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 :
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 .
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 ...
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
Hello Emmanuel,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed listening to your video and loved the way you introduced yourself in your blog. I liked reading the “about you”. I think it’s cool you coming from a different country and also knowing a different language: Arabic. That’s awesome! A naturalistic learner learns through informal opportunities without receiving any organized instruction and an instructed learner learns through schooling. (Ortega.2011.pg.6). The fact that you learned that language because of your surroundings and environment is great! Though I was born and raised primary here in Texas my family is from Puerto Rico and that’s where I spent the majority of my childhood. I have studied and being influenced to speak nothing but Spanish though I still suck at the language however, I am trying to get to better. When you were in school here in the US what languages did you study? Do you still speak and know Arabic fluent?
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print
Hey Jolie ,
DeleteThanks for getting my view up. I really appreciate you spending your free time on my blog . Unfortunately, I'm not fluent with Arabic no more . I can't speak it like how I use to . I still understand it very well because my mother speak to me in Arabic only for the most time . Can you tell me , whats the hard part of trying to learn Spanish ?
Hey Emmanuel, so I was wondering what language is use in Sudan? Following up with the comments between you and Jollie, the immersion into Arabic in Egypt at an early age was a naturalistic way of learning the language. That sounds like a wonderful experience as you were also able to learn about the culture.
DeleteHey Jhoanna ! There is a lot of languages spoken in Sudan . The main language is also Arabic . I only spent a few years living at my birthplace before moving to Egypt . Sudan speaks a different dialect of Arabic compare to Egypt. Yes I agree with you that , I was naturalistic learner.
DeleteHey Keyerra ,
ReplyDeleteWell thank you for spending your quality time learning more about me . I'm sad to say that I have become so adapted to English that I forgot how to speak Arabic . I still can understand Arabic but I have trouble speaking it now . I think Dr.Doidge's idea is accurate because after a period of time the language you are expose to the most will out rule the other language .
It’s amazing that you come from a country that has so many languages and even more amazing that you became fluent in two. Has being bilingual given you an affinity for picking up languages? Ortega lists that motivation can be a huge influence in learning a language (9). Were you more motivated to learn Arabic and English out of necessity as opposed to learning Spanish during high school? How can we increase student motivation in our students to reach individual potential? I was not motivated at all learning Spanish during high school. Also, can you elaborate on how using the nonverbal language helped you learn and how we can use that in our classrooms? Thank you for all your insight!
ReplyDeleteThanks Alexandra for taking your time to visit my blog . I do not recall of being motivated to learn both languages from my past. I felt like I had no choice but to learn. I think the biggest motivation If I had to predict it would be being able to communicate and understand another human being so I won't feel left behind . I think increasing someone motivation will be really hard . I think when it comes acquiring new language a person must be self-motivated . If I want to increase someone motivation in general , I will use things that they can relate to and try make it fun . Things such watching movie with subtitle or simply playing games. I think that's the reason why you was not motivated in your Spanish class because you couldn't relate to the stuff . Nonverbal communication has help me a lot because body language can you tell a lot . I remember my teacher using a lot of hand gesture to teach . I spent my time observing their gesture to create meaning of things .
DeleteI think using hand gestures is a great tool to help students not be left behind and bridge some confusions that will arise from a language barrier. I will have to practice this when student teaching as I have many students who's first language is spanish. I have been trying to incorporate their culture in to the classroom as to create more self-motivation and create more of what Ortega (2011) means with a naturalistic environment (p.6). I am referring to a naturalistic environment as a way for students to be immersed and feel comfortable listening and making mistakes.
DeleteHi Emmanuel,
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you were able to experience and learn about 3 different cultures firsthand is truly wonderful! I travel a lot and I am able to gather very small bits and pieces of the culture due to the limited time that I am there. But you, on the other hand, were probably able to learn and absorb a lot being able to live in each of these places for a few years. You mention in your blog that you learned to speak Arabic through social interaction with your friends at school. I also assume that you were put in school immediately when you moved to the U.S., which means you had to learn “through informal opportunities in multicultural neighbourhoods, schools and workplaces, without ever receiving any organized instruction on the workings of the language” (Ortega, 2013, pg. 6). It is apparent from watching your video and reading your blog entry that you learned Arabic and English in a naturalistic manner. I am curious as to whether you had to take ESL classes to learn the language, or if you just had to learn on your own and sink or swim. I found your video very insightful on your life, and I look forward to getting to know more about you!
Wow! What an incredible linguistic history. Sudan looks like a great country and your portrait is so different from the negative things we hear about it in the media. Your students will be lucky to have someone with such richness in languages and cultures. I hope this class helps you better understand the process you have gone through and thus be ready to help your ELLs.
ReplyDeleteWell thanks Professor Avellaneda for viewing my blog. Yes I know right but I can't wait to learn so much new knowledge from this class.
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