Entry 3: Interview with a Foreign Language Teacher
I interviewed Mrs. Garcia, a
Spanish teacher at Kahla middle School. I found out that Mrs. Garcia went to school
to become a history teacher, but she struggled on the Texas History part of the
content exam. This led her to teach Spanish instead which she is extremely happy
about, and said she is glad things played out the way they did. When reading
out chapters, several things stood out to me that I wanted to talk to Mrs.
Garcia about. First, I was curious whether or not she believed it took a
special kind of person to learn another language. Chapter 7 talks about how
greatly people differ in how fast and how well they acquire an additional
language (Ortega, 2014, p. 145). Mrs. Garcia stated she doesn’t believe it
takes a special kind of person to learn a new language, and that children all
have an equal opportunity. It is about applying themselves.
Another question I wanted to be
sure and ask Mrs. Garcia, was how she gets her students motivated to learn a
new language. Our book talks about motivation and states that it is not only
the desire to learn a new language, but also the energy and effort to sustain
it (Ortega, 2014, p. 168). She mentioned that a part of the motivation is as
simple as it being a challenge. It becomes a requirement in high school to take
a second language class, so taking it early on in middle school can earn them
that credit which is another motivator.
I enjoyed hearing Mrs. Garcia talk
about what students struggle with the most, which is first language
interference. For example, using run on sentences or starting sentences with a
capital. She says rather than go back and forth between language, to instead
just expose them to the new language and just tell them how it is. We also
talked about what she thinks becomes easiest for students. She said because so
many words in the English language or cognates and it becomes easy for students
to make relationships with what they are learning. I also considered this a
motivator because students who are making connections are typically more
motivated to further their learning.
Hi Remy! I really enjoyed watching your interview with Mrs. Garcia. I like how you started your reflection with how she wanted to be a history teacher, but her path was set towards her becoming a Hispanic teacher. Before even thinking about language acquisition, her background story reminded me of how everything happens for a reason, and we should trust that everything will work out in the end! I think that the point she makes about application and how all students should have an equal opportunity is a good point as well. Although I do agree with Ortega who states that children who have trouble in areas such as literacy in their first language will face challenges learning a second language, I think that if all students are given equal opportunities in a classroom setting and us teachers work to build their self-confidence and self-motivation, then the students will all be successful English language learners (Ortega, 2013). Overall, Mrs. Garcia's strategies and beliefs when it comes to teaching a second language seem to be very efficient.
ReplyDeleteHey, Alya! Mrs. Garcia definitely believes that everything turned out the way it did for a reason. Although she still has a passion for history, she told me that she loves being a Spanish teacher and thinks it's for the best. I like how you mentioned her comments about application and equal opportunity, because this is something that stood out to me. Personally, I would think that the students with Spanish speakers at home would have a much greater chance. I agree with what you said about the challenges faced in one language, will be faced in another. Ortega says that the L1 transfer can impact the rate of learner's progress in their L2 acquisition (Ortega, 2013, p.34). The first language interference is also something Mrs. Garcia mentioned, and I agree with her strategies being efficient.
DeleteHey Remy! Your interview was very interesting with Mrs. Garcia. It's truly amazing how life can put you in the place that your meant to be and that seems to be the case with Mrs. Garcia regarding the fact that she wanted to teach History but ended up teaching Spanish. Even though Ortega talks about how it can differ between people on how fast and well they learn a language I believe that every student is capable of learning a second language if they are given the opportunity and have the right kind of motivation. Ortega mentions this in the book as well, how for the most part when there is more oral interaction the students within ESL have more exposure to their L2 and gain confidence as well (Ortega, 2013, pg. 60). So this is a strategy that should be used within her classroom if it's not already done so.
ReplyDeleteHey, Lesley! I completely agree, and I love how things turned out for Mrs. Garcia. She seems to really enjoy being a Spanish teacher and has no regrets with how things panned out for her. I found it very interesting to hear that Mrs. Garcia didn't begin speaking English until she was 10 years old. I think she started right at the cusp of the age ranges discussed by Ortega. Our book says they did a study and students aged 11-17 beginning their second language outperformed children who began learning from ages 8-16 (Ortega, 2013, p.17). So perhaps starting later was beneficial, which would put her students in the same target range. Since students at this age are likely exposed to more oral interaction, I also agree with your strategy having great success in Mrs. Garcia's classroom.
DeleteHi Remy! I really enjoyed watching your interview, you did a great job in formulating relevant questions. I noticed that Mrs. Garcia had the objectives posted on the board behind her in English, I think this is extremely important because with this students are able to visually see and read what their objective for the day is in the English, but then transition it to Spanish, and make sense of it in both languages. In the text, Ortega talks about how integrative motivation is the highest motivation that students in language learning are exposed to (Ortega, p. 171). By posting her objectives in most students dominant language and having them make the connection to it in Spanish truly demonstrates important factors of language integration.
ReplyDeleteHey Jennifer, I also felt that Remy did a great job in formulating relevant questions. I like how you mentioned that the objectives were posted in English and in Spanish. I believe this important for our visual learners. But, while integrative motivation is the highest motivation children are exposed to I believe that the student themselves need to personally invest so regardless if they are posted in both languages, students must have the desire to learn. According to Ortega, "Desire to learn, which can be generally understood as how much personal investment in succeeding in the language people claim for themselves" (Ortega, 2009, p. 170)2
Delete