Interview with Bilingual Teacher

(Sorry for the background noises we were at school so the bell kept going off and teachers kept coming into the work room).

I interviewed Ms. Zapata in this interview I learned about her students and their English language learning. During this interview she had mentioned that her students will write in English but then integrate Spanish into it also. I have noticed from most ELLs that English is more complicated to learn and the decoding and blending of words can be tough. According to Wright, "Phonology is the study of the sound systems of languages, segmental phonology focuses on the discrete sounds within a language, called phonemes (p.31). Which brings me to when Ms. Zapata said that when working with ELLs you need to have a lot of patience. Even though I am not an ELL I can only imagine how difficult and challenging it is for them to learn a new language especially at such a young age. You have to be patience with these students and answer any questions that they have and let them know that you are there to help and keep guiding them no matter how hard it may be. Whenever I asked her about the different methods that she uses in her classroom, it stuck out to me that she said they will read or talk in Spanish and make sure the students know that it is going to be a part of their lives. That really stuck out to me because since these students are so young they may not understand how important it is to learn English because all they know at home is Spanish. Ms. Zapata makes it really clear to her students that they are not just learning English to learn it that it is important to their daily lives and it will continue to be. Throughout this interview I really had a chance to see her passion for teaching and helping her first graders learn English.