Lopez-Castro1

Ruth Lopez-Castro

Washington State University

Nalee Moua

TCH_LRN 333 ELL Interview

February 18, 2019

 Lopez-Castro2

The non – native English speaker I chose to interview is a friend I know from my

hometown; her name is Karla. Karla is 19 years old and she was born and raised in the United

States. She grew up speaking Spanish at home and she still does, but she was also learning

English from her brother at the same time (Appendix A). Although I did not record our

discussion due to Karla’s wishes, I took very well notes. Karla and I had our interview face – to

– face in Sequim, Washington on February 16th at 6:30 p.m. I have known Karla for almost my

whole life. It seems that we became friends and were able to connect from our culture. We live in

a small town and whenever there is one Mexican party, the majority of Mexicans and their

families attend. I chose to interview Karla because I am comfortable around her and I know she

can easily hold a conversation and could go into great depth about her experience. I have many

other friends who are non – native English speakers but a few of them can get shy and may not

have given me enough information. I believe Karla was the best interviewee for the project.

I learned many new things about Karla through this assignment. I learned that she was

never pulled out of class to work with another teacher. Karla has an older brother that started

teaching her English when she was about four years old. This is when he was in grade school and

was able to translate. Her brother was taken out of class to work with another teacher because he

was not exposed to English at home, during this time their parents barely spoke any English but

now they do. Karla’s parents learned to speak English to be able to have a greater variety of

work options and to be able to communicate with the people around them. Although Karla was

not an English Language Learner pull out, she still always felt odd to have to speak a different

language than the peers around her during field trips, etc. as a kid, mainly because the

communication barrier of everyone else not knowing what she was saying. She also did not face

any stereotypes while learning English, because her brother taught her at home at a very young
 Lopez-Castro3

age. By the first grade she considered herself fully proficient in using English because she was

able to make friends on her own and communicate her needs without the help of anyone

(Appendix A).

After interviewing Karla, I believe we have similar opinions on what a language is. Karla

believes a language is a way to communicate with the people around you and that structure,

consistency, and patterns are components that form a language. This idea is very similar to what

I learned in the textbook. It states a language is any signs, written words/symbols, or verbal way

of communication (Wright, 2015, p. 28). The component that was believed to form a language in

the 1840s to the 1940s was the grammar – traditional method but there was no theory behind this

idea (Wright, 2015, p.60). The Natural approach is the approach many teachers use because it is

becoming more popular. The approach includes educators using many techniques in their

teaching skills, like visuals and group work that involves communication (Wright, 2015, p.61).

Karla believes teaching a language is introducing new concepts in an organized manner by

attaching steady words to them. She said she would teach language by showing an object/idea

visually and saying the word. Her technique of teaching a language is similar to the natural

approach because they both involve using total physical response. This idea also involves

interactions which is similar to Vygotsky’s theory, the zone of proximal development and

scaffolding (Wright, 2015, p.57). According to Karla, to know a language would be the level of

comfortability you have when using the language. She believes using a language is putting

together words in your own strategic way to express your own ideas accurately (Appendix A).

This idea comes from a sociocultural perspective, which means knowing a language means to be

able to use it effectively (Wright, 2015, p.36).

 Lopez-Castro4

Karla and I have very similar cultures, both our families are from Mexico, but we still

have some things that are done differently than in other families. It was interesting to hear her

perspective on how English has affected someone who is a non – native English speaker that

shares many of the culture things as me. Overall, I believe we both agree that learning English

did not in any way disconnect us from our cultures. Her reasoning for being able to still connect

with her culture is due to her very rooted family being around her often and carrying on the

traditions (Appendix A). I definitely agree with this. I think it all depends on how one's family

relates to the culture. I myself am very passionate about my culture because I have grown up

with a family who incorporates the culture into our lives. Culture is something that is very

different for everyone. Although Karla believes that no one can fully understand the different

aspects of a culture unless you are directly raised in the environment, she believes some parts of

her culture and stereotypes are fairly accurate in the American media. Karla values her culture

and the importance of learning new languages. Although she feels more fluent in English, she

prefers to speak Spanish and values it more because it helps her feel connected to her family and

makes her feel at home. She plans to teach her future children English and Spanish so they can

be able to communicate with many people, including their family (Appendix A). She hopes her

children will even take on the challenge as to learning a third language, because it could open

even more opportunities for them, and it might even help others feel comfortable.

I really enjoyed this activity because it helped me see things from other people's

perspectives. The interview with Karla went very well. We spent a good amount of discussing all

the questions and felt comfortable while doing so. Interviewing Karla helped me think of ways

that I can be a better teach and help teach my future ELL students more effectively. I have

learned so much from this course already, it has been very beneficial. I now believe second
 Lopez-Castro5

language teaching is the practice of showing a student the linguistics of a language. Language

teaching is helping a student learn and understand the language by gradually advancing the

material. I believe it is best to start out with the alphabet and communicating the different sounds

the letters make in different languages and how they are pronounced. I plan to teach my future

students through sociocultural perspectives on language learning and teaching with Vygotsky’s

zone of proximal development and scaffolding (ZPD). Sociocultural perspectives are to help

teachers address linguistic and cultural diversity of their students which allows teachers to learn

the relationship between English and the student to decide what technique best suits the student

to help them learn the academic content (Wright, 2015, p. 55). I believe the ZPD approach

would be very beneficial to students because I as an educator will help lead them along the way

and prepare them for the next step. I will make learning a social activity (Wright, 2015, p. 57).
 Lopez-Castro6

References

Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory,

and practice (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Caslon.

 Lopez-Castro7

Appendix A
1. What is a language?

2. What components form a language?

3. What is teaching a language and how would you teach it?

4. What does it mean to know and use a language?

5. Would you consider yourself more proficient in one language over the other? Why or

why not?

6. Did you feel different from the rest of the students in your class(es) since English was not

your native language? Why or why not?

7. What were some of the stereotypes you faced while learning English? a. How did it make

you feel?

8. Were you ever pulled out of class or had to leave during the middle of a lesson to work

with another teacher? If yes, how did it make you feel? Did you feel “different” since you

had to leave?

9. What advice would you give to me, a future teacher, on how I can better work with and

effectively teach ELLs, or culturally and linguistically diverse students?

10. Is translating between two languages hard? Why or why not?

11. Which language do you prefer to speak? Why?

12. Do your parents speak English? Why or why not?

13. Do you feel your culture is accurately represented in the American media? Why or why

not?

14. Did any of your close friends or family help teach you English? If yes, in what ways?

15. Do you feel like you’re still able to connect to your culture even though you have become

more proficient in English? Why or why not?

 Lopez-Castro8

16. Were there other ELLs you knew or connected with during the language learning

process?

17. Do you plan to teach children or family members English and/or your native language?

Why or why not?

18. When did you start learning English and for what purpose or reason?

19. At what point did you become fully proficient or comfortable using English? How did
you determine this?