Blog 15

Short Analysis Essay

Short Analysis Essay <--Link

            Imagine being placed somewhere that is totally out of your comfort zone or element and not be able to communicate with the people around you. This is one of the greatest challenges that English as a Second Language (ESL) students face every day. In some cases, these students are unable to communicate with their teachers and peers. Not only do ESL students have to learn the language, they also have to learn to adapt to the new culture. ESL students are not the only ones who face challenges in the classrooms, their teachers do as well. I interviewed a kindergarten ESL teacher (C) in hopes to get a better understanding of the challenges faced by an ESL teacher and ESL students a in the classroom. After conducting the interview I realized that the these ESL students actually face the same issues as their peers do.

SOCIAL

            After carefully analyzing this excerpt, the teacher expresses how are students interact enough to be able to tattle on another student. This also goes to show that they must socialize enough with all the other students to feel comfortable enough to tell the teacher on them. However, we do see that these students are in kindergarten and spend every day together, so they are bound to eventually get along and feel comfortable with the English native speaking students.

M    Can you describe your students and how they interact with one another and how they interact with non-ESL students.

C    A My students are of various different cultural backgrounds. I have Haitian students, Chinese students, I have Portuguese, Brazilian, Spanish students. But the students that I pull out are students that are in two separate groups and they are from the same classes—two classes combined. For both group of students that I have so they know each other, they interact with each other. Some were in Pre-K class together last year. They…… can you ask me the question again please. *** laughs****(in this verse she tried her best to take control and dominate the question but then she needed the question repeated and she was not ashamed to ask)

M      ***laughs*** How do your students interact with one another and how do they interact with non-ESL students—so do they like stick together amongst themselves or do they talk to the non-ESL students?

C       They talk to all the other non-ESL students as well and they talk to each other when they are in class together. They get along pretty well together, you know they are five year-olds, they are kindergarten students so they tend to tattle and just have regular things that other kindergarten students who are not ESL students do. Even the ones who can’t speak English that well, they still manage a way to tattle. (MELANIE laughs)Or to tell me that something is wrong. They can figure it out. They can get their point across when they need to. (Here we see the teacher gives her students enough space to allow them to be independent and develop social skills on their won without her having to overlook their every move)

LEARNING

            One of the most frustrating struggles an ESL student may face in the classroom is to follow instructions that are given to them in a language they do not fully understand. When the teacher gives them the assignment, the students must be able to read and understand the English literature that is given to them. Unfortunately, this may be difficult to do so if they do not fully understand the English language. In this excerpt I analyze how the teacher helps her students overcome this challenge.

M     How do your students overcome their struggles, do they ask you for help, do they look at someone else’s paper, or do they sit there until the teacher acknowledges them? So this can be in their regular classroom too.

C       Most of the students do copy and I let them, at the beginning. I let them copy because they are doing something, they are not just sitting there.. And when I know they can do the work as the year progresses, I tell them “It’s time to stop copying, I know you can do your own work and you need to focus on what you can do.” (She is allowing them to take control of the situation but she is still there to monitor how much control they are actually taking.)And yes, some of them do—each student is different. Some of them ask for help, and some of them will just sit there and cry. I have had both. So it depends on the child.

            We see that the teacher gives her students their independence again as she allows them to resolve their own issues and once she feels that they are stable she ensures them that they are capable of completing their own work.

HOME ENVIROMENT

ESL students do not have control of their recourses, and unfortunately they are not incharge of their home situation. It can become very difficult if an ESL student does not have anyone who speaks English in their home. This can be a great challenge between the parent and the teacher. However, this teacher makes great uses of her resources and actually tells parents to not speak English in their home because that will actually effect their child's learning in a negative way. The teacher creates a balance for the student where they learn English only at school and do their school work in their native language. This way students are able to differentiate the proper phonics of each language without mixing them together. This will result in the student speaking poorly in both languages.

M    If a student doesn't have anyone who speaks the English language at home, does it make it more difficult for the student to learn the new language?

C        It can. Especially if there isn't anyone who can help the parents themselves. And help them translate and communicate with the school. We have that as well. It’s difficult for them to communicate with the school and teach them. But I always tell the parents to speak their language with the children because it reinforces what they have learned and they can understand their principals and the concepts better if they explain it to them in the home language “OHH, that’s what the teacher meant” if they’re talking about dinosaurs, whatever. The parents ”Oh, yes, I remember learning about dinosaurs in my home language—this, this, that’s what the teacher meant.” So it reinforces the concept. So I always tell parents “please speak to your child in your home language and don’t try to speak to them in English if you don’t speak it correctly.” Because that reinforces poor skills. “So I take care of the English and you take care of your language” that’s what I tell them. (She allows the parents to take control of the situation at home, yet they must follow her advice)