Reflection #4

Reflection #4

Prior to taking this course, I was aware of the certain struggles that English Language Learners face. However, I did not realize the larger picture with the refined details in those struggles that each student may come across in their lives. This class not only taught me to differentiate my lesson to different learners and ELLs, but to also be able to communicate these ideas whether it be through social interactions, hands-on activities and/or visuals. I always envision my students to feel safe and inclusive to the discussions, however, I first must be able to approach them in a situation where they can feel comfortable at their own pace whether it be through writing or speaking. Wright mentions multicultural education can help prepare all students to live in our multicultural society, with attention to complex social challenges such as racism, discrimination and other issues of inequality (Wright, 2015, p. 15). Therefore, students do not necessarily need to have the similar cultural background to succeed emotionally and academically, but I believe teachers need to help build the bridge to allow ELLs feel welcomed to the community in the classroom.

A topic that I found most relevant to my content area of teaching consist of differentiated instruction with Science. Courses that significantly helped me identify different instructions were: Differentiated Instruction for Diverse Learners and Teaching Science for Grades 4-8. Science is known to include many hands-on activities to explain difficult concepts through many kinds of instructions. However, ELL students must be given the opportunities to practice sustained English while focusing on scientific tasks (Wright, 2015, p. 280). For example, activities through modeling, think-pair-share, and/or visuals through graphic organizers could improve the comprehension of not just ELL students, but all students in general when communicating with their peers. With this thought in my mind, I could modify my lessons from a teacher-led to a student-centered lesson.

After taking this online course, I found it to be challenging with some of the assignments. Although I enjoyed doing the video blogs, interviewing individuals for Vlog #2 and #3 required additional flexibility to my schedule and theirs’. In addition, just like any other online course- students are responsible for their independent learning. I found the textbook very useful to read, but it was quite a struggle keeping up with the amount of readings per week with student teaching. However, there was an advantage of taking this course online. Just like any other online course, I could work on my assignments whenever and where ever.

As for the video blogs, I did enjoy making them to a certain extent. Although it opened up our outlet of documenting our perspectives via online, it relied too much heavily on other individuals (interviewing). I think these assignments could have suffice with either recording a video or writing a reflection- not both. In addition, comments and replies made the class more active in looking at different perspectives, but I think the amount per comment/replies were just too many to do as a student teacher. However, I did like how we were able to self-grade our self using the rubric.

Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition

Entry #3: Interview with...

Interview with Ms. Barbosa

Here is the link of the Interview: >> click me !! <<

Hello! For this Vblog, Ms. Barbosa has agreed to share out her personal experiences as a Science Teacher with English Language Learners. Ms. Barbosa has been teaching for four years and is also a Spanish speaker. Throughout the video, she shared out some of her experiences and suggestions to create the positive learning environment for both her non-ELL students and ELL students.

Ms. Barbosa mentions that she has had ELL students who were immigrants and spoke Spanish. In order to accommodate to these students who struggled, she allowed students to use dictionaries and write some of their responses in Spanish. In regards to assessments, an alternative way to assess students for Science would to give them the opportunity to arrange pictures in a sequence (Wright, 2015, 292). Although Ms. Barbosa does not have struggling ELL students this year, we already differentiate our assessments by adhering to different type of learners and student-choices. For example, we allowed students to showcase their product in two different ways either as: creating a comic or writing a story. This appealed to both different types of learners as creating an illustration is a universal language. In addition, giving students these choices create a welcoming learning environment where they can relate to their peers through motivation and interests.

Another interesting point I would like to discuss is the opportunity for students to assist each other. Ms. Barbosa previously had supportive bilingual students who helped their ELL peers with both the instructions and activities. In regards to pairing students, teachers could arrange the seats to where lower-level ELLs are seated near a bilingual student who can provide quick clarifications and assistance when needed (Wright, 2015, p. 306). In the interview, Ms. Barbosa mentioned that these students may struggle socializing with other students, therefore having a seating arrangement in mind may build a social pathway for the students not just through cultural similarities, but also through proximity. After interviewing my mentor teacher, I now have a better understanding of the importance to be as mindful as possible with my ESL students in ways to assist not just through content, but as well as being involved with my students’ cultural differences by establishing a welcoming environment.

Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition

Entry #2: Interview with ...

Interview with Mae Lam

Hello! For this Vblog, my sister, Mae, has agreed to share out her personal experiences as an English Language Learner. I specifically wanted to interview my sister because she just graduated from High School recently. Her English development was known to be a positive learning experience because of the support through family and interventions at public schools.

Mae’s primary language is known to be Vietnamese, but our parents wanted to strictly focus on her English development. She was given many positive reinforcements that allowed her to find little to no difficulty in English comprehension. Fortunately, my parents adopted an acculturation perspective which allowed both my siblings and I to adapt or lessen our priority of learning English without having to sacrifice Vietnamese (Wright, 2015, p. 20). In the interview, Mae mentions that although she communicates with our family and grandparents in Vietnamese, School was her greatest influence of English language development through small-group interventions that focused on everyday concepts in Elementary. In addition, after the video, she explained how she was able to incorporate her skills that she learned in the interventions and apply it when assisting exchange-students from Spain to become familiar with English through phonological and syntax (Wright, 2015, p. 35). Communication and encouragement are key factors that allow my sister to feel at ease with her L2 development.

After the video, I continued to interview my sister about her friends’ obstacles in learning English. Although my sister had no problem learning English, she helped her friend in building their vocabulary and comprehension through rewording instructions and conversing on a daily basis. She mentions that knowing basic words through children book is often a good start when first developing English. Her teachers were unable to rephrase the instructions to “where students are able to draw [attention] on what they know and can do in one language to make new meanings in another (Wright, 2015, p. 40). In order for students to succeed in their courses, teachers must take account of the cultural differences of their students and be flexible of adjusting their instructions. Although Mae's teacher did not allow a positive reinforcement, it challenged her friends to reach out for help from their peers. After interviewing my sister, I really hope to be as flexible as possible with my ESL students. I will be able to provide the additional resources such as library books, but I hope to build a strong rapport to where my students will discuss their struggles.

Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition


Here is the link if it does not play below: >> click me !! <<

Entry #1: Introduction

Michelle Lam's Blog

Hello, welcome to the first entry of my Blog! My name is Michelle Lam. I am pursing a Teaching and Learning Degree with a certification of 4-8th grade for Science at the University of Houston.

Here is the link if it does not play below: >> click me !! << 

When ELLs are pulled out of class-time, they are given face-to-face small group instructions – which allows the student to focus on the quality of their language development. According to Wright, “ELLs are entitled to (1) high-quality language instruction to develop proficiency in English and (2) high-quality academic instruction across the content areas” (Wright, 2). This quote stands to be true after through personal experiences and observing through field observations. Activities my elementary instructors used during these ESL sessions consisted of: analyzing a variety of stories to build main and sub-concepts, identifying homophone vocabulary as well as building content-specific vocabularies. However, I feel like not all students dealt with the same positive benefits as I did in ESL. In order to ensure the parents and students this benefit, I would communicate with both parents and ESL teachers to take note of how I could improve the learning experience for the students in my classroom and lessons. These notes or recordings can be done daily, weekly, or monthly.

Another point I would like to address is the Socioeconomic Status (SES). Wright stated, “…high rates of poverty are strongly associated with low levels of educational achievements” (Wright, 13). In reference to the quote above, I would like to have a classroom library for my students and the opportunity to research during classroom time. In my perspective, if I allow my students to be given these opportunities, they will also be able to ask questions from their peers and myself. For my classroom library, I would definitely like to include a few popular language dictionaries such as Spanish and Vietnamese- which is known to be quite popular in Houston, Texas.


Wright, Wayne. Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory, Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, 2015. Print. Second Edition.