ELL Final Interview

T&L 333
Madison Boeck
12/13/2016
 For my interview I was very limited on who I could interview as I have noticed it is

difficult to find teachers that have a specialty in ELL. For my interview I interviewed a

family friend, her name is Keiera Hoffman. She teaches kindergarten at Hockinson

Heights Elementary school in Hockinson Washington. Keiera has been teaching for 23

years. While interviewing Keiera she gave me great insight on her experiences of

teaching for all these years. For this interview I wanted to focus on a few important

themes that I learned throughout the interview. I wanted to learn how Keiera decided to

become a ELL teacher and the different things she is doing to help her ELL students. I

also wanted to learn about how her district tests their ELLs and if there is any

alternatives that the school has provided to help the ELL students with testing. Lastly I

wanted to learn if she uses a pull-out instruction for her ELL students.

When asking my interview questions I wanted to understand how teaching was

for Keiera when she began teaching and how she developed her curriculum now. I also

asked her what made her chose to get an endorsement in ELLs. When she began

teaching she said that there was not many ELL students in her classroom. She

explained to me that because of this there wasn’t a program needed to be in place for

ELLs. Throughout the years of her teaching she said that she started to see more and

more ELLs start being placed into her classroom. She explained that it happened very

slowly and that some years she would have an ELL student or Two and then the

following year would have none. She decided to get a specialty in ELL because she

realized that not many people in her district had and education about how to teach

ELLs. She noticed that more ELL students were coming into her school and saw how

these students struggled, so she decided to get and endorsement in ELL. She wanted
to help ELLs in her classroom and also wanted to motivate other teachers to become

educated in how to help ELLS succeed in their classrooms.

Something she explained to me is that ELLs have to take so many tests because

English is not their first language where as her other students don’t need to take these

tests because English is their first language. She says that because of this huge amount

of testing student become overwhelmed which can inhibit their learning. She also told

me that she is trying to work with the district to either not test them or to use alternatives

that don’t give the students so much pressure, so she can help them in the classroom

where they need to be assessed. I found this to be very intriguing because this is

something that we have had multiple discussions about in class. In the book I have

found an example of how teachers can accommodate to ELLs when it comes to taking

tests. “…Research can suggest that there are only two kinds of accommodations with

the potential to support ELLs access to test content: testing students in their home

language, and simplifying the language used in the test” (Wright, 2015, p. 129). This is

an example of How Keiera could help her ELL students when it comes to taking tests.

This could really be beneficial for all ELL students.

One question that I asked Keiera that I fund to be very important was the

question what qualities do you think ELL teachers should have? And why? When

answering this question she explained to me that the school district has always been

small but has recently been expanding which means more ELLs are immersing into the

schools. She say she is working with the district to make more of a program for ELLS as

it has not been present due to a small district. She says that she and one other teacher
in the district are the only teachers with the ELL endorsement. She is trying to make

more resources available for these ELL students.

Adding on to the previous question that I asked I also asked how she helps ELLs

in the classroom since she has recently seen more ELLs coming into her classroom and

school. She explained to me that she treats her ELLs just the same as all of her

students. She said to help her ELL students she uses picture ques to help them get an

understanding if they are struggling. She also said that a lot of her students like to work

with each other, the students enjoy helping their peers. Something she expressed is

that since she teaches kindergarten she has seen that most of her ELL students are

able to pick up on things quickly since it is such young age. A connection I made with

this concept with the book is that when having non English students work with native

English speakers it helps the ELL student build comprehension and helps build

language skills to help interact with other peers. Long explains “ …Comprehension input

is needed, but he focuses on how input can be made comprehensible through modified

interaction, arguing that learners need opportunities to interact with other speakers and

reach mutual comprehensible. In modified interaction, particularly interactions between

a language learner and a proficient speaker, the speakers may make several

modifications as they converse to get their meaning across” (Swain & Suzuki, 2008, p.

53).

I became very interested in asking Keiera if she likes to pull students out if they

are needing more help if they are struggling in class. I also wanted to see if pulling kids

out for more of a one on one help was successful or if it negatively affected the class.

She explained to me that helping kids one on one or pulling kids out has been very
successful for her students. She said that she notices that her students want to improve

if they are struggling on certain topics. She says specially her ELL students. She says

they really want to learn and understand everything. She said there is a room in the

back of the class that she has parent volunteers or her student teachers go help kids

that are struggling. She says this allows students to use manipulatives which seems to

help the ELL students a lot. She also said that if students them-self want to make the

decision to get extra help they can then go use that room for help as well. She said that

in particular her students like to get extra help on reading. In the book I found that there

have been many draw backs with using this pull out method. However I did find in the

book that there have been ELL students that never got pulled out of class for help that

seemed to struggle a lot and wished they got some attention outside of class like the

pull out instruction. “…students described feeling frustrated and lost during the first few

years of their education. Many students sought help outside of school. Pull-out ESL

would have been a much better alternative for these students who received no help at

all” (Wright, 2015, p. 107). With outside classroom help like Keiera has done with her

classroom, hopefully ELL students don’t feel left out of the class and get the attention

they need to help their education.

After all the information that I received from this interview I was able to learn a lot

about teaching in general and also a lot about ELL students. I have always thought that

every district had multiple ELL programs to help their ELL students. After this interview I

was able to learn that there are still many districts that don’t have ELL programs, that

are seeking some sort of support to help their ELLs succeed in school. Because of this

interview I am very happy that WSU requires education majors to have an

endorsement. This makes me thankful because I know that for myself and others that

we can make a huge difference for these ELL students.

With the information from this interview I am so excited to start teaching students

of my own. I was able to learn that for the most part the ELL students do often tend to

fall behind sometimes. As a future teacher I want to include all my students to learn the

same education as their peers. Also I want to make my ELL students to be very aware

that I support them every day and want to help them in every aspect that I can. Like

Keiera said I will also treat my ELL students just the same as I would treat any other

student. One thing that I became passionate about after this interview is the way ELL

students are tested. When I become a teacher I will try my hardest to find

accommodations for my ELL students so that testing is fair to them. I do not ever want

my ELL students to feel less than other students. I want my ELL students to have the

same opportunities that native English students receive.

Before the interview I had some insight on how I wanted see myself as a teacher.

I thought that I had a lot of information from my classes to know what a good teacher is.

After this interview I kind of realized how difficult it can be to be a good teacher. This

interview helped me understand that every student learns differently, and as a future

teacher I will have to understand different methods I can use to help students

understand every topic in school. I also learned the amount of work that teachers have

to do outside of the classroom. I now have more insight as to what is needed from me to

become a great teacher for my future students.

Overall I am glad that our final project was to interview and ELL teacher. I

learned so many great things about being a teacher and also learned so much about
how students learn. Without this interview I would not been able to gain the knowledge

that I feel I needed to know to become a great future teacher.

 Appendix: Interview Questions

1) What grade are you teaching now?

-Kindergarten
2) How long have you been teaching for?
-23 years of teaching

3) What type of assessments do you prefer? Why?

-Formative is the most important.- I assess daily to adjust learning and not so much to
adjust teaching. It is very important to assess my students every day.

4) How do you evaluate each student?

- I evaluate my students individually, I ask each students questions in particular to a subject to
understand where they are at, I do this mostly verbally as it is most effective this way.
5) How do you meet every student’s need? Is it possible?
-differential, there are different level groups in the class room, pull flex groups, parent volunteer
come into class to pull kids who need extra help

6) What type of support are you looking for as a teacher?

-support from the principle always , from my colleagues, parents support definitely this is the most
important support, mostly people then the curriculum, also want more support for issues with
students that don’t get support i.e. Special Education and ELL.

7.) How do you maintain or discipline the classroom?

-we make it clear to keep positivity in the class room. We try to build community and its important
that I let the students know that I care about them. We make table points, have students works as
teams, deal with issues quickly, and learn social skills .

8.) What advice do you have for teaching students who learn at different paces?
-You have to teach the curriculum, then have flex groups, create centers to have students go
to, create higher activities for students to choose from, during play time pull struggling kids,
use manipulatives. We have this new computer program to help students with math that they
are able to do at home for more help.

9.)What made you chose to become and ELL teacher?

-Well I wasn’t always endorsed in ELL until kind of recently. I started to notice as my school
and district expanded that we started to get more ELL students. As my district was smaller
we did not have much of a program for our ELL students. I wanted to get educated on how I
could teach these ELL students as well as help my district get more resources for these
students.
10) What qualities do you think ELL teachers should have? Why?
- There isn’t much of an ELL program right now. They are immersed and kids have to help
each other. We use picture ques and try communication, they pick up quick at this age.
11.) Have you found it successful to pull students out of classrooms to get one-on-one
assistance? In what ways did you find it successful or unsuccessful?
-very successful, there’s a back room to help students use more manipulatives. This is
also helpful for ELLS because they are able to ask questions as well seem to like using
manipulatives to help them understand things better.

a. How distracting have you found it to be? Has it negatively impacted other
students?
-Students all love it, they want to improve, I have found that one on one help for
reading has been the most beneficial.

12.) What’s the most difficult part of your job?

- Probably getting everything done that is expected from a teacher in the time frame. And
not getting respect that teachers deserve.

13.) What ELL programs are in place at your school?

-There is not one as of now but I am working hard with one other teacher in the district to
get more resources for ELLs as well as start a program as our district is growing.

14.) What do you do when a student is struggling in the classroom?

- I just talk to them to see what they are struggling with and how I can help them. I help
students in contact with tutors to get that additional help. If needed I will contact the
students’ parents and try to create a team with the parents for help.

15.) What are the hardest areas to help ELL students in?
-I think the most challenging aspect to help ELLs in is helping them understand the
reading and writing in English with in the classroom. It is difficult at first because most
of the time this is students first time ever being put into school so it is a big transition for
them.

16.) What do you wish your school would provide for you in order to help ELL
students?
-I wish they would provide more resources that all ELL students need. As I said I am
working with the district to get more of an ELL program intact.

17.) What is the most common native language spoken within your school/classroom?

- Mostly Spanish
18.) What is the most rewarding aspect about your job?

-when they finally realize they can do something, the aha moment, seeing them be
successful, it’s the little things that mean the most to me.
19.) What are the demographics of your classroom? For instance, how many native
English speakers do you have and how many non-native English speakers/ELLs do you
have?
-Since my school and district is developing more right now I only have two ELL students in my
class this year.
 Work Cited

Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory, policy,

and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Pub.