberían ser evitadas pues se prestan más para avergonzar a los estudiantes y hacerle sentir que no son buenos en lectura la lectura en voz alta sólo se debería practicar cuando uno está aprendiendo a dar conferencias o charlas y no es el caso de los niños, ¿qué opina?
ReplyDeleteHola Professor Avellaneda,
DeleteIgualmente gusto en conocerlo. Muchas gracias por sus lindos comentarios me da gusto saber que le gusto mi blog. Yo pienso que esto no es una buena técnica, pero si es un buen ejercicio para poder crear un estudaiante con mucha confianza en si mismo. En realidad pienso que parcticando leyendo enfrente de companeros a temprana edad les va ayudar en el futuro. Si ellos leen a temprana edad sin ser tímidos, ellos ya no van a ser tan neriosos porque desde temprana edad han estado enfrente de un publico. Yo personalmente, soy muy penosa y creo que si hubiera estado expuesta a temprana edad a hablar enfrente la pena se me hubiera quitado mas pronto. Gracias por su lindo commentario.
Con mucho gusto. Me queda la duda y me gustaría leer más sobre esta técnica.
DeleteHello Luz
ReplyDeleteI am wondering how your teachers in you first years of elementary school went about instructing you and other student who were learning English? Apart from your second grade class being a ELL class, would you say you noticed anything different in the instruction. I remember my elementary school having a bilingual class but the students of other classes did not know this, they only knew that this class was different than the others and sadly because of this some of the other students stayed away from the bilingual students. In this action it seems to me that the rest of the school body played a role in what Wright states about education "... functioning as a tool for assimilation to ensure that immigrant children abandon their home language and culture and become monolingual English-speaking Americans" (Wright, 2015, pg. 19). None of the non bilingual teachers tried to explain to the other children what the class was, and if they knew about the students actions they did not seem to see it as anything to worry about.
Great entry.
ReplyDelete