Blog 4

The introduction to Jane D. Hill’s book Classroom Instruction that Works with English Language Learners is fantastic!

Language is the air that we breathe and the water in which we swim. It comes as naturally to us as seeing the sky or digesting our food. It is as vital part of us as our name and personality. But what if we suddenly had to breathe different air or swim in different waters? What if we consciously had to think about selecting the words we were going to say, getting them in the right words, applying the correct grammatical rules and using the correct pronunciation? If we had to think about not only what we say but also how to say it, the language overload would be exhausting. (1)

This paragraph clearly explains what language is. It is the necessary and surrounding phenomenon that humans need to communicate to one another. Hill’s paragraph was a great introduction to the experience I would have this week. My task for blog 4 was to choose a text in a language unfamiliar at a level that I should be proficient at considering my age. I began this task by scanning for a book in Spanish that I thought I would like (ok, I was basing my likely hood of reading a book on the cover). I found a book that I thought to be interesting. I flipped through pages trying to make meaning out of the words. I soon realized that I only recognized three words on the entire page. I am obviously not advanced or even intermediate reader in Spanish (I figured this much).

I moved to the young adult books in Spanish. These were a bit easier for me to understand but not by much. These books had two or three undetailed pictures throughout the book. I looked for words that were similar to English words and the sight words I learned 15 years ago. I scanned the pages for numbers, dates and locations. I could read small phrases but could not understand the content I was reading. I already felt tired of reading as my brain struggled to remember sentence structure, accents and vocabulary words. I am not in the speech emergence stage of Spanish.

I then found my section of books! The children’s Spanish book case at Barnes and Noble. I flipped, happily, through different Spanish children’s books. These books had fantastic and detailed illustrations, many had easy dialogue. A few of the books I found had the Spanish at the top of the page and English on the bottom.

Here are the ways I tried to make meaning out of Spanish text.

- Looked for words similar to English words: territory= territorio

- Looked for sight words such as: con, un, de a, y, los, en, muy, no, si, entre, gracias, el, la

- Numbers such as: una, dos, tres,..ect

- Looked for specific locations such as: Estados Unidos, Texas, Colorado,

- Specific Dates

- I tried to remember verb tenses of words (with minimal luck)

- Looked for pictures

- Looked for slow dialogue

I am at the end of the preproduction stage and the early production stage. I have limited reading comprehension. I can produce one or two word responses and am able to participate in conversations using key words and familiar phrases. I need a lot of pictures, details, many sight words, slow dialogue, English text near, clear genders and easy verb tense.

This activity was an eye opening experience. I never experienced how difficult it was to learn another language without support from fluent speakers. I took for granted the art of reading and comprehension and realized I need to support my ELL students as much as possible. Just because you hand a child a book, does not mean that they are going to be able to read it and understand it. Hill was correct; trying to find meaning out of a text is exhausting! I will remember this task and blog when I am helping my students in the classroom. I will provide my students scaffolding instruction and support so that they will learn content within the language.