VLOG 4: REFLECTION

               I have learned a significant amount of information in this course that I didn’t know before regarding Second Language Acquisition. I really enjoyed learning about how second language learners learn best and the information that teachers like ourselves can use to help our future ELL’s. For example, English Language learners benefit from being immersed into the language that they are learning inside and outside of school settings. I also liked how we learned about all perspectives of second language acquisition and I believe that the books that we used helped a lot in the way that I learned about second language learners as well.

              I feel like that this course will impact my career as a professional teacher in so many ways. During my student teaching, I had a few English language learners in my classroom and one that was considered a beginner and everything that I learned from the basics to the strategies taught me how I can effectively teach my ELL’s. But, in the future, I will be able to use these texts as a resource and all that I have learned in this course to help my future ELL’s and to make sure that they stay motivated and are given everything they need to be able to learn their new-found language. I would have loved to have a textbook that talked about specific strategies we can use in our classroom. I know we learned about a lot of them, but I would have loved to know even more ways in regard to specific grade levels.

              I think my favorite part of this course was being able to talk to other people who know so much about second language acquisition. I believe that I learned so much more through the Vlogs because I got to hear about personal experiences as well as learn about what strategies were most effective for my interviewee during the ESL teacher vlog. I learned a lot from the bilingual teacher in regard to what factors work best and what goes into planning for an ELL student. I felt that I was able to use these new learned ideas with my own ELL student in student teaching. I also gained a lot of insight into what it’s like for an ELL student when I interviewed my friend. I had known her for almost 10 years but didn’t truly know how much she struggled as a second language learner and it gave me more sympathy as well as insight on what works best with new second language learners.

              Overall, I felt that this course was beneficial in regard to being a elementary teacher. I now have more understanding for my future ELL’s and will be able to know how to make sure that they are progressing when learning their new second language. I met a lot of great people and found out so much information during this course that I would have not known before. But, I wish there would have been more information on strategies to use in the classroom.