Interview with a Teacher
Hello everyone,
Welcome back to my Vblog. In this Vblog, I had the opportunity to interview Mrs. Reyna, a bilingual Pre-K teacher at Morales Elementary. I am a student teacher at Morales Elementary and my class is in right in front of Mrs. Reyna. From across the hall I can see how dedicated Mrs. Reyna is to her students. I love that she takes her time with them and that she is patient.
Throughout the interview, I asked Mrs. Reyna questions about her ELL students to get a deeper insight on being an ELL teacher.
Here is the interview link
*she requested her face wasn't shown*
One of the questions I asked Mrs. Reyna was, "Do you enjoy working with ELL's and why?". Mrs. Reyna's answer to this was that she see herself in them because she comes from a similar background. I can relate to this because I feel the same way. I practice my Spanish just to ensure that I am able to communicate and help those that don't speak English. As Wright (2019) says, "Teachers as agent of socialization" as someone who can respect their home language and culture can be most effective. Mrs. Reyna knowing the language and "seeing herself" in the students is very helpful because this way she can effectively teaching her ELL's.
Another thing, I can relate to is when I asked "What advice would you give a future ELL teacher?" and her response was to be compassionate and considerate of your students. I can relate because of my own background when learning English, if it wasn't for Mrs. Flores who was kind and patient with me, I don't know how long it would have taken me to actually learn the language.
Overall, the big takeaway from this is being able to understand who your student is and being respectful of where they come from. They are already in a new setting and learning a new language, things are already stressful enough and being a teacher who has no compassion or respect for them will not be effective to the. I have always considered in my classroom management plan that building connection with your students will be one of the most effective tools you can use.
Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2019. Print. Third Edition.
