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.
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 .
Emmanuel, just like you, I was uneducated with the topic of SLA. I was familiar with ESL students, but little did I know there was a lot that came into how to teach an ELL student. I liked when you mentioned how much you have learned from having those “mini-interactions” with teachers when you were working on your blog entries. I did too learn a lot, my mentors are wonderful, and I have learned so much. The topic on motivation was so interesting to me as well, I did not know how important was motivation until this class. I learned that the role of teachers in motivating students, can presents a powerful impact them, and teachers need to use motivational strategies in their classroom (Kaboody, 2013). I have learned a lot from my cooperating teacher about motivation. She is actually the teacher I interviewed for Entry 3, and she is the queen of motivation! I hope to apply the same strategies she applies in her classroom. Good luck to you!
ReplyDeleteKaboody, M. Second Language Motivation; The Role of Teachers I Learners’ Motivation. Journal of Academic and Applied Studies. Vol. 3. Pp. 45-54. 2013.
I'm glad you enjoyed reading my reflection about this course. This course has been a great learning resource. Yes , I really admired the topic of motivation too. The one topic that also stood to me was about interlanguage. The stage where students are stuck in between their native and targeted language(Ortega 2013).During my student teaching experience , I witness a lot of my ELLs students was in the stage. Yes , I remember watching and reading your entry 3. Your mentor teacher seems very experience when working with ELLs. I'm so happy that your mentor teacher has contribute to your learning about ELLs. I know your are going to be an amazing teacher one day Maisa.
DeleteHi Emmanuel
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about Stephen Kranshen’s idea of comprehensible input. It is also one of my main take away from this course as well as other factors such as motivation, and cognitive factors. One thing I would also mention is the role of the teacher in learning a second language beyond comprehensible input. True, teachers need to provide input but we also have to look at the factors that promote student motivation and creating an environment that the student can learn in authentic conversations (Ortega, 2013). In regards to the many different blogs that we have access to, we were able to see the numerous perspectives of other teachers and how other professionals work with their students. However, most of us agree with the most important aspects in all our videos in that there is a need for authentic communication and to apply these relevant strategies in our own work later on. It is amazing how we are able to confirm each other’s beliefs through such a broad background of students.
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print
Wow Joseph ! I haven't heard from you in a long time. Thanks for revisiting my blog. I have to agree with your statement about looking at other circumstance rather than just building comprehensible input.The blogs has been amazing for everyone because we all had opportunity to see variety of perceptive. I have to say that our professor also provided us with some other great resource to help build our understanding about this course. I wish the best of luck in your future. One more question , hows learning your new language going for you ?
DeleteHi Emmanuel,
ReplyDeleteFor things that could have been altered, you mentioned providing short quizzes in order to make connections with the readings. I disagree with you that quizzes should be added to our course work because you feel they would be beneficial to helping you understand the material. This class is an online course so we should already be making an extra effort to read the text in-depth. Adding on to that, the blog entries and responding comments already have a requirement of a connection to the text so this should be reinforcing the readings you should have already read. The blog was a way for us to communicate with our classmates, and I thought it was very beneficial to our learning. I realize that you said the blog did not correlate with the tests, but I think that it provided more authentic information than the test and it showed real-world applications via our classmates’ experiences.
Hey Jenny,
DeleteI think you misunderstood of what I'm trying to say.I think having small assessment can help us be more prepare for the big test. The test are so far and we learn so much in between. Our brain can only hold so much information. I think having assessment can help us revisit what we learned.
Hello Emmanuel,
ReplyDeleteComprehensible input is what really helps us when learning something new. Based on Krashen’s video we learned that repetition doesn’t help when something is in a different language, but when the words are related to a picture the content becomes more comprehensible. According to Gass (2013), “language containing structures way ahead of a learner’s current knowledge is not useful” (p. 308). I also think that weekly quizzes could have been a good form of assessment for this course and a way to prepare us for the tests. Weekly quizzes would allow us to assess how well we understood the material and what areas we could focus on when studying for our unit tests.
Hey Jhoanna,
DeleteThanks for your feedback. I have learned so much from you and also my other classmates.I'm so glad you agree about having weekly quizzes. We learn so much things in between prior to taking our test.Some of the information I forget by the time we ready to take the test. I think weekly quizzes can help check our understanding and prepare us for the unit test.
Thanks for the feedback Keyerra.Yes this course has influenced a change in my teaching practices too. This class is a great platform for working with ELLS.There multiples of things that I learned in this course that will help me in the future a lot. I don't know if you know but I'm currently place in school that has population of more than 90% of ELLs. Taking this course has help me interact with my students better and also answered a lot of my wondering questions.
ReplyDelete