VBLOG: ENTRY 3

JAIME BARNETT

The individual I chose to interview is Jaime Barnett. Jaime is ESL certified and has been teaching kindergarten through first grade for over 16 years! Jaime is my mentor teacher. I am very blessed and thankful that she is so, very willing to assist me with my journey in school!

CLICK HERE to learn more about her experiences! 

REFLECTION:

Interviewing Jaime was an amazing opportunity! As a certified ESL teacher and an individual with experience in teaching English Language Learners for over 16 years, Jaime offered some valuable insight. Jaime shared her experiences of what it is like to work with ELL's within the classroom. 

The school in which Jaime teaches, implements the "Mainstream" Program Model. In this model, ELLs are taught content in the English language. The societal aim for this model is 'assimilation' and the aim in language outcome is English monolingualism. Wright states that monolingual forms of education are the weakest of all of the programs because they make little to no use of ELLs' home languages. Instead, they aim for cultural and social assimilation of students, and "frequently result in the loss of students' ability to speak their first language, that is, they result in subtractive bilingualism" (Wright, 2015, p.114). These students do not have the opportunity to learn and excel in their home language. 

After speaking more in depth (off video) with Jaime regarding the demographics at the school in which she teacher, it became clear that the ELLs population is very low, compared to some neighboring schools. Thus, Bilingual Education is not as high of a priority as it may be in the surrounding schools. Jaime stated that in her 16 years of teaching at the same school, she has never met a student who has entered the school only knowing their home language. Jaime stated that when students have qualified for ESL, that it is predominantly because at home the parents speak another language.  Thus, Jaime’s' experience is mostly working with ELLs who speak/write in two languages, but in school, they only use English as the language of instruction.

Assimilation is the ideology behind the melting pot. Assimilation leads to immigrants abandoning their language and culture to become Americans (Wright, 2015, p.19). This is an outdated, flawed, way of thinking. This makes my heart sad. Our society should be encouraging acculturation. This allows immigrant and their children to adapt to the new language and culture without having to sacrifice their own (Wright, 2015, p.20). We should strive to promote our students in growing in their home language, as well as, the dominant language of our society (English). Growing in both languages allows our students to maintain an intact social and cultural identity, while still learning the target language. We are unique and offer a variety of characteristics and qualities. Finding ways to have everyone contribute those in their own way creates a much more well-rounded world. Thus instead of assimilation, our schools should be focusing on acculturation. 

In conclusion, I really appreciated a perspective of what it is like to work with ELLs inside the classroom. I look forward to gaining insight and utilizing the knowledge within my classroom to better assist my ELLs. 

I want to personally thank Jaime Barnett for not only sharing her experiences with me, but also allowing me to share her experiences with others! Hearing first hand has helped me gain a better perspective outside my limited personal experience in second language methodology!

REFERENCES:

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