CUIN 4361

For my teacher interview I interviewed Lena Hernandez. She is a teacher at Gonzales High School in Gonzales, Texas. Lena teaches Spanish 2, 3, and 4 AP, and is also the English Language Learners chair at her school. She believes that you have to get to learn your students before you are able to teach them, making the connection is vital. Once the connection has been made there is a variety of methods that you can use, some of them include using signs around the room and also using hand motions when working with English Language Learners. I believe that these are good methods to use when trying to teach a second language to someone so that they are able to make the connection with what they are learning to a visual. Being able to see a fork and then learn the word fork in another language helps make a connection in your mind so that you are able to learn better, but not everyone may be a visual learner. Please watch my video to see what Lena suggests and recommends when it comes to ELL ...

For this interview I choose to interview a close friend of mine, Monica Medina. She was born in Houston, Texas but Spanish was her first language. Monica did not begin speaking English until she was in the fourth grade meaning she was a late bilingual. To learn a second language is a difficult task for anyone, but someone to go through the public school system for 4 years speaking Spanish then have to begin not only learning another language, but also learning in another language is a task. Lucky for Monica she is a quick learner and was able to pick up on the new language rapidly. She also had a good teacher guiding her threw her language learning process which made it easier for her to be able to pick up on her English. Though at home they mainly speaking Spanish, through interactions at school with friends and teachers she was able to the English language to her vocabulary. Wright says that " All classrooms are language environments, and language is at the heart of teaching and...

Hi my name is Nayab Vapiwalla, I am currently a senior at the University of Houston. I grew up in a bilingual household but was not bilingual myself until I was about 12-13 years old. Being able to speak more than one language gives some people an advantage in the work force. In high school unlike a normal student, I decided to take American Sign Language, though it is not as resourceful as Spanish might have been I feel that it has helped me, and going into education it is still going to be beneficial. Learning another language is difficult, and takes quite a bit of time, especially when you do not have someone guiding you through. Since I taught myself Hindi, I understand the struggles of not having guidance in learning a new language. With English language learners you need to have ample time and patience and understand that each person learns at their own pace.  Click here to watch my video