Hannah Lavendier Nick Baribeau Jenna Beckley

MAP Interview Questions:

1. What made you interested in ESL instruction? a. My father came to the USA and went to school here when there was not any kind of an ELL program. He went through many hardships. I also struggled in school because of cultural misunderstandings, and this is why I wanted to be ELL certified. 2. What experience have you had with ESL instruction? a. I helped create the ELL program used at LSC. I have taught ELL for 11 years. I have trained many content teachers as well. 3. Why do you think ESL instruction is important? a. We live in the USA, a land of immigrants. The reality of it all is that we are very global, and we must be prepared to teach ALL children. 4. What do you think is the biggest issue with ESL instruction in public schools?

a. Content teachers not being trained. I strongly believe that ALL student studying to become teachers must have training and understand of ELL students and teaching methods. 5. What do you think is the best solution for this issue? a. ELL education built into the undergrad teaching program 6. What do you think is the most important thing for an ESL teacher to teach? a. Teach content teachers how to modify their lessons, so ELL students have a fighting chance to learn their material. b. Teach ELL students English patterns (sentence patterns) and basic daily language needs. 7. What would you like non-ESL students/teachers to know about ESL instruction? a. Non-ESL / ELL student: compassion, empathy, a sense of wanting to help the ELL student. b. Teachers: It takes a person up to 7 years to truly learn a language, so they need to learn to modify lessons, homework, and learn ELL strategies to help their ELL student learn and survive. 8. Do you think funding for ESL programs should grow?

a. Yes 9. What are the most common frustrations that ESL teachers face? a. Content teachers believing that its only the ELL teachers responsibility to teach the ELL student. b. Content teachers not understanding that they can easily apply ELL strategies to their lesson. 10. What are the most common frustrations that ESL students face? a. Everything: culture, language, school procedures, understanding material, and completing homework 11. What do you believe is the ideal ESL class? (class size, amount of diverse languages, what is taught, amount of meeting time, etc.) a. First it depends on what grade level you are talking about. At Tecumseh we have done a few things and they all worked. It changed because of the number of ELL students we had. We had a pull out method. In this style I taught an ELL class (language / English class). They also had a resource period with me and this was used to pre/re teach other content materials. We also team taught for awhile. I would actually be in all the content classes

with the students and we could teach the lesson and I would apply ELL strategies as needed. 12. How much do you expect the parents to contribute to the students ESL education? a. We are a team, so parents must be as involved as possible. 13. What would you like to see in the community to bring awareness to ESL instruction? a. More cultural acceptance b. More workshops open to all teachers, aides, students, parents, and volunteers