Student Language Assessment Essay

In comparison to the approximately 1,000 Stanford undergraduates and graduate students I have taught Spanish to over my many years at Stanford, Jacob is outstanding. I can unhesitatingly say that Jacob is among the top three students I have ever encountered at Stanford.

In order to be effective and affective educators we need to understand how the new culture will affect them and why. Educators must understand that children are always affected by the perceptions and cultural acceptance of their parents. Parents can choose to assimilate or isolate themselves in the new community. This move is detrimental in the ELL attitude towards their new cultural surroundings.

The English language is particularly complex in almost all aspects. Many of the words in the English language have different meanings for the same word. This is not unlike the definition of the different levels of usage. McCrimmon defines the three levels, formal, moderate, and colloquial, by their sentence structure, diction, and tone (McCrimmon 193). ¹ Using McCrimmon’s definitions, authors can determine what type of writing is applicable to each of the three levels. For the formal writings, an adequate example of where readers can find it is in a professional journal, and an appropriate place to find an example of the moderate level is in a weekly news magazine. Also, the best place to look for an example of the colloquial level is in certain sections of the newspaper. All of the levels of usage apply to these different types of writings and assist in defining what each level involves.

A first year student has greatly been influenced and encouraged by being surrounded by peers like her culturally.

She did this based on a belief that it would help ELLs and non-ELLs alike. The students in the second class reported that classmates were “friendly and nice” and the teacher “likes other cultures.” The results of this study indicate the very important role that a teacher plays in creating and modeling an atmosphere where ELLs are accepted, encouraged and participatory in a learning community.

Having the opportunity to have worked with diverse students has opened my eyes to the importance of learning about different cultures, their beliefs and practices. Being aware and learning about the different cultures my students came from helped me from misinterpreting certain behavior displayed by the students. In order to do this the first thing a teacher should learn is that everyone has different ways of culturally adapting to a new country, while some are able to fully assimilate, others undergo the process of selective acculturation or embrace enculturation (Coleman, 2013).

I set up an interview with his parents to discuss his progress and find out some information about David. A translator will be needed due to his parents not speaking English. I’ve asked the parents how David’s behavior is at home and how his attitude is towards his school work. I also asked his parents how he reacts when asked about his classmates and school in general. Is he excited to go to school? Does he like learning? Does he have any friends he talks to? After this, I discussed how David is in class including his behavior. He tries to participate sometimes in school and just sits quietly at times. I have noticed him trying to work harder and understand certain material. He will try to reply when spoken to in his best ability. When he is in a group whether it’s playing or working on a project he will attempt to converse with the others.

All three come together to persuade and audience because they appeal to the heart and the mind. People don’t make decisions with just one or the other, so this creates maximum persuasive effect. These

I chose my immigrant participant from a personal perspective, yet not knowing much about him. Last year, my first year teaching, I had a little boy in my class that was Latino, very shy and quite. He struggled in reading and writing and after meeting with his parents and ESOL teacher several times, the decision was made to retain him in first grade. His parents, especially dad was hesitant about the decision, and began to tell small glimpses of how his son was very much like him, shy, and scared to reach out because of the language barrier. There was never much elaborated on, but I could tell that dad had possibly been in a similar situation before. This year, I was lucky enough to have this same child in my first grade class again. After receiving

Teachers must learn about their student’s cultures if they want to educate them to the best of their ability. Many of the students in culturally diverse classrooms will want to learn in different ways. Some will want to learn in pairs, groups, as a class, or just alone. If the teacher is educated in their culture then lessons can be adjusted to appeal to every student as much as possible instead of forcing some to forget about their culture and learn like others. Students from

S. school system despite speaking, reading and writing English. The classroom environment was foreign. Not only did I need to learn academic content, I had to learn the cultural nuances as well. I remember feeling overwhelmed and sometimes overburdened. The use of pictures, artifacts, diagrams and video clips during lessons help to some extent, even so, the study “suggests three ways that teachers can enhance knowledge construction of ELL students: (1) Teachers should take time to understand the cultures of their ELL students, (2) Teachers should be open to new possibilities of meaning, and (3) Teachers should take time to listen to the storylines each ELL student brings into the classroom learning environment” (Strickland, 2012, pp.

Immigrant students are among the fastest growing populations in American public schools. “The lives of secondary level immigrant students are extremely complex because they undergo change in many dimension in their lives at once. Not only are they grappling with obvious cultural and linguistic differences, but they must learn the institutional culture of school in order to be successful” (Pam McCollum, Ph.D. and Juanita García, M.A.) When students immigrate at school age, some of them go through the transitioning process with little to no issues. However, there are many who face issues in regards to cultural adaptations and social interactions. As David B. Tyack states in his text, ‘The One Best System,’ “challenges like Americanization of

My Cuban background has had a profound effect throughout my life, despite the negative stigma many people have sadly associated with it. Both of my parents immigrated to the United States when they were young, so I have grown up with stories of how hard my grandparents had to work to adjust to a culture and language they were completely foreign to. Because they had to overcome so many obstacles to get where they are today, they have instilled a work ethic and determination in me that I believe is why I have been so successful in my academics and extracurriculars. I have always been taught that education is the most important facet of my adolescent years, and thus I comprehend its importance and strive for academic perfection. Furthermore, as

This worked out as best as it could, just by talking to Angie and getting to know her, it opened my eyes to the world and different cultures. However, not all my classmates were not as welcome to Angie. One student would make snarky comments about her broken English, and constantly mention that she should learn English if she wants to live here. This student and I shared different views on immigration and politics. Even though Angie didn’t understand him or hear her comments I would defend her. I would constantly mention to the student on how hard she is trying to learn, and that is putting in more work in school than he was. This would always make the student be quiet for a day, until the next day when she said something to him during dodgeball. I would constantly have to make him open his mind to here, and be patient as she is new to the United States of America. As our world is constantly torn apart by politics, it is important to be kind and show love to the immigrants that come to the US. If I was put in a similar situation again today, I wouldn’t respond any

Over the summer, I was able to observe an ELL students through the children’s Sunday school at my church. I work Sunday school about once a month and I have had the pleasure of working with James, who was born in Mexico and moved to Florida when he was 6 months old. He is 8 years old now and has come so far since he moved here. The church I go to is also a school so James was a student there as well. When I spoke to James he did not seem any different from the other students. Since he has practically lived in Florida his whole life, he understood and spoke English pretty well. His parents only spoke Spanish though, so he still spoke Spanish with them.