The Person That I Interviewed

In the roughly eleven-minute interview with my client, Alex, we discussed her need for case management services. She established her concerns that she wanted to address with me, as well as her current status in education, living arrangements, social supports, along with her history in the same areas. We also began to discuss (informally) the goals that she intends to reach with help of my services and other services she may be referred to. During the process, I learned about Alex’s strength and resilience. I also learned a lot about myself as an interviewer.

For my interview project I interviewed a counselor named Cristina Kleinfelter who works at Pottsgrove Middle School with 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. Her and a colleague split 400 students in the school and meet with each one of their 200 assigned students when needed. She sees students when she goes to the classroom to teach social skills, and help with college. They both have a mixed population of students they work with whether it be students from broken homes, good homes, etc. She has her Master’s Degree in Counseling and is certified in school counseling, she has been in this field for 14 years so far. She works with the 8th graders the most, with their high school schedules, she explains to them how to pick classes and how to apply to

For my interview, I interviewed my family friend Sandi Mahoney that has her masters in social work. She attended Umass Amherst for her bachelor 's degree and then she attended Framingham State for her masters. Currently, Mahoney works as a therapist at her own private practice. My first impression of the agency was it was a small building. I did not feel overwhelmed going into the building because how small it was and I knew exactly where to go. There was a secretary that was in the waiting room and she was very friendly to me. The waiting room was also very welcoming. There were pictures of happy families all over the waiting room. There was also a play area for children. If I was a client here, I would feel very comfortable talking and telling Sandi Mahoney what was on my mind.

When I first found out about this assignment I was a little anxious because I didn 't know whom I would interview or how my request would be received. As I consider my options I thought it would be best to interview someone that could offer me some insight as to what it is like to be an elementary or junior high school counselor, which are the two age groups that I would most like to work with. With this in mind, I decided to interview one of my son 's past guidance counselors. This is a woman that I have admired since the first day that I met her. In talking with her I found her to be a very knowledgeable, caring, and open person. She has been in the helping profession for over twenty years and working as a guidance counselor since 1999.

Born in the state of California to two Mexican parents my primary language was Spanish. My parent believed that learning English would be second nature because of the environment around me. It was extremely important to them as their first born to know the language that was inherent to me by the blood that runs in my veins. Therefore, when the time came to get enrolled into school my mother opted out for English only thought classes. It wasn’t until Mrs. Ledezma my third grade teacher suggested to my mother that it would be a benefit to transition into in all English class. She specifically said “A Spanish class such as mine is for children that are just arriving from other countries and do not know the English language, your daughter was privilege to be born here. Don’t take away an opportunity to

Whenever she receives an email from any of the teachers she usually replies it and asks questions related to what she could not understand (e.g.: Teacher, what does Rgds mean?) Although she is very motivated, during the lessons she prefers to be nominated for activities. Whenever talking to the teacher, she often asks for feedback and after making a mistake, she tries to say it again until she feels she understood it.

I would advise Carolyn to study the makeup of our changing nation and evidence of this as seen in our neighborhoods. She should make an effort to learn more about the new cultural groups moving into the community and school so that she is informed and better able to serve the changing community. It’s not enough just to know which groups comprise the community, but she should learn the customs and provide communication in different languages as well. However, it’s not just Carolyn that needs to make this effort, her staff needs to do the same and purposely include all groups within the school atmosphere. The knowledge that the school leaders are willing to make an extra effort to learn about different cultural groups, new students, and their

The challenges he faced during his transition from the Spanish Language to English. The challenges you will face with starting a new routine or “Life change” to fit into today’s society. Even though he had his family to share his language with, He was almost trapped in the American society with not being able to communicate. Getting the awareness out about his views on Bilingual Education and share his story on how it affected him in the beginning. That even by teaching children in their home language sounds like a great idea, you are just taking away from their ability to learn. He had something special by being able to understand Spanish after losing the ability to speak it. But that just gave him something over his classmates. I do believe he achieves his point. Education is a huge part of our lives. Yes, believing a child will do better in school using

The first student that I conducted the lesson with was a girl I named Shiloh. Shiloh was an eight-year girl that was in the second grade, but would be entering in the third grade in the coming Fall. Her mother explained that she was an ESOL level two student. She was born in America, but both parents are Hispanic. The father is Cuban and the mother is from Venezuela. At home Shiloh’s family mainly communicates in Spanish. Shiloh’s mother explained that she wanted her daughter to speak Spanish at home because she does not want her to not learn Spanish or forget “where she comes from.” As I learned in TSOL I many parents do this this because they do not want their child

My group chose to elicit information from a Georgian speaker. I really enjoyed sitting in on the session and getting the opportunity to ask questions about her language and culture. The speakers name was Larisa and she was born in Georgia. She came to America when she was in her 30’s. Larisa attended college while in Georgia and studied English in school. Her mother’s friend offered her an opportunity to travel to America with her daughter who did not speak English. Larisa took that chance and came to America. I know personally, I would find it really hard to get up and leave my family. I could only imagine the struggle she had coming to a new place not knowing anyone. Luckily, she found an agency that provided her with work. This gave her the opportunity to get a job, which a lot of English language learners do not have the luxury of doing.

The person whom I've decided to interview for this interview project is Julie. I have known her and her family for the majority of my life. So, I thought that she would be an excellent candidate for the project. Already being very comfortable with one another we could have a good informal interview after dinner one night, which is just what we did. She was born and raised here in Greeley, Colorado, in the United States; she is of mixed racial, ancestry, Mexican American and Caucasian, she is currently thirty-one year's old. The oldest of four daughters, and has been married to her husband for ten year's now, he is of Caucasian ancestry, they have no children themselves. Last year she was finally promoted to the general manager of a different

seemed to knock down gender roles. Throughout my interview with her, a major theme that

In Esperanza’s case study we were able to see a snip of what is like to be an ELL student in a School. Also, we were able to see some challenges that seasonal “farm workers children” students have to face when they are in school. Seasonal students are transfer from school to school as their parents move to different parts of the United States for work reasons. In the majority of the cases this students transfer school 2-3 times in one school year and they lack English language proficiency. The main reason for this is because many parents do not speak English themselves and the only language children hear at home is their native language. In Esperanza’s case we can see that she has been moving from schools for at least four times and she is only in first grade, she also cannot speak English because she hasn’t been expose to the language outside school. Lastly you can see that her parents are really busy at work that her sister has to take charge of many things at home including enrolling her in school.

The ladies in the group are between 22 and 45 years of age. Four of them are mothers, except for one and none of them have grandchildren to date. All are Latino and all are U.S. citizens. Four have Mexican roots, but were born in this country, and the fifth group member was born in Puerto Rico and has been in Chicago for 20 years. Everyone is bilingual, but the woman from Puerto Rico still struggles with her English at times. It is the opinion of the other members of the group that she has a command of the English language, but she lacks confidence both when speaking and listening in English. The group was held entirely in English, but the group members were careful to ensure she was able to participate as actively as everyone else. All but one group participant was the first member of their family to attend college. Everyone in the group has families, and no one has any identifiable disabilities. No special needs of any kind other than the perceived language barrier were identified for this group.

The learner I have chosen for my focus assignment is a woman of Nepalese origin, she is in her early 30’s and she came to this country over 2 years ago as an economic migrant. She lives with her with family in London and is currently studying ESOL a Greenwich Community College.