Fieldnote Blog Entry #2

Teaching Issues:
A major issue in my classroom is the program that we use and the amount of time, or lack there of, to present it. It is a good program but it is designed for a 90 minute block. We do not have that much time. I feel like we are not giving the students what they need because of this. I think it may be more beneficial to students to design our own lessons around the actual time frame in which we have students. Grouping students can also difficult. With varying levels of students, I sometimes struggle with how to group them. Teaching ESL in general can be difficult because of the lack of support. Some people in education really have no idea of the importance of this program and it shows in the decisions that they make.

Second Language Acquisition:
In the classroom, I set aside the first few minutes to talk with my students. I ask them how their day has been, if they enjoyed lunch, or what they did the night before. In this, I may introduce vocabulary or build on prior knowledge. This serves as an icebreaker. They are comfortable and more willing to participate in the lesson after doing this. However, I do set a time limit so that the students know when it is time to do"real work." This works well with my students. If I have a substitute I leave specific dialogs for him or her to use with students.

Ethnographic Perspective:
I have found that to meet the needs of my students I must try to understand who they are, what they like, and how they feel. I have students who were born in the United States and yet speak little English. Some of my students are as American as me in everything but the language that they speak. I incorporate cultures from around the world in order to give my students more of a globalized view of the world. We now live in a global community and our ELLs should take part in it.