Running Head: BRIDGING WORLDS

M6: Interview Project

C&T 820: Teaching English as a Second Language/ Bilingual Education

Pamela Salinas
Kansas University

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Many educators find supporting English language learners very complex. How
does an educator assist a student in comprehending not only a concept but also, a concept
in another language other than their own? What would make them stand out from any
other teacher assisting an ELL student? What changes are they making in their craft to
continue good teaching? What tools does the teacher offer an ELL student in order to
have had a successful learning experience? As an educator, I feel that all educators as
well as their students would benefit greatly if we took the time to explore the worlds of
our students. To know where they came from, what their families are like, who or what
they feel is important in their education, and what defines them as individuals. Teaching
goes further than whats written on your lesson plan, especially when teaching an ELL
student.
I have the pleasure of teaching in the district I grew up in. There really is no
better feeling for me than giving back to the community that assisted me build on my
English. Although I was an ELL student, I realize that I didnt share the same
experiences as a student in their teenage years arriving to this country (I arrived when I
was a toddler). I was very interested in learning more about a teenagers experience in
our secondary schools.

Participants

I came in contact with some colleagues at local high schools and explained my
need to interview ELL students for a course Im taking in order to familiarize myself with
possible experiences ELL students encounter in a secondary school.

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The first student I met was an eighteen-year-old senior enrolled at Clifton High
School. She arrived to the U.S. from Per at the age of fourteen. She was the last of her
siblings to arrive to the states alongside her mother. She is the youngest of four. Her
three brothers and father had been residing in the state of New Jersey for eight years. She
and her mother arrived to the states years after.
The second student I met was a seventeen-year-old senior enrolled at Passaic
High School. He had also arrived to the U.S. from Per at the age of thirteen. He was
the eldest sibling out of three. While the other student was recommended and later
contacted to conduct an interview, this student wanted to be interviewed in order to share
their experiences as an ELL student. He had heard from a colleague about my need to
interview someone for an assignment and he seemed eager to participate.
I have never conducted an interview prior to this. I tried my very best to create a
comfortable environment for both students by asking them where they thought it was a
good idea to be interviewed at. Both interviews were held at local libraries near their
high schools. Because they had never met me prior to the day of the interview, they felt
both felt itd be an appropriate location. The young ladys interview lasted an hour. I
often translated the questions in Spanish and she mostly responded in Spanish. The
gentlemans interview lasted about two hours. While I too translated some questions in
Spanish, he responded to each question in English. When he couldnt think of a word,
hed tell me the word he wanted to say in Spanish and I translated the word for him in
English.

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Background

The first student attended a private school in her country where the schools focus
was math. While she didnt receive any English speaking courses, she did have private
English tutoring in her home. She describes the English she learned as kindergarten
English. During these English lessons she learned to translate colors, numbers, body
parts and things of that sort. Her tutor focused on translation and pronunciation.
The second student attended a school that was designed to educate the children of
police enforcement in their country. His schooling was very strict and at times abusive.
When students answered a question incorrectly or misbehaved during instruction,
students were struck with a ruler over their hands, or had their hair pulled. While he
wasnt very fond of this school he mentions how fortunate he was to have had the
opportunity to attend such school. Many students that graduated from that school were
very likely to attend college and that was something he knew he wanted to have, an
opportunity.

Summary of their findings

Both students had arrived to the states because their families believed there was
more of a professional opportunity here than in their countries. As mentioned, the female
student was the last one in her family (including extended family members) to arrive to
the states and felt like there was a lot of catching up to do in general. Once enrolled in

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high school, the student encountered many difficulties in multiple classes on different
levels.
She describes her freshman year as it was so like crazy, always new words to
know to learn. She mentioned disliking English literature. She couldnt keep up with
the reading and writing. She had no bilingual classes to help support her academically in
her native tongue. She carried a Vox dictionary in her book bag and rarely took it out
because she felt embarrassed. During her sophmore year, she recalls feeling very
discouraged and at times, wanting to quit school. Her discouragement later affecter her
behavior and grades. Her guidance counselor recommended she join J.R.O.T.C. (Junior
Reserve Officer Training Corps is a program offered to high school students that
teaches them about character, student achievement, leadership and diversity) to possibly
assist her with her behavior, and surprised herself when she did. As a senior now, she
feels that having joined J.R.O.T.C. assisted her with self-discipline. It allowed her to
focus on school and reassess her need and want to learn the English language.
Her ESL classes were where she felt most comfortable. She says students from
different cultural backgrounds were there as well. It was her first time hearing other
languages other than Spanish and English. Those students were at her pace and didnt
make fun of each others struggles in learning the English language. Due to her math
background in her home country, she excelled in math and science. She says, Numbers
are always numbers, it doesnt change. Its no like the letters here. Spanish is so much
easier to learn than English. The strategy she used during homework was to translate
the words on her homework, create drafts, and then a final. She says homework takes a
lot less time now, but it still takes her long to complete it.

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The senior attending Passaic High School shared some of the same experiences
but also encountered different challenges their freshman year. He too mentioned the
vocabulary being difficult due to the numerous words he felt he needed to know. The
pronunciation is what he had great difficulty with. He recalls wanting to speak English
without an accent so people wouldnt ridicule him. He also didnt enjoy his English
class. He couldnt keep up with the reading and rarely participated.
He describes his math class as that was like home a little bit. He excelled in
math and really enjoyed learning different strategies to obtain an answer. In the
beginning, he didnt participate because he didnt want to be heard but he eventually
began raising his hand when he began to feel more confident with his English. He says
that his other courses such as history and science, were offered in Spanish due to the high
Latino population in the district. While I thought that was helpful, during the interview
he asked, I wonder if in college, there will be Spanish accounting or economics. If there
is no, how will I work? His comment allowed me to rethink my previous thought and
wondered if other students in his case shared those questions. A strategy he used to learn
English was to watch television shows with his three year old sister. In the shows she
watched, they spoke English very slowly. Once he picked up his pace, he began
watching more shows in English.

Views on Education

One of the participants brothers was currently attending college and explained
how happy that had made her parents. She understood why her parents valued education

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by having made such decision to move to another country. She felt she had an obligation
to her parents and herself to attend college after graduation and find something she felt
passionate about. She shared that back home in Per, attending college was also very
important but, due to the cost of living, many didnt attend. Most students try to find jobs
to help their parents financially.
The male participants father was attending college in hopes of a degree in
industrial engineering but dropped out of college to help support his family. His mother
dropped out of high school but did receive a degree that is the equivalent to obtaining a
GED in the states. Both his parents view education very highly, as he does too. He
describes it as a path towards progress. He shared his desire to go to college and
experiencing the American college life. Because he was the eldest, he had many
domestic responsibilities such as cooking and watching his younger siblings while his
parents worked long hours.

Reaction and Analysis

As I interviewed both students, I tried to my very best to place myself in their

current situation to have a better idea of what they day to day has been since arriving to
the U.S. I wanted them to feel and know I was truly listening to their stories and not just
to complete an assignment. There was a major significance in both participants. While
they both shared the same dream, to learn English and attend college, the young lady
expressed to have experienced signs of surrendering to the difficulties she encountered
during the beginning of her high school career. The gentleman mentioned he understood

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the having to go through the motions to in order to achieve an outcome. He compared his
new experience to having attended the private school he was going to in Per. While he
felt uncomfortable and at times unhappy, he new he was privileged to be attending such
school and that the likelihood of attending college was better than of a student attending a
public school.
Both students experienced tension upon entering their American classrooms.
They expressed themselves as another ELL student in the classroom. Their self-esteem
was low and they both experienced a quiet phase. Perhaps if their teachers took into
consideration the new environment their ELL students were in, they could have had a
more successful first year in high school (Rico, 2008, p.52). Self-esteem may cause
language success or result from language success. They also rarely worked in groups
along with students who were more fluent in English. The grouping of student in varying
English levels could have also assisted these students in being more vocal and taking
risks in being heard.
Due to both students attending a high school where their student population had a
large number of Latino attending, I was really surprised when both students informed me
that there was a lack of support for their needs. I imagined these types of schools would
be better prepared in assisting ELL students because of their demographics.
While the young lady had strategies to perform homework, these were strategies
she mentioned thinking about herself. I thought it was great that she took that into her
own hands and it made it work but they shouldve been offered multiple language
learning strategies to facilitate a second-language use (Rico, 2008, p.106). Both
participants would have benefitted greatly from Project Based Learning activities where

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the same vocabulary is often repeated in various forms of context, where theyd have a
better opportunity of learning new vocabulary and using it.
Another interesting finding was the gentlemans history and science classes being
taught in full Spanish. He mentioned there was no Spanish to English translation for use
of vocabulary on the walls. His educators could prepared their lessons around a SIOP
model where they could assess students to discover in they have prior knowledge on a
subject matter and if so, the introduction of vocabulary in English would be easier to
attain since there is an already built foundation. If not, they could incorporate strategies
to assist them once they become more exposed to English.
While listening to both students express their past and current frustrations, it
encouraged me to slow my own teaching pace for my ELL students (Ferlazzo, 2012). To
model for my students through demonstrating what theyre going to learn, create or share
with their peers. Our schedules are filled with different content and carefully timed. It
leads me to quickly go through lessons, which in return lead to unsuccessful outcomes.
Come tomorrow morning, during E.S.L., I will slow my speech in order for students to
listen. I will also use tools accessible to me (props, flashcards with pictures and words
etc.) to create a stronger English foundation for my students. While theyre only five to
six years old, I realize that ELL students arent just made up of students who have arrived
to this country. Many ELL students are second to third generation immigrants, as I have
in my bilingual classroom.
The families of the students I interviewed felt that having an education was an
imperative part of life. Although they felt this way toward higher learning, the parents
werent very involved in their childrens school career (Nagel, 2014). I realize that

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sometimes the language barrier can be a great factor in the participation of a parent but I
also feel that its something schools should be prepared for. Especially schools with a
high number of ELL students. I also understand that many parents work during times
where parent communication is required but this is where I thought technology could
come into play. There are multiple ways to communicate, whether it be through the
phone, via-email, or an phone application where teacher could directly contact a parent
and brief them on something theyd like to. In modern day, ELL and all students would
benefit from teachers and the use of technology.

Conclusion

In the interviews conducted, one of the themes that I felt were most important was
finding solutions to their biggest struggles. For the young lady, her biggest struggle was
the new vocabulary she encountered on a daily basis. Chances are that because of the
large amount of vocabulary she is being presented with everyday, she will most likely not
retain more than half. After interviewing her, she felt comfortable in asking for help.
Through my readings and discussions with my own peers, I was able to provide strategies
to assist her. I asked her to focus on the vocabulary she finds most useful and not just
learn the meaning, but to apply it in her everyday life if she could. This would not just
allow identifying and using the word, but also expanding her English vocabulary and not
keeping it as a temporary word.

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Another helpful tip I gave her was to ask for help. I informed her that if she
doesnt reach out to her teachers, it might be possible that they will never be informed of
her needs. As educators, we have a great responsibility to help our students when we can.
The gentleman struggled with reading the most. While he didnt ask for help, I
offered him help and he gladly accepted and listened. I informed him about using context
clues to decipher a sentence or paragraph. Sometimes we get caught up in a word and
disregard all others. I informed that much like Spanish and other languages, we must
read something in its entirety and find parts that stand out to us. A way they could
highlight context clues is by using highlighters, making notes, or translation if needed.
He could also find synonyms for the word hes struggling with and write it above the
other word.
A theme that stayed with me was the lack of training in a mainstream teacher.
If a teacher is working in a school district that is known for having a high number of ELL
students, they should be equipped with the proper tools in order to work with ELL
students effectively. Our country has over one million ELL students and with each year,
that number grows. ELL specialists should be working closely with mainstream teachers
in order to address this problem. They could communicate the steps required in order to
support these students. This of course comes down to school administrators providing
the needed time and opportunity for educators to collaborate and create a happier and
healthier environment for the student, and the teacher.

References

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Rico,L.,&Rico,L.(2008).StrategiesforteachingEnglishlearners(3rded.).Boston:Pearson/Allynand
Bacon.
Ferlazzo,L.(2012,March12).Do's&Don'tsForTeachingEnglishLanguageLearners.Retrieved
December10,2015,fromhttp://www.edutopia.org/blog/eslelltipsferlazzosypnieski
Flinders,D.,Sleeter,C.,&Stillman,J.(1997).StandardizingKnowledgeinaMulticulturalSociety.InThe
curriculumstudiesreader(4thed.,pp.255294).NewYork:Routledge.
Nagel,David.ELLStudentsNeglectedinSchoolTurnaroundEffortsTHEJournal.(n.d.).Retrieved
December10,2015,fromhttps://thejournal.com/articles/2014/04/17/ellstudentsneglectedinschool
turnaroundefforts.aspx

Appendix: List of questions

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Name: __________________________________________ Age: _________________

Background:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Where were you born?

How long have you lived in the U.S.?
Have you been back to your native country?
What do you know about your native country?
What were the reasons why your family moved to the U.S.?
Did you live somewhere else before you came to New Jersey?
What were some of your first impressions of life here in the U.S. or New Jersey?

Life at Home:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Tell me about your family.

What language is spoken most in your home?
Do your parents speak English?
What do your parents do?
How much education have your parents had?
How does your family view education? Is it different from how your home
country views education?
7. At what age did you begin to learn English?
8. What do you remember about learning English?
9. Have there been any rewards or frustrations from learning another language?
10. How many languages do you know?
11. Does your family celebrate any special days that were traditionally celebrated in
your native country? If so, please tell me about them.
Life at school:
1. Did you attend school in your native country?
2. Tell me about your school in your native country. How is school different here
from school in your native country?
3. Did you learn English there?
4. Which do you like better? School here in New Jersey or in your native country?
5. Now tell me about school here. When did you start school here?
6. Tell me about a typical school day for you.
7. Which class do you like best? Why?
8. Which class do you dislike? Why?
9. Are you involved in any activities such as clubs or sports?
10. What is the most challenging part of your school day? Why?
11. Have you ever felt discouraged about learning?
12. You have many teachers. What are things they have or havent done to help you
learn English.
13. What part of learning English is most difficult for you?

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14. Is the English you are learning here in New Jersey different from the English you
were learning in your native country?
15. Have you ever shared your story? Would you enjoy doing this kind of project?
Do you think it might be fun? What part of it would be most challenging for you?
16. In which class do you feel like you belong?
17. In which class do you talk the most?
18. Is there any class where you are quiet, where you dont talk very much?
19. Do you think its important to learn English? Why?
20. Do you recall specific strategies you have used either during instruction or
assessment to help you better understand the content?
21. Have any of our teachers modified instruction if you were experiencing difficulty?
22. Tell me how you feel about working in groups. When has it been good? When
has it been bad?
23. Is there a topic you wish your teachers would ask you about? What is something
you feel you know a lot about?
24. Can you think of a time when one of your teachers really encouraged you to talk?
Tell me about that time.
25. What has been one of the biggest adjustments you have had to make while living
in New Jersey?
26. What was the most significant education experience youve had thus far?
Social life:
1. What have been your experiences with socialization when you had limited
language skills?
2. Has being bilingual helped you in any way? How?
3. When with friends, do you speak either languages or mainly one?
Future:
1.
2.
3.
4.

How do you feel about graduation

What do you hope to do after high school?
Is there a college or university you would like to attend?
Ten years from now, what do you think you will be doing? Where do you think
you will be living?
5. What are your parents expectations for you after high school?
6. Do you plan to go back to your native country one day?