Entry 1- Hello.
My name is Axa Moreno. I was raised in a primarily Spanish speaking household. Both of my parents are Spanish only speakers so I have been speaking the language since I was a little girl. This made learning English a little hard, but I had teachers and other people in my life that helped me understand the language a little easier.
Learning a second language first hand has made me more aware of how to help other ELL students that I interact with on a daily basis. In addition to this course, I have taken other courses that deal with ELL. By taking these classes I have been able to make connections to my own learning as well as my teaching skills. I hope to incorporate the ways that I learned a second language as well as new skills in my own classroom.
This video goes more in depth about me personally and academically, enjoy!
Hello Wreath. https://goo.gl/images/A1UKa9
Entry Video 1
Hi Axa, it’s great to know you. I like your choices of backgrounds for your slides, and also your choice to tutor kids in the after school programs on evenings. It will be most interesting to know someone whose first language is my second language, especially since your parents were born in their native country where they learned Spanish. I see that you got the firsthand experiences from family members to acquire your first language skills, which is important for our students to learn also. I certainly agree that everyone should have the same opportunity for a quality education, no matter where they came from, or their status in life. I further agree with you that one can better learn a second language when he or she can put into practice what was learned, in an actual conversation. You will be a great ELL teacher.
ReplyDeleteHey Susan,
DeleteThank you for complementing my slides I appreciate it! I did learn Spanish, as Ortega stated, in a naturalistic way. Growing up in a native Mexican environment is what led to my classroom philosophy. I would see how some of my family members who did not learn English miss out on educational opportunities.
Hey Axa, I enjoyed getting to know more about you ! In your video you mentioned that in your bilingual classroom it was mostly worksheets and workbook activities in which you would write a lot in English with minimal speaking practices within the classroom. According to Stephen Krashen, we acquire language when we understand messages and what we read, which he calls "comprehensible input". If teachers make their classroom instruction comprehensible, then not only will the ESL students learn the subject content but they will be acquiring English at the same time.
ReplyDeleteAs you completed your worksheets did you understand what you were doing or even writing? How do you think the worksheets effected you as a student, were they effective?
The English language is complex. I'm fluent and I still find myself misconstruing the language.Did you all go over the your completed work? From experience I know that it is possible for incorrect language production to become "fossilized" so that students continue to use the same incorrect structures when they grow up. In a situation such as yours, I think if teachers are employing worksheets they need to make sure the students actually understand what they are doing , how they are doing it, with effective feedback at the end, therefore learning still takes place.
Hey Aundria,
DeleteWhen it came to using worksheets I think they did not help at all. They were just busy work and I knew it so I would never pay attention or put much effort when it came to completing them. Stephen Krashen states how important understanding is to learning, and these worksheets did not help me with comprehension of a new knowledge. As for incorrect language production becoming fossilized in my vocabulary, I did experience that. Sometimes I would have trouble translating words so to this day I translate those words incorrectly.
Hi Axa,
ReplyDeleteI think it is amazing how you are able to balance school and work, and even find the time to work in an after school program helping students with bible study, tutoring, and their homework. I think that will add on to your experience with working with students, and it’s a great way to get even more involved in your students’ lives. I can relate to you in that I am also a bilingual student and English was my second language. I also speak Vietnamese regularly at home when I am with my parents and family. As opposed to you being put in a bilingual class, I was put in an immersion classroom where all instruction was in English and I had to take the time out of my regular class days to see an ESL instructor. I am curious as to when you actually became fluent in the English language and how long it took you. I had to take ESL in the 2nd and 3rd grade for an hour or two almost every day of the week until I became fluent. According to your oral skills in your video, and your writing skills in your blog, I can really tell that you are indeed fluent in the English language. I think that maybe we both learned English during the “critical” period for learning in which, “the brain exhibits a special propensity to attend to certain experiences in the environment (for example, language) and learn from them” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 13).
Hey Jenny,
DeleteI think it’s really great that you are bilingual too. I think I really learned English well when I was in the 3rd grade. I took bilingual classes in pre-k and kindergarten, and then in 1st I was put in an all English classroom. I also had my older siblings who knew English and they would help me as well. Just like Ortega mentions, I think we learned English at a critical period. Sine we were young and our brains and language skills were still developing, we were able to learn a new language a little easier than an adolescent or teenager would have.
Hey Axa,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed watching your video and learning about your experiences with other languages. I liked hearing that you serve as a translator at your school, I feel like that is beneficial to you because it helps you continue to learn English and Spanish.
One topic you brought up in your video that caught my attention was how you think people should learn a new language. I completely agree with what said, stating that the best way to learn a new language is to put it in practice or speak it the language as much as possible. I think this is a great strategy because speaking the language will help you become more fluent. When I was trying to learn Spanish in middle school I didn’t have very many opportunities to speak the language and in turn my Spanish speaking skills did not develop. So, I think this strategy would be great to implement in the classroom. Great post!
Hey Shawn,
DeleteI completely agree with you that being a translator has helped both my English and Spanish skills a lot. It’s a bummer that you could not learn Spanish when you were in middle school. I think if you had more naturalistic ways to practice it, as Ortega mentioned, you might have learned the language a little better. I hope you still try to learn the language in the future!
You have a really busy life. Me parece súper que hable español. Me pregunto por qué no está en el programa de certificación bilingüe siendo que hay tanta necesidad de profesoras en esta área. ¿Hay alguna razón para esto?
ReplyDeleteHola Profesor Avellaneda,
DeleteSi quiero ser una profesora de bilingue pero no queria tomar mas clases, entonces namas voy a tomar el examen para mi certificacion.