ELL reflection

Language in the United States is a very hot topic and I really enjoyed the way our guest speaker introduced the topic and how he was able to bring his personal experiences into it. For me, this topic strikes a lot of cords and I think that how I educate my students is definitely going to change after the discussions we had in class. I regrettably do not know any other languages besides English. I took Spanish from grade 7 to grade 10, but was not very successful and did not really enjoy it too much. Whether from lack of interest or from a particularly bad experience with a particularly bad teacher, I did not get anything out of learning a foreign language. However, as I got older and understood all the benefits of knowing more than one language, I began to regret my apathy towards Spanish in my younger years. Being able to communicate with my students who do not understand the content I am teaching them in English is something that I strive to achieve. I fully intend on making time to go back and acquire more language skills and maybe even travel to increase my chance of retaining the knowledge. I cannot accept the idea that I may loose students who for all other reasons are excellent students, just because there is a communication barrier. Furthermore, it is extremely important to me that all my students feel comfortable in my classroom and they never feel forced to shed any part of their identity. I am absolutely going to allow some native language speaking in my classroom, in fact I may encourage it.