Prior to
taking this course, I knew some of the advantages of knowing an additional
language. However, this course also taught me to take a step back and explore
the processes of learning those languages from the perspective of my English
Language Learners in my classroom. This class not only taught me to be flexible
with my lessons, but to also be sure I am accommodating the needs of the
different learners through activities and instructions. Taking the perspective
of my students allows me to identify their process of learning an additional
language- which are influenced by their growth from childhood to adulthood.
During the
SLA course, I was able to reflect on a lot of the practices and techniques
during student teaching. Not only was I able to be flexible and accommodate
some of the needs of my students even further, but it became a habit to keep my
eyes peeled for struggling students. For example, motivation plays a crucial
role to the learning process of not just children, but adults as well. During
my student teaching, many students were unable to recall the advantages and disadvantages
about Energy Resources. However, when they were asked to create a visual
product where they could create a fictional character using these Energy
Resources, their retention and motivation increased significantly. According to
Ortega, students are able to retain information longer when their level of
activation is high (Ortega, 2009, p. 93). Therefore, it is important to
understand both the psychological needs and capabilities of ELL learners.
Topics
that I think should have received more attention are the: morphology and
phonology. Even though we had reading passages from the textbooks, I would like
to physically see these two topics broken down into multiple content courses.
Although this course is online and relied heavily on independent reading, I
found it helpful when some students included these practices in their video
blogs during the interview. On the other hand, a topic that took quite an
appeal were the psychological development from children to adults in their
learning a second language. From reading the textbooks and watching my peers’
video blogs, I was able to understand the perspective of ELLs and their
learning a second language as a child or adult.
In regards
of the video blogs, I found them to be extremely useful when looking at the
multiple perspectives from watching and reading the reflections of my peers.
Although my peers and I are all teaching different content and grade levels, I
could reflect on their techniques and apply them towards my content. Doing
these video blogs, reflections and interactions allowed me to understand
multiple perspectives compared to a single perspective. In addition, the
interview was probably the most resourceful assignment. Not only was I able to
have a one on one interaction, but observing my other peers’ interviewing with
their mentor gave me a better insight of their insight of learning languages
with their students. I enjoyed this course and I hope I will be able to apply
some of the techniques in my classroom.
Ortega, L. Understanding second language acquisition. New York:
Routledge, 2009.
Hi Michelle, I like how you included an example from your student teaching class to talk about the importance of motivation. In my student teaching class, my mentor teacher and I were teaching the students about environmental safety. We had this activity where the students had a container full of ítems to emulate the ocean such as water, salt, pepper, wooden pieces, trash, and animals. The students were given some materials to use to clean up the ocean and make it as clean as possible for the animals to live in. The students were very motivated to clean the ocean so that the animals could live in a clean and safe environment. As a result, the students were able to apply their knowledge of environmental safety and attain a better understanding of the topic. My students were intrinsically motivated because they enjoyed the activity and wanted to save the animals (Ortega, 2013, p. 176). Motivation plays a significant role in the learning process, not only for acquiring a second language but also for other subjects.
ReplyDeleteHi Angela! Thanks for sharing your personal experience with the Environmental Safety lesson- it sounds super fun! I think kids are likely to be more engaged with the lesson if they’re also given real-world situations (Ortega, 2009). So in this case, your unit had a lot of impact on the kids and they were likely to exceed extrinsic motivation (i.e. for the grade) but I’m also sure some students developed intrinsic motivation (i.e. wanting to become an Environmentalist).
DeleteOrtega, L. Understanding second language acquisition. New York: Routledge, 2009.
Hey Michelle!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you when you talk about taking a step back and just understanding it all. Because of this course I now understand how students learn a second language, how they struggle, and how everything effects their learning. Gass and Selinker stated, "The interaction approach accounts for learning through input (exposure to language), production of language (output), and feedback that comes as a result of interaction" (1994, pg. 317). Now, I am able to create lessons that will help my English Language Learning students in all these aspects.
I also loved being able to see the many perspectives through everyone's Vlogs!
Hey Kelly! I’m glad I wasn’t the only one who had a new perception about this course. In addition, modifying our lessons according to our students’ accomodations is something I look forward to! I can agree with your statement with Gass and Selinker that although students are capable of interactions with the information, teachers need to know what to do with the feedback (Gass and Selinker, 1994). Even if our initial planned activities does not go according to plan, it teaches us how to be flexible with our students’ feedback and transition to the next part of the lesson.
DeleteHi, Michelle!
ReplyDeleteI love what you said and I agree completely! I think I have always know that their are benefits to knowing multiple languages. This course, however, made me sit and think about how those languages may be acquired. Also, how the learning of a language affects one's learning and influences one's education. One of the biggest takeaways for me is when Ortega discusses how context and life experiences contribute to learning and the shaping of abilities (Ortega, 2013). I have always felt that it is important we get to know our students and get to know their parents so we have an understanding of who our students are outside of the classroom. Through the use of our Vblog this semester, I feel more prepared to communicate with my future students. More importantly, those students who are learning English as a second language.
Remy, I also agree with Michelle as well. I feel that we all know there are so many benefits to knowing multiple languages and I truly wish I did know at least one other language. But, after taking this course I truly know that it isn't an easy task and I can only imagine how it would feel being required to learn this new found language and only being taught main subjects in that second language. I also feel that the Vlog helped me in so many ways and that I got to be more personal with those who teacher ELL students and past ELL students themselves. It was a beautiful learning experience!
DeleteHi Remy! I too feel more confident when interacting with my students about multiculturalism and their languages. In addition, I think it motivates and encourage our community to be more open and to take into a new perspective just as how we did with this course. Teachers should encourage that acculturation community and to not stop students from seeing a narrow perspective, but to broaden their growth (Wright, 2015, p. 20). Overall, the vlogs helped tremendously and I am glad we had the chance to use this type of platform as a way to build connections and share ideas.
DeleteWright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition
Hi Lesley! This course was very insightful when applying some of the concepts and it does help knowing multiple languages especially because of how diversed Houston is. Teaching is an on-going duty that requires full-attention to our children, and it does require flexibility. Not only does it require practice, we need to create opportunities and to never limit our students, which ties into the knowing their abilities and capabilities (Ortega, 2009).
DeleteOrtega, L. Understanding second language acquisition. New York: Routledge, 2009.