Maddy Young

Teaching and Learning 333

3/4/15

Unit Activity 4

For this project, I decided to interview Wei Wei Huang. She grew up in China,
where her first language was Mandarin Chinese. She began to learn English in
3rd grade and decided to receive her PHD abroad in the United States. She
recently moved here six years ago. Wei Wei had a positive experience learning
English in China, although she claims that the way English is taught now is
different than when she was in school. Wei Wei was mainly taught English
through the use of textbooks, and as students they focused more on memorizing
vocabulary words and the specific sentence structures of English writing. Today,
as said in our English Learner in American Classrooms textbook, it is important
to focus on all the key areas of language development such as hearing and
speaking, not only writing and memorizing vocabulary. Wei Wei wished her
teacher had focused more on teaching students about speaking English because
she was not strong in this area when she moved to America. Wei Wei said the
most helpful tool for her to learn how to speak English was watching movies and
TV. shows to help with oral pronunciation. She also said reading articles was
helpful when learning how to write in proper sentence structure. On the OSPI
website it states that it is key to know that ELLs have background knowledge
and home cultures that sometimes differ from the U.S. mainstream. (OSPI)Wei
Wei confirmed this principle when she talked about her home life in her
interview. She said that her parents were much more strict than U.S. parents.
They were very involved in her school life and always pushed her to excel in her
studies. She thought her parents were more strict about her learning English,
too, and said that culture differences contributed greatly to her experience
learning English. She says that it is much different living in the U.S studying
English than learning in China.

The below Venn Diagram shows the differences and similarities among Wei
Wei, myself, and the textbooks ideas of how ELLs acquire language. Wei Wei and
I were similar in that we both thought TV shows and movies could help students
learn how to speak orally, and Wei Wei and the textbook were similar in that
they both said parental support is key to learning a new language. All three of us
said that textbooks were important, as well as teacher instruction. Wei Weis
opinion was interesting because she believed that a great way to learn language
would be to directly immerse into that specific culture. Since moving here, Wei
Wei has become much better at speaking English and learning the culture of
America. I personally said activity books and computer programs are very
helpful, for I experienced that when I learned Spanish in high school.
 Over the course of this unit, I have definitely changed my opinion on
how ELLs acquire language. Wei Wei and the textbook brought to my
attention different aspects that are important in a classroom. For example,
Wei Wei has taught me that it would be a great idea to blend cultures into my
classroom, and the textbook taught me that it is important to mix up my
teaching styles because solely teaching phonics is not helpful to students
when they learn. The textbook also brought to my attention some of the key
phases ELL students may go through, such as the silent period where they
spend more time observing their environment than they do involving
themselves in it or the language shift phase(Crawford and Krashen, 38).
Knowing this will help me decide which method in the Venn diagram below
to use for each of my ELL students. I now have a variety of methods I can
teach ELL students, and this unit has really opened my eyes to all the
possibilities of ways students acquire a new language. I will definitely
incorporate these new things I have learned from Wei Wei and the textbook,
such as building parental support and bringing various cultures into my
classroom to help my students.

How Ells Learn

Wei Wei Maddy

Computer
Video and
programs
Studying Abroad
electronics
Activity
Immersing in
books
another culture

Textbooks, teacher
instruction
Reading
books
Parental
support and
assistance

Phonics teaching
to an extent

Through
different
bilingual
programs in
schools

Textbook
Crawford, J., & Krashen, S. (2007) English learners in american classrooms. New York
City, NY: Scholastic Inc.

Theresa, D. (2008, November 1). What teachers should know about instruction for
english language learners. Retrieved March 5, 2015, from
https://www.k12.wa.us/Legisgov/2011documents/EducatingEnglishLanguageLear
ners.pdf