4. What is the most significant thing you learned about yourself in your CEL experience this semester? With the course and the CEL experience, I was able to understand much more about my own language acquisition. Both of my parents are native Spanish speakers but I am not. I attended an American public school system from a young age and I was exposed to English. Because of this, English became my first and dominant language despite Spanish being spoken at home. However, I understand Spanish very accurately since my parents would talk to me in Spanish but I would always reply in English. Going to the CEL day at El Centro I honestly felt out of place. These Spanish speakers see me and assume I spoke Spanish. I tried very hard to, but it was not very well. Being born in America with hispanic parents I felt an identity crisis. Usually the language you speak corresponds with your identity. I am an American so I speak English but when others see me they consider me to be Hispanic. However, I cannot not speak Spanish very well but I understand it almost perfectly. So for me this was confusing …show more content…
It was a very warm and cheerful environment. The clients all genuinely wanted to learn and enjoyed the company of their peers. The teachers and volunteers also felt the same way. Despite the late hours, the adults still made the effort to come. Some even brought snacks and drinks for everyone and expected nothing in return. They also supported each other in their classwork and never discouraged anyone from participating. Despite their age, they were willing to take part in activities, which may have seemed childish or oversimplified, and enjoyed it. At the end class, everyone gathered for a group picture together so the woman, who was leaving to Peru, could take home the memories of the people she met here. This made me realize how people, who were once complete strangers, could become so close
Throughout Richards early childhood development he quickly understood that in order to succeed in America he would have to learn to confidently speak in English. Richard is Hispanic American and although he was born in America, Spanish was the only language that he was exposed to as a young child. He grew up in a home where Spanish flowed freely, but he soon realized outside of his home the language that he primarily knew was foreign. His parents spoke fluent Spanish along with all of his relatives. The brief encounters he experienced of his parents speaking English were only in public places and the proficiency was very poor. Rodriguez’s home was as a safety net for him and his Spanish speaking family with they are his only real connections to the outside world. It wasn’t until Richards encounter with his teachers that he and his family was heavily impressed on the importance of developing a public language. After the encouragement of the visit home from a teacher as a family
Recently immigrated parents often learn English from their children. Over 70% of Hispanic Americans in California are English Language Learners (ELL) and are given the resour...
Another struggle for identity with Latinos is their struggle with the Spanish and English languages. While some Latinos may speak Spanish in their homes, the language may not be conversationally used in their schools. Some Lat...
In conclusion, my first impression was wrong, the classroom was not some kind of battlefield of teacher and student casualties. The students were not a lost cause that I imagine them to be. The students were well mannered and just wanted to be treated with respect. The classroom management was impeccable and astounding. It goes to show that although you may think you know a group of students you can be very mistaken.
Every year, the number of immigrants in the U.S. has grown “significantly.” Chen predicts that by the year of 2020, public schools will have at least 50 percent of students that are non-English speakers (¶5). This shows that it is important that public schools have a successful ESL program. The purpose of ESL programs is “to enhance” ESL students learning, to help students’ “emotional well-being”, and to accelerate students’ ability to learn the new language. According to Chen, some district schools have failed to support ESL students’ learning. For example, Chen stated that “...[some] school districts [have been] accused of not meeting t...
After I finished my observation I learned lot things I hadn’t realized by how they interacted with each other. I've been around children before but never analyzed their behavior or explained it using psychology. I have a newfound appreciation and sympathy for elementary school teachers, the kids still have a lot of cognitive developments growth to do and it takes a benevolent person to do such a work. Overall I found the experience fascinating and enlightening.
As a child, I had to navigate from an English-speaking classroom to a Spanish-speaking home. At eight in the morning I was given instruction in English by my professors at school. After three in the afternoon at home, I engaged in Spanish conversation with my mother, father, and siblings. When the summer vacation came around, it was back to speaking Spanish only, and then I regained the Mexican accent that had faded away during the school year. My experience learning English was different from what earlier Spanish-speaking generations in the United States dealt with.
As migrant and English language learner the transition of living and studying in México to El Paso, is not an easy for any age student. I immigrated to El Paso when I was in my last year of high school and wanting to pursue a career at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. My father decided for the family and we were moved to a school in El Paso. In the high school I attended for about three months, I was placed on tenth grade and in regular classes. I just had one hour daily of English as a second language instruction. The system back in the 1980’s on ESL classes was not as they are in schools now. They made me feel like I did not had other option but to droop school, which eventually I did when I realized that I was going to be placed in the special education department. My self-esteem went down the hill and I was not willing to comply with what the school wanted. Especially if I was coming from almost finishing high school with an average of 9 of a 10 grade scale, I felt that it was not fair for me to be place in the special education department just because I had limited English proficiency. Fifteen years after I had drooped school, I returned to school and learn English at El Paso Community College, and now I am pursuing my master degree as instructional specialist in bilingual education. Coming from another country with different, or similar, family values affect the students’ learning and the way that other look at those students, especially in schools.
Communication skills are crucial not only in the learning process but also forging social interactions with others because language helps to express ideas and understand someone else ideas. Children with limited language abilities may have difficulties developing reasoning skills and acquire new concepts. Latino students need to develop strong literacy skills in their own language before they are introduce to a second language. Learning in their own lang...
Monzó and Rueda (2009) conducted a study examining the concept of passing for English proficient in Latino immigrant children. They studied a group of Latino English language learners (ELLs) in and outside of school. They not only observed these students but also interviewed them as well. Within these interviews students opened up about their feelings about their first language, English, and their place in American society. Monzó and Rueda (2009) then found within their data the most common forms of passing for English proficient that these students used.
Before her class, I took Spanish because it was necessary to graduate. It never seemed real to me because basically everyone in Fairport, NY speaks english. Obviously I recognized that people spoke it. Yet, I never fully comprehended that I was capable of surviving off the language. She made it real by telling personal stories
Out of all the American institutions that exist today, the educational system has one of the greatest impacts on the lives of people, especially for immigrants and their children who do not know how to speak English. The English language is a whole new, different perspective for people who come to America for the first time; their whole environment changes as well. The majority of the people who come to the United States are Hispanics, who are usually at the poverty level. Like everyone who come to America, they want to pursue a better quality of life, and in order to do that, you have to know how to speak the universal language, the English language. The myth of education here is that everyone can learn the same way through the English language—but that is not the case.
Over the course of the semester, I have learned a few things about myself. I have learned that I can be independent, I always knew myself as someone who could do mostly everything on their own. This semester really made me realize how independent I could actually be. Not only have I learned how independent I am I have also realized the importance of time management. With not having a strict class schedule it was a lot different than what I was originally used to. After a few weeks, I learned ways that would work best for me, for example writing down that I needed to get done. I learned that I need to focus on what 's ahead of me to accomplish what I want to succeed in, to manage what needs to be done ahead of time to stay caught up.
Was there information or insights that helped you that you didn’t expect to learn at the outset of the course?
Class participation was great everyone joined in on the discussion. People in the class felt comfortable talking out loud and putting there two sense in.