Here is my 3rd video! Video
For my third interview, I decided to interview my co-worker's mom, her name is Maria Sagredo. Mrs.Sagredo has been a teacher for 22 years but has been at Edgewood Elementary for 17 years, she is a fourth-grade bilingual teacher.
Mrs. Sagredo states that ELL students struggle the most with vocabulary and due to this they tend to communicate in their native language over English. Ortega states that, Mrs.Sagredo made an interesting point she said that bilingual students are more well behaved than monolingual students, she believes that bilingual students behaver due to their culture. Although bilingual students are better behaved, she states that in the lower grades these students have higher academic disadvantages due to the lack of language, but as they move to the higher grades they acquire the English skills faster. One of the main reasons why these students have low English vocabulary it is because at home they only speak one language at home, this is also stated by Rowland (193).
Hi there Karla! Thank you for sharing your interview. It is nice getting some input from a veteran teacher. While listening to what she had to say, it really stuck with me that students need to understand one strategy before they could succeed in another. So if the students were having trouble with vocabulary, we take it back a step and see if the students are even saying the word right? (Phonetics) Do they know what that word actually is? (Text-to -Real World) Then I would see if my students understand the vocabulary side of a word and I would see if they could use it in a sentence. I know there are many steps you have to take when teaching ELL students, but in order to help them be most successful, we have to take those steps. Ortega said, "good short-term
ReplyDeletememory facilitates vocabulary learning at beginning stages, but this
predictive power wanes for more advanced learners." (Pg. 165) With that being said, I think that it is so important to follow the steps of advancement to ensure they retain information taught and carry it on to their next level of thinking.
Ortega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hey Kirstie, I liked what you had to say in your comment to Karla. Specifically, I also thought it was interesting how Ms. Sagredo mentioned the student success that needs to occur with one strategy before teachers can move on or expect success in another. it was interesting because the teacher I interviewed said something similar and emphasized the importance of this aspect because teachers have to judge and reflect on if what they are doing is working and producing success with students, before deciding to move on to something else, or else learning can become overwhelming, especially for students like ELLs. I really liked how you illustrated the important aspect of how we teach and the way students learn through an example because it really does show how critical pacing and understanding student learning is before moving on and taking more steps up the ladder. Taking it slows to ensure students are learning at an acceptable rate and processing in the way that they should be will only benefit us, as the teachers, and the students in the long run. Like you said, following those steps of advancement will help them naturally move on to the next level of thinking and make the learning much more meaningful and make all the time purposeful, without feeling wasted.
DeleteHi Kristie! I was reading through your comment and I started to think what would happen if we gave students more time to catch up on one strategy. If we stop to think maybe that is why students are behind on so many of the concepts that we teach it is because they do not always understand the first one to begin with. According to Ortega, learning strategies are conscious mental and behavioral procedures that people engage in with the aim to gain control over their learning process (Ortega, 2013, 214).
DeleteOrtega, L. (2014). Understanding second language acquisition. Routledge.
Hello Karla! I enjoyed watching your interview. Something that caught my attention is the method Mrs. Sagredo uses to her lessons to teach but at the same time motivate her students. "The more individuals wish to learn a language because it is interesting and enjoyable, and because the activity has value to them personally, the more they are likely to learn the language because they wish to have interactions with members' of the L2 community" (Ortega, 2013, p.177-178). Making the class fun and enjoyable helps to keep the students focused and entertained. This method encourages students to learn and continue growing their vocabulary knowledge unconsciously.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.