Entry 3

For this blog post, I interviewed Mrs. Carolina Brown. She is a bilingual teacher who grew up in the town of Seguin, Texas. Mrs. Brown learned to speak her second language of Spanish as a young child, but always felt that she was more proficient in her first language of English since it was the dominant language that was spoken at home. During our interview, I asked questions in regard to the methods she would use to help her students in the adaptation process, her views about bilingualism, and the advantages she feels students with bilingual backgrounds could attain. In the school district she used to work for, Mrs. Brown was fortunate enough to be able to pull kids from non core classes like specials and P.E, this allowed her to work with kids one on one to help them reach a high proficiently level in the English language. Wright states that "linguistic environments, particularly in naturalistic settings . . . but also in today's communicative classrooms, comes to learners in the midst of oral interaction with one or more interlocutors, rather than as exposure to monologic spoken or written discourse (Wright, 2015). This explains that the most important influence in regards to language learning will take place in the classroom and teachers like Mrs. Brown will account for being the mediators that allow this kind of learning to take place. Wright also states, “knowing the students’ home language or languages allows the teacher to provide primary language support that can accelerate the student’s acquisition of English and comprehension of academic instruction” (Wright, p.17). This defends the point of students being able to become fully proficient in a language when given the right resources, guidance, and environment in which they are able to excel in. The following interview will depict Mrs. Brown's experiences with bilingual teachings: >>CLICK HERE<<

For this blog entry I interviewed my neighbor Brian Hernandez. The questions I asked were based from readings we have done in the chapters. I formulated questions based on his experiences with knowing a second language, the adaptation process he had to go through, the importance of language revitalization, and his opinion of childhood bilingualism. Brian expressed to me that it was quite difficult for him to learn the English language when it was not the dominant language spoken in his household. As Wright states, “The effort to maintain or develop a home culture while learning and adjusting to American culture is neither a simple nor straightforward process” (Wright, 2015). Although Brian shared his struggles with me, he does feel that knowing both Spanish and English have been beneficial to his upbringing in the way that he is able to communicate with a larger population, especially growing up and currently living in a diverse city like Houston where he is able to be adaptable to different kinds of people. We also discussed the advantages and disadvantages that he believes come with integrating another language into children's cognition at an early age. As Wright explains in the text, "Children should be able to adapt to the new language and culture without having to sacrifice their own" (Wright, 2015). Brian was fortunate enough to receive assistance in elementary school that not only allowed him to keep his culture, but it made the integration process a smooth transition. He feels that both Spanish and English extenuate his identity and foundational traditions, since he grew up with both. When asking Brian about his views of learning a second language as a child in the United States public school system, I found many differences and similarities in comparison to the authors beliefs. You will have the opportunity to hear about the topics we discussed in the following video post: CLICK HERE

Hi there!

Welcome to the first entry of my blog. Click HERE to watch!