CUIN 4361

Click here to watch my video! Hi everyone! For my third blog, I interviewed my kindergarten teacher! Mrs. Mack has been teaching kindergarten in Galveston ISD for over 25 years. Luckily I have been able to observe Mrs. Mack's classroom for the past three years so a lot of her answers really connected with my previous observations in her classroom as well as the readings from the book. One of the first questions I asked Mrs. Mack was what impact has No Child Left Behind had in her classroom. She mentioned how it forced states to become more accountable for how ELLs were learning English and how it set requirements for states to adopt standards known as ELPS. She believes that making teaching more accountable for what students learn is a good thing and she is glad that GISD started requiring teachers to become ESL certified. Personally, I am very pleased with the fact that NCLB was enacted. According to Wright, "NCLB makes it clear that whatever ELL programs districts choos...

Hello everyone! For this second blog, I interviewed my friend Alejandra who came to the United States from Monclova, Mexico as a toddler. Alejandra started learning English when she started elementary school. As we went through the interview her answers to the questions I asked really started making connections to the scholars' opinions on the same topics. One of the first questions I asked Alejandra was, "when did you start learning English?" She shared that she started learning when her parents enrolled her in pre-kindergarten at the age of four. She proceeded to tell me that at the young age of four she was not completely confident in speaking English and that it was hard for her to "get the words out." This lack of confidence also came from the fact that her parents only spoke Spanish so once she got home from school she didn't speak any English, only at school. With that being said, Alejandra would be considered a sequential bilingual because she ...

English language learners can be found in any school in America. According to Wright, ELLs are an "extremely diverse group who are in the process of attaining proficiency in English as a new, additional language" (2010, page 1). The amount of ELL students in the United States is growing rapidly. Because of this, it is very critical for teachers to be able to accommodate these students appropriately by knowing how to teach these students English properly. The vast amount of ELLs is the reason why all teachers need to be trained accordingly. English language learners are so common now that teachers need to have the skills that will allow them to work effectively with these students. I hope that this course, as well as my future training and experiences in the classroom, will provide me the foundation I need to teach any future English language learner students I have. I believe that all students no matter race, age, or culture deserve the same education as a...