Reflection
Although
I was once of those students who verified and received English Language Learner
program support in high school, I have experienced and understand obstacles of
ELL students but before taking this course my knowledge of understanding and
teaching ELL is so limited. I had not expected that second language acquisition
had so much to it. Three and half months passed by so fast. Although that
period of time is not long, but it has brought many useful knowledge that help
me to become a good teacher for my students and especially for my English
Language Learners. From the readings, videos, assignments and blogs each gave
me a large amount of information about Second Language Acquisition and each one
of them is a piece of the puzzle; they connected together to create a big
picture of Second Language Acquisition. The knowledge that I have gained in
this course, I can apply it to my career as an educator who guide students to
achieve academic success.
As
I mentioned about puzzle pieces of this class, one of the most beneficial
pieces would be the blog. It gave me the opportunity to knowing my classmates,
others’ experiences and making connections between theories we learned and real-world
situations. I feel it very interesting to learn from each other and personal
experiences in the field of education. Each individual is unique so their
individual’s learning or teaching experiences are very variable. The blog allowed
me to watching/reading all my classmate’s interviews, reflections and giving/
receiving feedback. Definitely, there is always something great to learn from each
blog. In this semester, my most favorite blog is Blog Entry 3, interview a
Foreign Language/Second Language/Bilingual teacher or professor. The teaching
experience and strategies of the teachers have shared in each interview are very
valuable to me who will be a brand-new teacher the upcoming school year.
In
second language acquisition, there are many factors that influence an
individual’s L2 learning experience. According to Ortega (2013, p. 9), “Among
these, the most important and well-studied sources of universal influence are
age, mother tongue, environment and cognition.” During my student teaching, I have
the opportunity to interact with some students who have no motivation; it leads
to their reluctance to acquire knowledge/ lesson. I believe that the most
effective factors that helps a learner learn more effectively is motivation. As
an educator, I would like to be the one who inspires, motivates and be there
for my students. I want my students to know that I really care about them
especially my ELL students. To achieve the goal, my first step is getting to
know my students; building a positive relationship between me and my students is
a fundamental aspect of quality teaching and student learning. Next step, I
would like to create a safety and comfortable classroom because students need
to feel safe in order to learn. I am also would like to including differentiation
in content base on students’ learning styles and interest so that my students appear
to be more engaging in their learning.
