CUIN 4303

For my teacher interview I interviewed Lena Hernandez. She is a teacher at Gonzales High School in Gonzales, Texas. Lena teaches Spanish 2, 3, and 4 AP, and is also the English Language Learners chair at her school. She has noticed that while teaching English Language Learners they tend to struggle most with understanding that their teachers are not able to speak Spanish, though they are ESL certified, they are not required to learn Spanish. Students also feel that their expectations are set just as high as those students who already speak English, which is not the case. The students need to understand that it is beneficial for them to be bilingual and learn English, because in today's society it is essential to be able to speak English. It is the most common used language and without it, it is hard to communicate with those around you. Please watch my video to learn more about what Lena has to say about English Language Learners. Click here to watch my video

For this interview I choose to interview a close friend of mine, Monica Medina. She was born in Houston, Texas but Spanish was her first language. Monica did not begin speaking English until she was in the fourth grade meaning she was a late bilingual, which is defined as, " someone who has become a bilingual later than childhood" (Gass & Selinker, 27) . To learn a second language is a difficult task for anyone, but someone to go through the public school system for 4 years speaking Spanish then have to begin not only learning another language, but also learning in another language is a task. Lucky for Monica she is a quick learner and was able to pick up on the new language rapidly. She also had a good teacher guiding her threw her language learning process which made it easier for her to be able to pick up on her English. Though at home they mainly speaking Spanish, through interactions at school with friends and teachers she was able to the English language to her voca...

Hi my name is Nayab Vapiwalla, I am currently a senior at the University of Houston. I grew up in a bilingual household but was not bilingual myself until I was about 12-13 years old. I feel that in today's society it is essential to be able to speak two languages simply because America is such a melting pot now and there is such a diverse amount of people here. Also being able to speak more than one language gives some people an advantage in the work force. In high school unlike a normal student, I decided to take American Sign Language, though it is not as resourceful as Spanish might have been I feel that it has helped me, and going into education it is still going to be beneficial. Click here to watch my video