Entry 2: Interview with a Former ELL Student
Hi,
welcome back to my blog!
For
this entry I interviewed a friend of my boyfriend, his name is Frank, and he
was born in Germany. When he was about 3 years old his family moved to America
to live with his aunt and uncle. Since Frank spent his first few years of life in
Germany, the language he first began to recognize and speak was German. According
to Wright, pg.10, Frank would be considered a Foreign-born ELL because he is an
ELL student who was born outside of the United States.
Frank’s
aunt and uncle spoke fluent English in their home, so from the moment he
arrived in America through his first few years of school Frank was consistently
hearing and using the new language of English. This helped him to quickly learn
the language and become fluent in English.
After his family moved to America,
Frank stated that him and his parent’s stopped speaking German among themselves, they spoke German at first during the time of transition but slowly began to speak only English in the house. He stated that his parents look back and wish that they had spoken more German with him when he was younger so he would still be fluent in it. The bullet points in Box 1.5 on page
22 of Foundations for Teaching English
Language Learners, titled “Potential Consequences of Primary Language Loss,”
are all points that Frank may be experiencing today. Frank and his parents were able to communicate in German while they were all learning English at the same time, but once their English speaking skills grew stronger they started speaking German less and less. Frank mentioned how he has family back in Germany that he can speak in basic German with, but would have to learn more of the language in order to have deeper, more fluid conversations with them.
Wright,
Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory,
Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015.Print. Second Edition
Hi Lauren!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed listening to your interview with Frank. His story is extremely similar to my boyfriend's story. My boyfriend was born in Peru, move to the states when he was about 4 and was easily able to pick up English because his older brother and sister spoke English regularly around the house. What stuck out to me is that Frank's teachers did not really know how to handle a student who spoke German instead of Spanish as a first language. Wright (2015) states that it is extremely important for teachers to understand a student's culture and their home life. It seems as though his teacher really struggled with connecting with Frank and his background. I think as educators its easier to assume all of our ELLs will be from Spanish-speaking backgrounds but that is not the case. There are many backgrounds from all over the world that come into our classrooms, and I feel we are responsible to make that connection with them and learn about their culture. This way, we can reach our students and help them in the best ways possible.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015.Print. Second Edition
DeleteHi Megan, thanks for watching my interview! I agree! Teachers need to be hyperaware of their student’s culture and backgrounds, so they can provide the most informed personalized instruction possible. It’s true that Frank’s teacher struggled with his instruction because he came from a culture that spoke a language that was unfamiliar to her. Wright states, “[students] are disadvantaged when schools do not recognize, value, and incorporate [their cultural and linguistic] differences” (Wright, 2015, p.19). Thankfully he had the support at home to help him learn English quickly, but what if he didn’t? It would have taken him a lot longer to learn English.
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015.Print. Second Edition
Hi Lauren and Megan! I love that you talked about incorporating culture and background into English language learning, because that can play a huge part in the student’s motivation to learn (Wright, 2015, p. 19). If you are able to connect to your students and have them feel heard and as though you understand where they are coming from, and you care about their background. It’s also interesting that his background is German because that can definitely be hard to incorporate in a city like Houston.
DeleteHey Lauren! I loved how you interviewed someone who spoke a different language other than Spanish. Although Spanish is very common it was nice to hear a different story about a different language. I like how he mentioned that he picked up the English language at home from the people around him but his parents still spoke German amongst each other. He was able to pick up English quickly but if he didn’t he may have had to take ELL classes and we teachers need to understand that many students speak other languages besides Spanish and English. Wright (2015) says, “ELLs vary widely by race, ethnicity, home language, level of schooling, socioeconomic status, parent’s level of education, parent’s proficiency in English, proficiency and literacy in their home language, and proficiency in English” (p. 2). We as teachers have to keep in mind that there will be students with a variety of different languages spoken inside the classrooms and it is our job to make sure we understand everyone and their backgrounds. This allows them to speak comfortably and gives them the confidence to grow. We must not lose sight in who they truly are and must remind them that it is okay to continue speaking their language at home and to their families. But learning English here in America is just as important to succeed.
ReplyDeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015.Print. Second Edition
Hey Shelly, thanks for watching my interview! I like the point you brought up about how there are many different ELL students who speak a variety of different languages, not just Spanish. Especially living in Houston, there are students whose families have come here from all over the world. Because of this, it is important to maintain a pluralist discourse in the classroom. This means to “recognize ELLs home languages and cultures as rich resources for helping ELLs learn English and academic content…” (Wright, 2015, p.3). We shouldn’t try to shut out student’s cultures, they should be accepted in the classroom. If you don’t know much about your student’s culture, you should do some research so you are more informed about your students.
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015.Print. Second Edition
Hi Lauren! I’m glad I had the opportunity to watch your video and learn about you interview with your boyfriend Frank! I enjoyed learning about his experience growing up speaking German and learning to speak English. I agree that this would make him a foreign born ELL and this is one of the few interviews that I’ve seen with someone who was born outside of the United States. It’s great that his aunt and uncle spoke English to him at their home so that he could get that extra help at home. You also mentioned from the text the potential consequences of primary language loss. It’s unfortunate that there are those who loose that fluency in their primary language because of the constant use of another language instead. I’ve seen this happen with some friends of mine as well and it does help to return to your native country in order to get back to speaking your native language. It’s important that there is a mix of both languages in a household so that one is not lost. If I had the opportunity to speak two languages to my children then I would. I believe that being bilingual can grant you many opportunities in the world, so it would be unfortunate to loose that ability.
ReplyDeleteYour boyfriend’s friend from Germany, Frank, spoke about how he moved to the United States when he was just three years old. Although his first language was German and his parents didn’t mind the acculturation process that most immigrant children are subjected to, now he has strong English proficiency and lost his grasp of German. With hindsight, his parents would have continued to host more conservation in their heritage language, German, rather than progressively allowing it to subside. This replacement of one’s L1 by their L2 is known as subtractive bilingualism (Ortega, 2009). However, this occurrence of children losing or gaining languages is actually quite common, according to Ortega (2009). “Monolingual forms of education… make little to no use of ELL’s home languages, they aim for social and cultural assimilation of students and they frequently result in the loss of students’ ability to speak their first language, that is, they result in subtractive bilingualism” (Wright, 2015, p. 114). This seems to be the case with Frank who, in his own words, admits that he does not know how his elementary teachers “dealt with him” and the language barrier.
ReplyDelete