VBlog#2
Mailen's Blog- VBlog #2
For my second vBlog, I decided to interview my friend, Christofer! Christofer and I both came from Cuba at around the same age and we also attended the same schools growing up. I was very excited to interview him and to see if we had any differences and/or similarities as English Language Learners.
In this interview, Christofer tells us about his childhood and how he had to adapt to moving to a new country and learning a new language. Christofer and his family, like many other immigrant families, moved to the United States looking for a better life. By the time he arrived in the United States, he was in the 4th grade. While he was in the 4th grade, he was placed in bilingual classes. Being placed in a bilingual classroom was very helpful to Christofer. He was able to learn English very fast and he was also able to make many friends. He talks about how being able to make friends helped him accelerate his English because in order to communicate with them, he would have to practice his English. He was only able to practice his English in school and with his friends because his family only spoke Spanish at home. The only other person who spoke English at home was his older brother, who was in middle school when they came to the US. His older brother struggled to learn English more than Christofer. This was due to the fact that he was older, and was already more accustomed to speaking Spanish. His older brother also struggled to speak English because he had a hard time due to his Spanish accent.
By the time Christofer moved to 5th grade, he was already placed in English classes. Learning English was very easy for Christofer, he says that it came more naturally to him. (I could not relate to this, because I was in ESL from 2nd-5th grade.) Fast forward to today, Christofer and his brother are both fluent English speakers and they are both at the same level. Although they both speak English to each other, they still speak Spanish at home. “The home language is viewed as a resource. It is used for instructional purposes and further developed even after ELLs have attained sufficient proficiency in English to handle English-medium instruction.” (Wright, 2019 P. 105).
I sometimes feel that I have lost touch with my Spanish because I tend to forget some words here and there, but that is not the case for Christofer. He talks about how he often finds himself counting in Spanish, and thinking in Spanish as well. I enjoyed learning more about Christofer and seeing our differences as ELLs!
Thank you for reading my vBlog! 😁
Hi Mailen!
ReplyDeleteListening to you and your friend talked about how life was like when you all were little reminded me the same for me. We didn't have technology like today and we made creative games to pass the time in Texas! The resources we had back then to pass the time was indeed special.
It sounds like your friend had great teachers when he moved, I wonder if he spoke some English to his family, such as his mother and father, as he got older so he could teach them some English, like a tutor to them? You also sound amazing in your pronunciation too, Mailen! (Sorry for the extra comment, did not see the 100 words so I added more here!)
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ReplyDeleteHi Mailen,
ReplyDeleteI connect a lot with your video just because I moved here at the age of 14 from Venezuela. My childhood was very similar just because I spent a lot of time outside with friends and siblings playing and having a lot fun. It was very different fro me because I didn't know anything any English and the culture from here, I was able to make friends but it took me a while to get used to everything. Attending school was hard, just because I was afraid of speaking English ad people making of me because of my accent. I was only allowed to speak Spanish at home and only English in school so having to have the transition from it was hard a little hard but ten years later I can talk in both languages easily.
Hi Mailen, I really enjoyed watching your interview and hearing about your friends journey learning English growing up. Ive learned a lot hearing other peoples perspectives and stories. I think as future teachers it is really important to understand the culture and difficulties ELL students might face and ways to help them the best we can while learning English. Thank you for sharing your interview with your friend!
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