Reflection

Introduction

This course has been a great learning resource for me . I have learned so much about the process of acquiring additional language in just a short period of time . I have to admit prior to taking this course , I was uneducated about the topic of SLA . After taking this course , I have gained so much knowledge about what SLA means. The blogs , videos , and different texts has contribute to my understanding of SLA . I feel this course will definitely impact the way I approach my classroom in the future . Overall , I enjoyed this course so much but there were few things that I believe could have been alter to make this class better.

Things I have learned about SLA:

Stephen Krashen’s idea about comprehensible input has really stuck with me . I believe his theory is absolutely accurate . There is only one way a person can acquire a new language is by understanding the messages that is being presented to them. L1 can influence the way a person approach L2. I learned the positive and negatives things about how L1 speakers can transfer language from L1 to L2. I also learned more about the grammatical misconception . I discovered more about motivation , cognitive ability , and the process of acquiring a new language. (Ortega 2013)

Classroom Blogs
The google blog has been an outstanding resource towards my learning .This resource did not just help me learn about SLA but also enhance my communication skills. Having the opportunity to communicate through online resource has helped me understand SLA in a unique way. The interview videos posted by my fellow colleagues has shaped my perception of SLA .Especially the first blog , I learned so much about my colleagues and their background stories. With the class being so diverse , I had the opportunity to learn from a variety of cultural .The second and third blog has helped me see other people perspectives and experiences . I really enjoyed the third blog because it gave me an inside scoop from a bilingual teacher perceptive which was very important to me. Even though I hated writing comments back to my colleagues, I have learned so much through the mini interactions.

Future classroom

Ortega blueprint about SLA has been very informative .There were enormous things that I will take into consideration when I have my own classroom one day. As classrooms becoming more diverse each day , I learned to be aware of my teaching method and my students cultural.Student learn better when they understand the meaning of what is being presented to them. This means I will be focusing on vocabulary and presenting visuals to my students. Crafting a great lesson plan and classroom environment will be helpful to my students who are acquiring a new language. I will be focusing on this two aspect a lot in the future.

Things that could have been alter

Even though I enjoyed this course there were few things that I believe could have been alter to make this course more beneficial. One thing I believe could have been beneficial is providing short quizzes to help us make connection with the reading.I think small assessment such as quiz can help us be more prepared for test.The blog is a great way of learning but it does not really correlate with the tests that is provided.

Conclusion

Overall , I enjoyed every topic that was presented in this course. I learned so much in just a short period of time . This course is a platform for working with English Language Learners . Having a classroom blog is great resource to build students communication and also exchange knowledge between colleagues without the teacher providing everything. This course has been very informative .

Blog Entry 3

I had a great opportunity to interview , Ms.Macadajes , a University of Houston alumni . Ms.Macadejes graduated from U of H 2014 with her bachelor degree in teaching and learning . She is currently working at Pilgrim Academy as a fourth grade ESL reading teacher . She expressed to me ,that she has been teaching for nearly almost three years now at Pilgrim Academy.  Pilgrim Academy a school that has a high percentage of bilingual students enroll . She stated that over 90 percent of the students that attend the school is bilingual . She had no choice but to alter her teaching method to suit her learners .Ms.Macadajes share a similar trait as her students.  She is also a bilingual individual her own. She grew up and spent majority of her life in the Phillipian. She arrived to the U.S during her late adolescent year right before college.

During the interview , I had chance to understand more about Ms.Macadajes teaching philosophy about working with children that are bilingual . She provided me strategies that she use to attack her learners . She try to motivate her students by using music to capture their attention . She said, using music to teach has been a success so far . She stated, she spent most of the time doing whole group instruction rather than independent work. Her main focus is making sure her students understand the meaning behind each word . She strongly suggested using a lot of model and pictures to build students knowledge .She also described to me , she uses a lot of hand motions and gesture when she teach. According to the video by Stephen Krashen on second language , he discussed the effective way of teaching students to acquire a new  language is using hand gesture and models.He also described the importance of comprehension input (Ortega 2013 pg 60).Both things in which my interviewer agreed to be accurate. Ms.Macadajes stated, that some words are easy for her students to make connection  because of their L1. One of the pattern she see a lot is grammar issues. L2 learners tend to transfer language as they would to use in their L1 . According to Ortega , “L1 fact may accrue both a disadvantage and an advantage for learning the corresponding area in the L2 ( Ortega 2013 pg 43).

Blog entry 2

Interview: For my interview , I decided to meet up with one of my close friend , Nebil Adam . Nebil is currently enroll at the University of Houston . His major is Management information system (MIS) and he is planning to graduate sometime soon. Nebil comes from a very well know country located in East Africa . The country is Ethiopia . Nebil spent his early childhood learning,Amharic, a language that spoken across Ethiopia. This language became his primary language. He did not fully grasp the English language until he was in 5th grade. Nebil and his family migrated to U.S , when he was just 8 years old .Prior coming to the U.S , Nebil shared some great life experience stories with me. I learned that he attend school in Ethiopia . During the interview , he described the similarities and difference between America and Ethiopia school . Nebil was exposed to English at young age . He described to me that his English teacher was native English speaker. With many memories fading away , he remembered being exposed to grammar and vocabulary at young age . He described the teacher using picture to connect meaning. He believe that strategy has help him a lot even when he arrived to the U.S. He was placed in ESL but quickly was removed within year . According to Ortega , " Knowledge of the L1 can often have a positive impact on the rate of L2 learning  ( Ortega 2013 , pg 44)". I think having such great fundamental of his primary language has helped in some way to grasp English at a faster rate . Nebil strongly believe that he still fluent with both languages . The interesting thing he told me that he might not have noticed. At home,they blend English with Amharic to communicate with each other sometimes. He feel more comfortable teaching in English rather than Amharic. After the interview , we shared sometime talking about how ages can play a role to learning a new language . We both argued that Ortega's Idea to be inaccurate . Both of us , learned and developed the language at much faster rate than both of our parents ( Ortega 2013 ).

Blog Entry 1

Introduction 


Hello My name is Emmanuel Ogweta ,

I'm currently in my last semester of undergraduate at the University of Houston . 

My major is Education and I'm working to get my certification to teach math 4th-8th .

I have been at the University of Houston for the last past 2 and half years . 

I started of my education  journey at a little community college called Richland College .  Richland College is located in Dallas ,TX.  During my time in the community college , I discovered myself being indecisive of what major I wanted to do . My mother has always wanted me to become an engineer . So I decided to follow my mother dream to make her happy . First year of college , I started of as a mechanical engineer major . I remember attending my first engineer class in college . The class was not difficult in my eyes. I have always been great in math .I just did not have a passion of pursing this career . Second year of college ,  I decided to switch my major to education . My high school basketball coach  has inspired me to become a future coach one day . In order to become coach , I knew I had to learn more about how kids think .  I thought education is the best major to learn more about kids . When I started taking education course , I fell in love with this major so much . I hope one day to become a basketball coach and a teacher .

ABOUT ME :

  I'm not originally from this country . I migrated to the U.S at the age of 7 . Prior to arriving to U.S , I lived in Egypt for a couple of years . During my time there , I learned how to speak Arabic and also learned a lot about the culture . I was born December 28 , 1994 in Sudan , a country that is neighbor to Egypt . Sudan is located in the east part of Africa . I'm the middle child of the family . I have one older brother and  one younger sister . I'm raised by a hardworking single mother , who has inspired me to believe in hard work . I love playing basketball and hanging out with my friends during my spare time .

Words that describe me :

• Happy
• Humble
• Caring
• Energetic
• Passionate  

Student Teaching : I'm currently in my second semester of student teaching . My placement is at Pilgrim Academy . Pilgrim is part of the Houston independent school district . The school has a huge number of  Hispanic students . I work with 5th graders in a math settting . We have a huge amount of ELL and ESL students in our school . Everyday I learn
something new working with this type of kids . This student teaching experience has really develop me to become an effective teacher one day . 

My philosophy : I learned that learning a new language can be very difficult for people . I learned this through personal reflection and also working in school setting that has a huge population of newcomers . In my school , we do a lot of pictorial models to teach our kids . I think showing pictures and using model can be very helpful when it comes to math . The most important thing I learned that doing the math is not the problem when it comes math . Most of our student have trouble understanding the story that is presented in the word problem . In class , we break down word problem by showing pictures and teaching them vocabulary words that they might have trouble understanding . This strategy seems to be helping a lot because our students are becoming good  identifying the main idea of a question . 

Learning a new language :  I myself have mastered to learn two language in my lifetime . The first the language I learned to speak was Arabic . The second language was English . I learned to speak Arabic when I was just only 5 years old . I learned to speak Arabic by social interaction with my friends at school . English was tough to learn because one word  can have so much meaning to it . Speaking English was not a problem but learning how to write it was difficult for me. I think the grammar part of English is the most challenging part of learning English .


So why is it difficult to learn a new language ?

I think learning a new language can build anxiety for some students . Working with ELL students in my school , the kids are afraid to to speak it in front of the classroom even if they have the correct answer to a question .  When they are with their friends you can see the relaxation. Many of my kids fear is not knowing to share their thoughts in a full sentence because they do not understand some of the other words to gather their thoughts .

The best things you can do is ...

• Use Nonverbal communication as much you can
•  Allow students to interact with each other 
• Build sentence stems 
• Use Video to lecture