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Course Reflection

As the semester ends, I will reflect on what I have learned and give a basic understand of what one can gain from this Second Methodology course.  My understanding of ELL students has expanded. I have learned about ELLs in my Language Acquisition class last semester, so I was familiar with some of the terms. This semester I feel like I dug deeper into the world of English language learners and what it means to be a teacher with a population in her classroom. It has reinforced my understanding of what students need in the classroom like pictures to go along with directions, anchor charts, and different cooperative learning strategies. What will stay with me the most is the need for cultural sensitivity and celebration. Multicultural education is one topic that has impacted my learning the most. This is because I can see in the elementary classrooms (most schools) that it is only provided at the first level of contribution rather than the later levels of additive, transformative, a...
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ESL Specialist Interview

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I interviewed Angela Criswell, an ESL specialist at Horn elementary in Alief. Her school has a very large English language learner population. She explained that her school has two ESL specialists as well as other support staff like two ESL paras to help with pull-outs when the students enter second grade and begin their transition to classes without Spanish content. This school is culturally sensitive, providing programs that promote biculturalism and biliteracy by valuing the students first language (Wright, 2015, p. 114). According to Angela these programs include duel language and bilingual education. I failed to ask what type of bilingual education program the school offers but based on the interview a timeline of two years and that certain subjects were taught in the home language and others not, I would say that it is a transitional bilingual education program. Unfortunately, according to Wright (2015) this type of bilingual program still focuses on assimilation because t...
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Blog Entry 2

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Hi! Thanks for viewing my second CUIN 4361 blog post! I interviewed my friend Lucas Gonzalez. He and his family moved from Avellaneda, Argentina to Richmond, Texas when Lucas was six years old. His household was a Spanish speaking household, but both his parents could speak English. Lucas’s journey to learn the English language in the American education system was typical of its time. Meaning that there was not much support in place for students entering school who did not already speak English. Yes, there were policy and strategies put in place, but I think that often the policy did not meet practice. Lucas intimated that in his first classroom experience all instruction was taught in English without any consideration to his native language. Wright (2015) calls this, “A submersion approach by placing an ELL in a mainstream classroom where there is no ESL instruction, no sheltered instruction, and no PLS” (p. 111). I can understand how he must have felt. He was in a new countr...
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Blog Entry 1

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Hello! I cannot wait to see what this semester has in store for me. Thanks for visiting my first blog!
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