My name is Caroline and I am a Secondary Education and English Major at Rhode Island College. If I'm not reading or writing, you'll most likely find me in the library with my nose in the book or studying my day away. I'm on a journey to understand English Language Learning students, and out of this experience I only hope I can gain an understanding that will only better me as a teacher so that I may inspire and motivate my future students :)
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
Memo #4: Making meaning of interviews and/or classroom observation
So far, I’ve had one solid interview. I was
hoping to interview the CCRI Writing Center Professor before this memo but no
such luck. I was, however, able to interview one of his English Language
Learning students. Priscila* is a 31 year old CCRI student who moved from
Brazil to Pawtucket, Rhode Island when she was 21. Hearing of her story, she
was able to answer many questions for me without her even realizing it. I
learned that her way of learning English wasn’t through her ESL classes (although
she does admit that it did apply a helpful foundation) but she stressed the
importance of environment. She explained to me that during her ESL night
classes at CCRI her first years of living in America, the main reason why she
wasn’t progressing with her English speaking over the course of five years was
because as soon as she’d leave ESL class, she would arrive home and turn on a “novella”
(a Brazilian soap opera). When she took
her ESL “level test” to see which level of English speaking she was at, on a
scale of one to six, Priscila was at a two. This frustrated her very much, so
she took it upon herself to start carrying around a Portuguese to English
dictionary to translate every word of hers, and when she would arrive home she
would turn to American news. In the cognitive process for the ELL, she was able
to give me some insight. Priscila explained to me that the first two years of
her arrival in America, everything was about translation. After ten years
experience, however, she informed me that she would not only reflect in English
but also dream in English. Although ESL classes was a good starting foundation
for her, she told me that singing in English and surrounding herself in a
English speaking environment helped with her communication. She still tries hard but is now able to apply
difficult words in her conversation and is inspired by her professor that I
will have the chance to interview on Thursday. Hopefully I’ll gain an even
broader understanding!
Caroline,
ReplyDeleteWhat a great topic! I really enjoyed how you interviewed an ESL student and shared her personal experience. What really stuck with me is towards the end is when she said that she dreams in English, so amazing!I think that you have some solid information so far regarding your topic and I hope that you gain more insight after your interview on Thursday!
Caroline, it’s great that you were able to interview an ELL, especially one who is older and has had numerous experiences that she can share. It’s important that we consider the numerous variables that can affect student achievement, and I think this interview really shines a light on that. If we understand that what our students are exposed to outside of the classroom dictates how they learn, then it may change how we do things inside the classroom. Because she began to develop an understanding of language through her exposure to social language, her instructor could then use social language as a bridge to understanding academic language.
ReplyDeleteCaroline!!! This sounds like it was a wonderful interview and gave you what you really needed to hear. We talked about this in class that ELL students although it is good to be in an ESL classroom really just need to be consumed into the language that they are trying to learn. Her story is a wonderful representation of an ELL student. Maybe you can interview another student and compare stories.
ReplyDeleteHi Caroline-I love how this woman was able to reflect in order to make progress as an ESL student. It seems that she pushed herself outside of her comfort zone (from Portugese soap operas to American news) in order to fulfill the goal of being fluent in English. The translation work alone sounds exhausting. It appears, from this interview, that total immersion in a language is required for fluency.
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