Fieldnote Blog Entry #2

Fieldnote Blog Entry #2

Section #1/ Teaching Issues

One of the problems observed which related to teaching was the limited amount of resources available with the reading program for ESL students. The reading series has an ESL workbook that provides one worksheet per lesson to supplement the story for the week. This is not enough to provide the practice and exposure necessary for vocabulary and comprehension.

Another problem that I see emerging is that the first group I work with (low intermediate first graders) is coming to me as they are finishing lunch. My time is limited with them, and I have to settle them down so they can focus. Then, when the rest of the class finally makes it into the room where we are working, they are distracted again. The two boys in this group can be easily distracted. I may have to find a hole somewhere.

Section #2/ Second Language Acquisition

Observed activities that worked well in promoting second language acquisition included the use of realia, role playing, and pictures for teaching vocabulary from the reading lesson. The children really enjoy taking part in acting out new vocabulary. In the reading, the baby fox “nips and tags” the mother fox. For this I was the baby, Diego played the mother. (The children were quite amused at Diego playing mother.) The children understood the “tag” part quickly because they play tag at recess. For “nip” I unexpectedly grabbed the bottom of Diego’s T-shirt with my teeth and quickly let go. After doing this a second time, and then settling them down, we discussed what was happening in our role playing and in the picture in the book. One of the children brought up the word “bite.” We then acted that out to note the difference. (Nobody was actually bitten.) Also as a part of vocabulary building, words were broken down into morphemes and word groups.

Section #3/ Ethnographic Perspective

To better meet the needs of my ESL students, it would be useful to know how much help and what kind of help each child receives at home. I know that in one family the parent is illiterate in both Spanish and English. I would like to know what resources all of my children have at home.

Because we were reading about a fox and its kit, I did ask the children what we call a fox and kit in Spanish. They could not think of the words. I told them, and one of the children recognized the words. Other than that, cultural relevance did not lend itself to this lesson. When it is applicable I do bring in the children’s prior knowledge or try to relate Spanish culture into what we are learning.

A concern I have about the reading material is that much of it is strongly related to American culture. This adds to the comprehension problem. For instance, in the Decodable Readers, all of the children have unfamiliar American names like Nat and Sal. Also there is no diversity in the people or situations in the text.