One of the secondary classes I was assigned to was given a new student the second week into my being at Colegio La Salle. This student is from Bolivia and she arrived in Madrid a few weeks into the school year. After about a week of the teacher observing her, she assigned me to tutor her one-on-one each week I come to the school. I speak good enough Spanish to get by, but there is still a major language barrier here because my student does not speak nearly any English whatsoever. She is 14 years old and has a lower level of english than many of the Kindergarteners at the school. This has been my biggest struggle throughout my international practicum.
I knew teaching language was difficult but I never really knew HOW difficult. To review simple vocabulary and memorization is one thing, but to really teach a student how the english language works and when and where to use what is really no walk in the park. It is especially difficult because I can't always appropriately translate what I am trying to teach in the best Spanish. It has been a bit of a give and take. I am learning more about her and her level and what type of instruction is most effective for her, while she helps me to find the words in Spanish to make it all come together. I can understand most everything in Spanish just have difficulty speaking it myself, so usually when she explains to me what she thinks I am referring to, this is my way to assess whether she understands or not. When I know we have made a perfectly translated match, I know we are getting somewhere.
What has also been a struggle for me is that her teacher wants me to try my best to teach her the grammar or unit they are working on in the rest of the class. I understand that this would be ideal to get her on the same level as the rest of the students, but in my opinion this is simply not possible without a foundation that she just does not have. I'm talking she doesn't even know the alphabet or all the numbers, and we're suppose to expect her to understand past simple and past continuous verbs? I think this is where the main issue lies. Yes, this is unfortunate she didn't know English coming into the school, and yes she may need outside tutoring to get her up to grade level, but there is something that has to be done by the school to help her get to where she needs to be. This touches on a main issue I've seen in the US as well in the question whether or not students should be placed by age and grade level or by subject level?
I know this is a greater issue and isn't to be solved in a yes or no question, but I hope that she will continue to get extra one-on-one support after I am gone in 2 weeks. It is scary for me to leave her knowing that she might just continue to fall behind and this will effect her for the rest of her academic career. Also, one hour a week instruction from me wasn't nearly enough either. For her to be able to really learn and acquire the English language intense instruction needs to be given daily and she may be able to keep up with her classmates. I will be sad leaving her as we now have a nice relationship...but I hope the best for her future and hope that changes will soon be made all over the world in terms of students coming from different backgrounds and starting from square 1.
Hi Hillary, I read your post and can relate to many of the struggles you have experienced and realizations you have had. I am in Ecuador in a public school 1st grade class so everything is in Spanish. Thankfully I have 10 years of Spanish I have taken in school under my belt, however on one of the first weeks I went for my practicum, the teacher asked me if I could give an hour lesson every time I come to all the kids to learn English. Just like with your experience I am starting completely from scratch. Every single one of those kid's first word in English was yellow. My teacher also initially asked from me that I start with school supplies and school rules, etc. but there was no way I was going to get across this vocabulary to a whole class of 26 first graders without them knowing colors, numbers, etc. I was able to talk to my CT about this issue by the second or third week and from then on she left me to follow the path I wanted to take and I hope you made the decision to help this student in the most effective way possible. I have also had the issue that although they are in "first grade" most of the students are only 5 years old and therefore can't read and write in their first language. I think it is a great idea that you are using the ability this student has to demonstrate her understanding of the English you are teaching her using her first language and that is something I wish I was able to do more. I agree it is a difficult decision on placement of students in schools. I think for social development purposes it is important for students to be with other kids their own age for the majority of the day, however if the resources are available to provide outside tutoring or support for students to get extra help in certain subjects I think this is also very valuable. Although you will be leaving soon, all the effort you have put into both helping her with English and creating a relationship will not be forgotten by her and is only moving her forward from square 1.
ReplyDeleteHi HIllary, thanks for your reflection! I actually did my first prac in an ESL classroom at Brighton High School, so I am definitely very familiar with some of your struggles. Thankfully, however, that is a recognized program where ESL Level 1 is simply vocabulary - nouns and conversation words. As the students progress, the grammar is added and becomes more complex. However, now that I am in Italy and had no experience with the language until my first day of Italian 101 it is a whole different world. The things that you need right away to survive: "How much?" "Where's the bathroom?" "Right" "Left" "Stop" "Watch out" etc. are not things that you necessarily learn in the classroom. Also, it can be very frustrating to only have one tense in which you are able to communicate. Being on both sides of the issue has definitely helped me to see it differently and appreciate my students even more.
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