VBlog Entry 3: An Interview with an ESL Teacher
Hello! Due to the preference of the interviewee, I did an audio recording for an interview rather than a video. Hopefully, this isn't too inconvenient for anyone. Please feel free to view it in the link.
> Interview Link Here <
> Interview Link Here <
For this
Vlog entry, I decided to interview one of the second-grade teachers at the
school that I am currently student teaching in, Mrs. Toy-Ng. As stated in the
interview, Mrs. Toy-Ng has been teaching ESL for eight years. She is bilingual
herself, and she speaks Spanish and English.
In her experiences, Mrs. Toy-Ng says
the most challenging part for ELLS is that their self-confidence. Students don’t
like to be wrong, and because of that, it can be challenging for them to even
try. According to Ortega, “For people who may have low self-esteem to begin with,
feelings of vulnerability in L2 learning situations may be particularly
intense. If the threat is unmanageable and anxiety rises, it will contribute to
these students’ poor performance in situations where they feel evaluated and anticipate
failure (pg. 201).” I can definitely connect to the students who may feel
anxiety speaking a new language, because I remember feeling that way when I was
speaking Chinese to other people when I was younger. Being around people who
were fluent made me feel shy and hesitant to speak and practice. I was
wondering if their age applies to their feeling of shyness, as this answer
surprised me. As I stated in my last entry, I had a student in my class who was
not at all shy about speaking English. Mrs. Toy-Ng says this may apply to them,
as their confidence builds when they grow older.
Mrs. Toy-Ng also talked about how she
tries to motivate the students by helping them learn and understand things to
the best of her ability. She believes that students’ motivation in learning
another language is when they do well, so if the students feel good about
themselves, they will be motivated to learn. I asked Mrs. Toy-Ng how she would
break the students out of a loop of negativity or a slump in learning their
language, and she says how she would share her own experiences learning a
language and encourage them, but in the end, it is up the student themselves if
they want to learn the language. She also believes that students who have a
second language under their belt will be good for not only their learning, but
also for society. I wholeheartedly believe in this, as my skills in Chinese has
helped me reach different goals. Knowing Chinese has also assisted me in learning
Japanese, so I believe that there’s no detriment in learning another language.
By knowing more languages, you can also interact with more people.
Interviewing Mrs. Toy-Ng was a very
enjoyable experience, and I learned a lot from her. I know that if I ever need
help with something, ELL related, I can definitely turn to her.
References:
Ortega, L. (2014). Understanding second language
acquisition. Routledge.
Hi Sophia! I really enjoyed your interview with Mrs. Toy-Ng! I think it is great that you were able to interview a teacher that has some many years of experience and is bilingual as well. I found it interesting how much she has seen confidence play a role in her students wanting to learn a new language and having the drive to do so. I have witnessed this in the class I am currently student teaching at and have wondered how to motivate them. Much like Mrs. Toy-Ng we discuss this with our students to address times when they do not feel motivated and what we can do to push through those moments. I believe my students gain perspective with these talks by stating why they began to learn a new language. As Ortega stated, Integrativeness is defined as ‘a genuine interest in learning the second language in order to come closer to the other language community” (Gardner, 2001, p. 5). When the students remind themselves and each other they use this motivation to continue to push through the challenging times.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hi Victoria! I have been in your shoes and am also always wondering how I can better motivate my ELLs. Although the ELLs in my class are at various levels of self-confidence, those with lower self-confidence tend to not want to try anymore. I think that Ortega has a valid point in that a genuine interest in wanting to learn the language will help students become more proficient in a language. In the future, I might try prompting students about their reason for learning English and try to motivate them by having them remember!
DeleteSophia, it seems that you teacher knows what she is doing when she works with ELL's. You mentioned that motivation is the key to building students self confidence. I felt that this correlated with what Ortega says about intrinsic motivation (2013, pg. 176). Ortega discusses how students have intrinsic motivation when they begin to want to learn simply for the sake of learning. As a student teacher I can see that this is one of the hardest things for students to grasp. Especially in our work where they have access to entertainment 24/7. I believe that this is another obstacle for teachers because students would rather be entertained on their phones then enjoy learning something knew that may be hard. However, if we are able to get through with them intrinsic motivation is what we should desire for our students.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hi Vanessa! I think that your point where entertainment is crucial for students 24/7 is very valid. Because some students are used to that instant gratification, it may be hard to patiently work and build up a second language sometimes. However, I think that technology and entertainment can also be very beneficial for ELLs. For example, apps or videos that teach people how to speak and use a language are everywhere, and students can use this to learn. Teachers can probably build that intrinsic motivation by introducing the country's culture to the student. By doing so, the student might want to learn the language to understand culture more.
DeleteSophia, I definitely see your point on the other side of entertainment. Teachers can use technology to their advantage to show student's culture like you suggested. This could cause a deep intrinsic motivation such as Ortega (2013) discusses. The apps and videos could be a way to get the students engaged in learning on their own where they want to go home and continue watching videos. I have a friend who became intrinsically motivated to learn Korean simply from watching Youtube videos. She began to learn about their culture and became fascinated with it. This drove her to be intrinsically motivated and now she speaks Korean, even though she came from a English speaking family. Teachers can use pop culture and entertainment in a unique way to get the students interested in learning.
DeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Rutledge.
Hey Sophia! Thank you for sharing your interview with us. Your teacher, Mrs. Toy-Ng has brought up some very interesting points regarding ELLs. You mentioned that a particular student was not shy to speak in English, while there were many other ELLs who were shy and did not want to speak in English as much. “SLA researchers compared children and adults’ L2 learning rate in second language environments, the findings unexpectedly were suggestive of an advantage for adults over children” (Ortega, 2013, 16). Just like your teacher mentioned, with age and confidence, students are more prone to speak and not be as shy and because of this, they are able to acquire L2 at a faster rate than those younger.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. (2013). Understanding second language acquisition. London: Routledge.
Hi Kani! I agree with the point that older ELLs tend to have more confidence at times. A child may grow to become more confident as well once they have practiced the language more. I remember when I was younger, I was always really shy and tended not to talk to my grandparents in Chinese because I was worried it was wrong. However, I continued to learn Chinese, and getting older and building my knowledge really boosted my confidence in learning. Because of this, my rate of learning a second language snowballed and it turned me into how fluent I am today. In the end, the most important part about learning a language is practice. This not only is beneficial to the language skill but also the student's self confidence level.
DeleteKani, I have seen this in my own classroom where some of my ELL students are very shy and hardly participate and others have no shame participating. One student in particular is always asking questions and is quick to say what he doesn't understand. Where some of my other ELL students you would never know that they did not understand the entire lesson. I can see Ortega (2013) point that adults have an advantage over children because adults tend to have more confidence in themselves (pg. 16). In my own classroom I hope to have one where students feel confident and comfortable even when they get things wrong. This way they are able to practice.
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