The Student With Spanish As A Teacher

Some students are fortunate enough to be offered English as a Second Language classes (abbreviated ESL) or bilingual programs in school. Sandy Yanes, a third grade

Use graphic organizers to introduce important information, to solicit prior knowledge from students, and to make predictions.

Chris can speak very well and can project his emotions into his words without any problems. He tends to use English as his primarily language understanding English better than he does Spanish. He responds to his parents questions in English when they ask in Spanish. This is a positive tendency as stated, “Children engage in code switching without violating the grammar of either language. Rather than a sign of confusion, code switching is adaptive, reflecting deliberate control of the two languages” (Bhatt & Bolonyal, 2011). As for studying, he keeps up with his academics and maintains his grades at the B grade level. He studies for about an hour, skimming over the lessons that he learned that day. He does only what is expected of him and does not seem to be interested in advancing his skills.

The curriculum for English-Spanish Learners (ESL) or English-Language Learners, was created to assist students who do not speak any or little English. Angela Valenzuela describes in her article, “Subtractive Schooling, Caring Relations, and Social Capital in the Schooling of U.S.~Mexican Youth,” that

A variety of communication media can be considered when planning to produce a presentation, for example verbal communication and written communication, each type of communication media has its advantages and limitations. When developing my presentation I decided to use both verbal and written communication, although both communication methods were used I had to ensure that they were used in the correct quantities. To keep my presentation engaging I tried to use as much visual representation as possible limiting the amount of text per slide. I chose to use PowerPoint because of its combination of written and verbal communication (not to mention the cost effectiveness of choosing PowerPoint and simplistic interface); the written aspects included the text on the slides, screenshots and images. The screenshots proved particularly useful as they was of the actual database used in the daily running of the Apprenticeships Store, once paired with the demonstration of inputting data into the database it ensured greater understanding due to more practical learning as opposed to theoretical learning. More detail was provided in my handouts ensuring I didn’t give too much information at once and this allowed the audience to document any supplementary information I said during the presentation, by speaking and interpreting what was on the slides ensured the presentation remained fluid and

A slideshow or power point presentation can create a visual representation for teaching about similarities and differences between adjectives used to describe people. Or showing pictures of characters in a novel will help the students put an image to a written discretion that may not have been able to create with word only. This can also be used for other aspect within a novel like a setting, plot, themes, and symbols to meet the language objectives and the core content objectives.

• Test scores comparing ELL students and native speakers of English as well as number of ELL students identified as requiring special education services

The school system do not take in consideration that ELL students not only have a language barrier that prevent them from performing on the standardized tests, but that they are transitioning from a completely different learning environment. ELL students are also classified as poor academic performers because of their language barrier. This language barrier explain the academic achievement gaps between ELL students and native english-speaking students. The test scores are not sufficient proof to argue that ELL students have a gap in academic achievement. This is questionable to the validity of the standardized tests on ELL students.(Youth)

I gave verbal instruction in the form of reading the detail on the PowerPoint slides and further emphasising the main points by verbally expanding further when required. I used the investigator pack visual aid to reinforce the spoken word and in conjunction with the PowerPoint slides listed the contents within it. Each item was shown to the learners in turn with discussion taken place about the use of each item. I assessed that this would be the most appropriate method of introducing these items as giving the items to the learners within the classroom environment may have led to a loss of control within the classroom and would have allowed the learners to see the items during the planned assessment later in the session.

By 7th and 8th grade Luis was placed in ELD to re-enforce his English. Throughout those years Luis dedicated continuous hours of studying, reading and practicing. Luis studied countless number of hours, stayed after school with his teachers, was part of after school tutoring programs and hired a private tutor at some point.

Hispanic ELLs students will be tested on their reading and on phonemics. The teacher will give the test to students individually because the teacher needs to hear the student read. The student will be given a book based on their reading level. The book will contain a picture and small amount of words. The picture is a way for students to make connections with the words, but there will be times where the student will not able to make the connections. Pictures are a visual for students so they could associate vocabulary words (Vacca-Ricopoulos & Nicoletti, 2009, p. 70). Once the student starts to read the book the teacher will use a timer to determine how long it took the student to read the book. Once the reading part is over, the teacher will ask the students questions regarding the book. The teacher will have a graded formatted sheet and that sheet will contain information based on the student’s reading capacity and understanding of the book.

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.

PowerPoint’s ease of communication and efficiency make it attractive in a classroom, but centralizes control with teacher and promotes passivity among students by objectifying knowledge. Its simple structure and visual “arousal” work to capture and easily transmit the material to the audience. Generally, a presentation is done by one or several individuals to a group of students, whom sit back, scrolling through Facebook, superficially receiving the content without truly digesting it. Essentially, a PowerPoint presentation centralizes control of the class in the hands of the presenter (often the teacher) “to passive receivers (the students)”. Teaching pre-packaged information without allowing for critical thinking is merely undermining and objectifying the knowledge. Teachers are so enthralled by this new technology they miss how their educational system remains stagnant, continuing as the banking model.

The second language learner that I have chosen to assess in my case study is an international student from Korea who is now attending year 11 and does the ESL course at my school, the Hills Grammar School. I will refer to my student with the name ‘John’ for confidentiality reasons.

My advent into the professional field of teaching took place in 2013 when I completed my course of study at the University of the West Indies. Upon completion of my undergraduate degree in Spanish with a minor in International Relations, it was my intention to work in the Tourism Sector or with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, fate would have it otherwise. Months of relentless job seeking in the desired areas proved unsuccessful. The chance drop off of an application letter at an educational institution with no known vacancies, was what actually proved fruitful. Being a foreign language teacher was not my first choice, it had not even been considered as a possible option. I did not attend teacher’s college, had not taken any education courses while at the university and knew nothing about teaching. Nevertheless, I stepped into the classroom by faith.