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For my 3rd blog entry, I had the opportunity to interview Mr. Fonte. He is an ESL teacher at Southmore Intermediate. He has more than 20 years’ experience in teaching. He was a teacher in Philippine his mother country, he taught ESL and American culture at refugee camp back in 1980s for Vietnamese. Wright has mentioned, “Young school-age children often have greater motivation, pressure, needs, and opportunities to develop second language proficiency than adults” (p. 50); Mr. Fonte is also agreeing age is matter in learning a second language. During his experiences teaching ESL to refugees, most of his students was at 40s-50s of age and it hard for them to learn English.
According to Wright, “ELLs
face the challenge of learning to listen, speak, read, and write in English at
the same time they are also expected to meet the same grade-level academic
content standards as their English proficient peers.” (Wright, 2015, p. 263).
Mr. Fonte makes a good point about the challenges that his students faced. Because
of the transmigrate, he said in the same time learning English, his students
also have to adapt with new culture and new school environment. Some students
have a big gap in their education compare with others and in some cases those
students weren’t receive education in school systems in their country for few
years.
When I asked Mr. Fonte about some techniques or strategies to help ELLs students, he told me that classroom environment is very important, knowing your students background and let's the student try- if they're not trying, they're not learn from it and as a teacher we should tell our students that "it's ok to make mistakes". I learned a lot from Mr. Monte how to help my ESL students and I enjoyed the time that I had after the interview to ask him more about his experiences teaching at the refugee camp. It's very interesting to me.
When I asked Mr. Fonte about some techniques or strategies to help ELLs students, he told me that classroom environment is very important, knowing your students background and let's the student try- if they're not trying, they're not learn from it and as a teacher we should tell our students that "it's ok to make mistakes". I learned a lot from Mr. Monte how to help my ESL students and I enjoyed the time that I had after the interview to ask him more about his experiences teaching at the refugee camp. It's very interesting to me.
Reference
Wright, W.
E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: research,
theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing.
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ReplyDeleteHello Quynh!
ReplyDeleteThank you to you and Mr. Fonte for this very informative and insightful interview! I enjoyed this a lot, especially when I myself is Filipino too! It was such a treat being able to hear his global experiences and I'm very much impressed by the amount of languages he knows. So I could definitely see why he is such a great ELL teacher, because he was someone who had to learn English for one and also been able to experience other cultures through his past opportunities. As Wright (2015) stated, "Teachers also need to know their students' cultural backgrounds and how culture influences learning at school" (p. 17).
I'm hoping as future educators we can be like Mr. Fonte learning from our experiences, especially global and cultural ones to help foster great ESL classrooms.
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Caslon.
Hi Kohleen!
DeleteI’m agreeing with you that Mr. Fonte is a great teacher for ELL students. According to Wright, classic and recent research studies have documented the effect that cultural differences can have on student success in the classroom (Wright, 2015, pg. 19). As you said Mr. Fonte have a lot of knowledges about cultural backgrounds and even more he taught American cultural to his students as well.
Stories journey and thick experiences about teaching of Mr. Fonte drew my attention and even prompted me to ask for more. He has a lot of experience teaching students of all ages and cultural background, it’s help him a lot to build on his philosophy of teaching and his teaching strategies. He told me he is always try to connect his experience to prepare and teach his current students.
DeleteHello Quynh,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your interview with Mr. Fonte with the class. Mr. Fonte shared with us some of his strategies in his classroom. Mr. Fonte mentions that he models a lot in the classroom and allows students to speak and practice the language often. Giving students the opportunity to practice helps them retain their language skills. According to Wright, (2015, p.156) teachers should talk less and plan classroom activities that give students regular opportunities to speak. One effective approach for encouraging more student talk is to use open-ended and higher-ended questions and short probes that require students to elaborate. It is important for ELL students to have an opportunity to practice the English Language in the classroom. Teachers should be aware of how to provide those opportunities for ELL students.
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing.
Hi Yerali!
DeleteThank you for your comment! Classroom talk is frequently limited and is used to check comprehension rather than develop thinking. I think students will learn better when they can talk and listen to their peers. I would like to incorporate talk moves and discussion time more frequently in my future class.
Hello Quynh,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing a great interview with us. It was very pleasant to learn about Mr. Fonte 20 years of teaching experiences. I agree with many key points that were mentioned one of my favorites was when you asked him about the strategies and techniques to help the ELL's students. Mr. Fonte made a great point stating that in order for the teacher to help the students make a successful transition, as the teacher taking time to get to know them and be able to know what is best for them by accommodating them to their best abilities. I totally agree you have to get to know the students in order for you as the teacher to be able to fulfill their needs and be able to a great learning environment" "Teachers also need to know their students' cultural backgrounds and how culture influences learning at school" (Wright, 2015, pg. 17). Mr. Fonte seems like he understands his student’s and allows them to learn from their mistakes without being judged, instead he encourages them to learn something new from that mistake. I personally think it is a great idea for the students to feel like that they can try harder the next time until they have reached their full potential.
Great interview Quynh!
Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: research, theory, policy, and practice (2nd ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Caslon.
Hello Luz, I agree with you taking time to get to know your students is very important. Knowing your students and their background makes them feel safe and comfortable in your classroom. Also in order for a great learning environment you need to know their background as well. As a teacher it lets you understand their strengths and weaknesses and can help you make the students more engaged in your classroom.
DeleteHi Luz and Emily,
DeleteI’m totally agreeing with you guys about the important of talking time during class. It’s something that I would like to incorporate more in my future classroom. Mr. Fonte gave me a lot of teaching strategies and it’s so helpful to me -a brand new teacher next school year.