Blog 1 Interviews

I had the pleasure of interviewing two ESL (English as a Second Language) teachers on Tuesday, April 23rd.  I originally anticipated that I would be an advocate of children diagnosed with Autism, but found that the this subject was not only too broad, but also can be a sensitive matter to both parents and children.  Therefore, I chose to focus my research on the area of teaching English as a second language to young children (ages 3 to 5).  This is an area of a child's education that I am truly passionate about, but I will get into that in a moment.

The first ESL teacher I interviewed teaches English as a second language to young adults (15 - 18 years of age).  She believes that it is imperative that the parents of these kids become more involved with the lessons provided in the classrooms.  It is obvious to most that young adults that have parents that use English as a second language will have an upper hand when compared to young adults trying to learn English as a second language for the first time.  However, parent involvement with their child's studies in either case has shown to expedite their child's grasp for English comprehension.  It was this teacher's contention that a lack of school programs within Illinois to help students learn English as a second language would definitely limit job opportunities and in some cases create resentment between family members.  In other words, young adults learning English as a second language feel empowered and more confident on the road to success.  This teacher feels that the lack of ESL programs within schools should be addressed through comprehensive Immigration Reform.

The second ESL teacher I interviewed teaches English as a second language to young kids (3 - 5 years of age). She believes in what she calls "Family Literacy".  She essentially is echoing the first teacher interviewed by stating both the parents and the child form a pact to help each other learn English as a second language.  She claims that when working with young children and parents it is important to create a lesson plan that resonates within them and is oriented around the family's interests.  Like the ESL teacher for young adults, she too believes that advocacy efforts for ESL programs within schools begins with Immigration Reform. 

I absolutely believe there needs to be greater awareness of ESL programs within schools, but it can be difficult to bring the sometimes heated discussion of Immigration Reform into the classroom especially for young kids.  Being a part of a child's language development and to be able to nurture a student's ability to comprehend a second language can be such a rewarding experience.  This is why I have chosen to be an advocate for teaching English as a second language to kindergartners and not to promote government change.  I feel very fortunate to get the feedback I did from the professionals I had interviewed.  Their passion for teaching and shaping young minds was felt through and through.  Their responses helped me to narrow down my focus for ESL teaching programs in school to language/vocabulary, phonics (sounding off), and literacy (writing/reading). 

I would be very interested in hearing everyone's feedback whether or not my research paper should include, at least to some extent, the topic of Immigration Reform and the relationship to ESL school programs.  More to the point, should I include information related to Immigration Reform within my research paper if I my main focus is teaching English as a second language to young kids?