Entry 3: Interview with a teacher


Interview Link: https://youtu.be/YunNWqkikjc









I interviewed Ms. Ramirez, she is an 8th grade math ESL teacher at the school where I am doing my student teaching. In the interview she mentioned how students had a difficult time with print rich problems because they had to make sense of what the words meant in Spanish. She said that the students don’t struggle with the actual math itself, but with the word problems that they have to work with. I can see why this is a problem especially with the students that are barely grasping the English language. They might not be able to connect how to solve the problem or what the problem is asking them to do. I was surprised that Ms. Ramirez said that the students are motivated by being able to teach their parents new English words that they learned in school. It is interesting how some of the students are sharing their knowledge with their parents. According to Ortega, “motivation is usually understood to refer to the desire to initiate L2 learning and the effort employed to sustain it…” (pg. 168). Students who are ELL either have the motivation to learn English or they do not. The students who go home and share the new words that they learned in English shows that that they have the motivation to learn English and that they are trying to sustain it, so that they are able to continue sharing their new found knowledge. Furthermore, interviewing Ms. Ramirez has helped me see the importance of motivating the students so that they don’t give up with their studies.

Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.

Comments

  1. JGOctober 23, 2018 at 9:08 PM

    Hi Rosa,

    Your MT talked about motivation from several different angles. First she mentioned she feels that they have difficulties with lots of work and don’t want to do it, however, she sees that they have more drive to be in school, but I was not able to identify how she can perceive that or connect it to anything we have learned.

    I was only able to pick up on two factors of motivation she mentioned. On one she defined her ELL’s desire to “become better and to have friends” which as we know is called INTEGRATIVENESS, better defined by Gardner in Ortega (p. 170) as a honest desire to acquire the second language so as to become closer to their peers.

    The other part of motivation I heard your MT describe is more to do with her role in her students’ motivation, in building a relationship with them and becoming the “initiator, facilitator, motivator, ideal model of the target language speaker, mentor, consultant and mental supporter” (Kaboody p.48)

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    Replies
    1. ThomTranOctober 27, 2018 at 9:07 AM

      Hey John,
      I agree with you on integrativeness, my mentor teacher also said her ELLs demonstrated a great desire to learn English motivated to connect with others. Through the years she has seen ELL students with the same motivation over and over. This can be done easily for them because they know a little social language already and will reach out to connect with others to be a part of that community. Belonging to a group and making that connection is important. Ortega stated, "sociocultural model integrative motivation evolved to signify the epitome of optimal and highest motivation" (Ortega, 2013, pg. 171).

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    2. Nguyen TracyOctober 27, 2018 at 4:28 PM

      The friend I interviewed for my second post said that having a strong support system helped in the form of being surrounded by people she trusted and cared about. This connects with what you said about students wanting to learn in order to connect with others. However, sometimes students can be anxious about communicating even when they are motivated to learn. An individual’s “communicative confidence in the L2 greatly contributes to her or his WTC L2” (Ortega, 2013, p. 202) and to ease some of that anxiety, it’s important to not only foster groups where students can interact, but to create an environment where students can learn without fear of scolding and humiliation, where working together is strongly encouraged and happens often in class.

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  2. ThomTranOctober 29, 2018 at 6:32 PM

    Hi Rosa,
    I think it is great that Ms. Ramirez have ELL students who learn formally with her in the class and are also able to bring those terminology home and relate it to their parents. I believe with our readings these students show effort, enjoyment and investment. (Ortega, 2013, pg. 169) In class they are the student but when they are explaining what these new terms they get to play the role of a teacher with their parents. These ELLs are constantly immersing themselves in the L2. This is really beneficial for ELLs.

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