Ashley Kunkle

EDU- 31222
Prof. Stephanie LaQua
Assignment 3
The video English Language Learners: Culture, Equity and Language
brought some interesting insight to how English Learners feel in the
classroom when they are underestimated and undervalued. It was heart
breaking to hear about the struggles brought on during learning. It is
something I could not imagine, knowing how to do the task/assignment in
class but not being able to express myself because I dont speak the
language. I have worked with EL students during my entire teaching career
and it wasnt until I moved to California that I received training on teaching
EL students. The training has greatly opened my eyes to WHY some of my
previous students may have struggled so much. It wasnt that they were lazy
or that they didnt care about their grades or their parents didnt care about
the grades, it was because of the language barrier that was never address by
my school because EVERY student was an EL. In order to be culturally
responsive, I feel that our school should have not only taught us about the
customs of the country, but they should have also taught us about the
language. I feel that they should start to vary the instruction for students
coming in to the school. Students should be tested for their language ability
and then placed in the proper class so they can be successful and receive
the proper support.
The way it was viewed was that I was teaching at an American
School so all students had to know English to be admitted; and yet, there is
no training on how to effectively help the students develop proficiency in
English. I can picture a couple of my previous students just sitting in the
back, seeming to not care when really it was probably a language barrier. In
the video, one of the teachers mentioned that as a teacher our goal is to
meet the learning needs of out students. I think I fell short during my first
year, and possibly a little during my second and third year, but now, in my
fourth year of working with EL students, I feel like I am finally taking the
steps to truly meet my students learning needs. I am more focused on their
language abilities in both reading and writing. I am implementing more
collaborative techniques to encourage conversation and oral language
development.
I have also discovered the importance of fine-tuning the primary
language to enhance the understanding of the L2 language. This was also
touched on in the video by one of the first grade teachers. She said that she
had parents say they did not teach their students Spanish at home and she
immediately stopped them and told them no, I WANT you to teach your child
Spanish. Another teacher in the video mentioned that by encouraging the
home language to still be spoken it gives the culture and language value,
something she didnt fell during her education. According to the video, 5.3
million public school students are ELs; they bring so much diversity to our

classrooms and we need to celebrate them! By encouraging the primary

language growth, teachers are showing they value students backgrounds
and experiences. This increases our culturally responsiveness as educators
because if we encourage students and families to embrace their own culture,
they will feel important and their self-esteem as a learner will begin to
increase.
Bibliography
English Language Learners: Culture, Equity and Language. National
Education Association, Jan. 2012. Web. 16 Jan. 2016.