Interview with a Bilingual Teacher
For this entry, I decided to interview Ms. Muskus, a bilingual
kindergarten teacher at Franz Elementary in Katy ISD. Ms. Muskus has been
teaching in a bilingual classroom for sixteen years, at
first in a preschool class and later in a kindergarten class.
Ms.
Muskus ensures that her students are receiving comprehensible input from her so
that they are successful in the acquisition of their L2. She does this by having
visuals in her classroom and helping students understand the connection from movement
to words. Gass & Selinker (2008, p. 484) note that “comprehensible input is
controlled by the person providing input…whereas comprehended input is
learner-controlled.” Thus, Ms. Muskus aids her students by teaching her
students in a way that they can relate their language learning to pictures and
actions. Additionally, Ms. Muskus believes that her students’ knowledge of
their first language can positively or negatively influence their learning rate
in learning their L2. She describes that a student who possesses more knowledge
of their native language tends to succeed better in learning their L2 than a
student who does not have as much knowledge of their L1. Ortega (2013, p. 42)
states, “Hakan Ringbom…has been a strong advocate of the idea that relevant knowledge
in the L1 can accelerate the rate of L2 learning.” Ms. Muskus explains that the
stronger a student’s vocabulary is in their L1, the better vocabulary the
student will develop when learning their L2.
Ms. Muskus
is a strong believer in the positive advantages of bilingual education and
feels that knowing a second language broadens one’s way of thinking. Moreover,
she mentions that knowing another language can enhance one’s learning.
Hi Krystal! I truly enjoyed your interview with Ms. Muskus; a lot of the things she said were very similar to the points Mrs. King, the second grade bilingual teacher I interviewed, had said. One of the similar points they made was about motivation and building the students' self confidence in terms of learning English as their second language. Both teachers build their students' motivation and understanding through engaging activities that involve hand movements, songs, and lot of modeling. Ms. Muskus also mentioned that she sees how much of a difference a student's knowledge in their first language affects their success in learning a second language. This kind of ties into what Ortega explains in her text. The author mentions, "difficulties in learning an L2 may be
ReplyDeleterelated to difficulties experienced during the most challenging aspect of L1 learning:
literacy" (Ortega, 2013, p.152). Overall, I must give props to teachers like Ms. Muskus. It takes a lot of patience teaching individuals a second language, and for her to dedicate her career to doing so is an amazing thing!
Hi Alya! I’m glad that you enjoyed my interview with Ms. Muskus and that you saw similarities in the points that our interviewees made. Gass & Selinker (2008, p. 426) note that “It makes sense that individuals who are motivated will learn another language faster and to a greater degree.” Thus, when students are encouraged to use their L2 and they are committed to learning their L2, then they are typically more successful in learning their L2 than students with less motivation.
DeleteHey Krystal! I really enjoyed your video with Mrs. Muskus. Ortega mentions a study that looked at the effects of L1 knowledge can have on a student’s L2. This aligns with what Mrs. Muskus had explained about L1 having either a positive or negative effect on their L2. Ortega states that, “the facilitative effects of L1 knowledge can be all too easily ignored, perhaps because instances of positive transfer are difficult to identify. By comparison, negative effects of L1 knowledge are much more noticeable and therefore have been more often investigated.” However, “both are important for a complete understanding of how second language acquisition works” (2013, p. 42). It is important to remember that a L1 can have either a positive or negative effect on a L2, which is a statement Mrs. Muskus brought to light in her interview.
ReplyDeleteOrtega, L. Understanding Second Language Acquisition. New York: Routledge; 2013.
Hi Kallie! I’m glad that you enjoyed my interview with Ms. Muskus. It’s interesting that you brought up how a student’s knowledge of their L1 can influence their success in learning their L2. Ortega (2013, p. 44) states, “Information structure of the L1 can have a profound influence on grammatical and discursive choices learners make in their L2, but the effects are difficult to diagnose.” This describes that when students make decisions about what they say or write in their L2, their knowledge of the grammar used in their L1 can impact their understanding of grammar in their L2.
DeleteHey Krystal!
ReplyDeleteYour interview with Mrs. Muskus was similar to mine with Mrs. Ruiz in a lot of ways. I enjoyed listening to her point of view and especially whenever she discussed how she pulls motivation from her students. I feel like singing and dancing especially is what all students can respond too, especially kinder! When she mentioned that she has to use pictures and visuals in a sense to draw a connection for her students that are bilingual. My teacher expressed the same accommodations as well for her 2nd graders. Ortega mentions that previous language knowledge is an important source of influence on L2 acquisition (Ortega 2013, Pg.30).
Hi Alyssa!
DeleteI’m glad that you liked listening to Ms. Muskus’ thoughts on language learning in the classroom. Additionally, it’s interesting that you pointed out that a student’s knowledge of their L1 can play a big role in the way that the student understands their L2. Ortega (2013, p. 46) explains, “With time and increasing proficiency, the tendency to transfer the information structure of the L1 in order to frame ideas in the L2 may gradually diminish, but the process may be rather slow.”
Hi Krystal!
DeleteWhen watching your interview it truly did remind me of my teacher and her interview that is why I enjoyed it so much! And yes I completely agree that a student being confident and familiar within their L1 can transfer greatly when picking up on their L2. Ortega makes a very interesting point because without that structure in their L1 the structure for their L2 might not be as progressed so it is very important.
Hi Krystal! I enjoyed watching your interview with Ms. Muskus. You asked some questions in the end that I have never thought about as a bilingual. I grew up being told how being bilingual has advantages and will help me with my career choice. Ms. Muskus mentioned in the end how the students understanding of their L1 will reflect how they learn their L2. She talked about their vocabulary and how they speak at home. I had never thought of this, but she has a point. If the student is struggling with their L1 then it is going to be harder to learn a second language. I kind of think about this as when we start handwriting. We start the kids with the basic letters like a and c because they will help them later on when they need to do the letters d and p for example. Having that first step or in this case language down will give the student confidence to move on to the next language. Not only confidence but they will have strategies and a mentality to help them learn. I know in your reflection you mentioned Hakan Ringborn and his research. In his research he found that native Swedish speakers had an easier time learning English than Finnish speakers because of the similarities of the language (Ortega, 2013, p. 42). So, I think on top of being in expert in their L1, learning a language similar to the L1 makes the process easier as well.
ReplyDeleteHi Alessandra! I’m happy that you enjoyed watching my interview with Ms. Muskus. Additionally, it’s intriguing that you brought up that being bilingual has its advantages. For instance, Ortega (2013, p. 48) acknowledges, “The accumulating evidence suggests that knowledge of two (or more) languages can accelerate the learning of an additional one.” Thus, bilingual students are likely to be able to learn a third language successfully if they are comfortable with using both their L1 and L2.
DeleteHi Krystal! I found it really interesting that the teacher you interviewed incorporated activities like singing and dancing to keep students motivated in the lessons. As Ortega state, students learn a lot better when they have a form of motivation to keep them interested in learning a second language. I also agree with what your teacher said about student motivation in school and how she teaches students who are bilingual. The visuals she said she uses as well as sentence starters are both things that I have heard that bilingual teachers will do to make sure their students are learning the language properly.
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ReplyDeleteHello Krystal! It was interesting listening to Ms. Muskus’ perspective about motivation and how she adjust her lesson plans to be flexible with her students. Motivation does not just appear in young students, but in adults as well. Wright mentions that motivation has an intensity level, which can explain how much effort people reportedly expend in learning the language (Ortega, 2009, p. 169). In addition, there are different scales for attitudes and the desire to learn as well. All students should find their comfort level of enjoyment when learning a language, and I believe it has a lot to do with how the teacher present their lesson. If the teacher could help students achieve mastery through intrinsic motivation, they will be able to apply it other content not just through language learning.
ReplyDelete** Sorry! I put the wrong author for the citation.