Madeline Bergstrom

ELL Teacher Interview

T&L 333
Student Name(s) Madeline Bergstrom

Interview Questions UNIT 1

-What type of ELLs do you have in your classroom? Describe.
-What challenges do ELL students in your classroom face and why?
UNIT 2
-What language is the easiest/hardest to transition to and why?
-Among the five subsystems of language, what proved to be the
most challenging for ELLs in your class and why?

UNIT 3
-What is the most effective way of teaching English and why?
-What is the biggest challenge while teaching ELL students and why?

UNIT 4
-Is the mandated testing effective or ineffective? Why?
-Do you agree or disagree with No Child Left Behind? Why or why
not?

UNIT 5
-What type of ELL program model(s) do you or your school use and
what is a typical day like for ELL students in the classroom?
-How effective do you feel your ELL program is in meeting the needs
of the ELLs?

UNIT 6
-What are your experiences with high-stakes tests and what impact
have they had on your ELLs?
-What advice do you have for other or future teachers of ELLs about
ELL assessment and why?
ELL Teacher The teacher I am going to interview is the main ELL teacher in my
moms elementary school. She is in her second year as a teacher
Information and was actually and ELL herself when growing up in her
elementary school years. I am excited to speak with her about the
schools pull out program and the effectiveness of it. Since the
school has a 25% emerging bilingual rate, she has had to and is still
working with many students from a variety of different
backgrounds.
Rationale/Significance I think it is important to speak with an ELL teacher in the district
that I am looking to teach in so that I can better understand what its
like to teach ELLs in that area. It is also interesting to talk with
someone who is leading the pull out program that many schools
seem to utilize for helping their ELLs learn English.
 On Monday, November 23, 2015, I interviewed Jovelle Lanzade (Lake Dolloff ELL

Instructor), the ELL pull-out specialist at my moms elementary school. We discussed a wide

variety of things including many of the questions originally placed into my original report. The

interview was held in the ELL pull-out classroom that she works out of, which gave me a better

understanding of some of the answers she gave to me regarding the set up and mode of

classroom she helps students in. During this time, I spent roughly 30-35 minutes discussing with

her various questions I had about her job and the interactions had with ELL students. Although

she is the specific ELL instructor for the elementary school as a whole, she also gave me insight

on what to expect in a traditional classroom that has English language learners in it, which is

what I will likely be teaching.

In this interview, I sat with her and asked the set questions previously decided upon as

well as natural follow up questions specific to her classroom and way of teaching. I learned that

the way the school helps their ELL students is through the means of pulling them out of their

traditional classrooms for focused instruction with 3-5 other students around similar levels of

English language proficiency. Many of her students were Spanish-speaking individuals with

Russian/Ukrainian native speakers to follow. At this school, there are approximately 105 current

ELL instructed students, yet a lot more students have been through the program. There are a

large amount of students from various backgrounds and ethnic identities in the school, and a

good majority of them are or once were ELL students. Roughly 80% of the students in Lake

Dolloffs ELL program were born in the United States (Lanzade). This supports the findings

from the textbook in chapter one which proposes that most ELLs were actually born in the US

rather than another country and did not come as a surprise to me when informed of the numbers.

When asked what the hardest thing about teaching English language learners, Lanzade
stated that the various native languages of the students makes it difficult for her to communicate

the meaning of words to them effectively. Since the groups are broken up based on language

ability levels rather than native languages, many students in her focus groups speak very

different native languages which can be extremely difficult when trying to help all of her

students comprehend the material presented. When teaching vocabulary, it is tough for her to

express the meaning of the words to each of the students since they all have unique

understandings of what they may mean. In the textbook, it suggests that multiple forms of

expression are quite helpful for ELLs when trying to learn new vocabulary words. For example,

Lanzade tries to show the word in many ways such as use of pictures, models, modeling (verbs),

written language, etc. when necessary so that her students can gain a full understanding of the

word and its meaning. So, not only do the children have an obvious language barrier, but also the

way in which they learn can range vastly between each person. Lanzade tells me that she utilizes

many forms of portrayal in order for all types of learners to gain the knowledge necessary to

succeed in the traditional classroom.

When we discussed the topic of testing, Lanzade revealed to me the high level of testing

that ELLs endure throughout their time at school. ELLs at Lake Dolloff Elementary School are

enrolled into a traditional classroom as well as assigned time spent outside of their classroom to

receive more focused attention on English language learning. Inherently, they will undergo the

periodical testing from their initial classroom as well as the testing (formal or informal) that

happens in their pull out period. Lanzade explained to me that some students of hers are also

pulled out of their classrooms more than once, to receive one on one instruction in their

intervention classroom, thus increasing their test load. I asked her if the students were ever

nervous to complete tests in fear that their lack of language skills may inhibit their success, and
she replied with a very interesting answer. Since most of the kiddos are still pretty young and

immature, their fears dont shine through very clearly, but rather they wouldnt take the tests all

too seriously if they felt as though they were not prepared. She has noticed that a lot of students

who may choose to blow off the exams if they felt intimidated by them. The textbook rather

explained the anxiety some students may experience if they are unable to comprehend the given

vocabulary necessary to complete an in class exam. I found this answer to be very

understandable as may of my peers from elementary school would blow off and make fun of

some of the harder exams if they did not feel confident about the subject matter. In the character

of young children, this seems very practical and accurate. I hope to prepare all of my future

students enough to where they do not goof off a ton when some of the larger, high stake testing

comes around, yet at this age it is understandable.

One thing that I have come to realize about this school is that their ELL teachers seem to

be very in sync with the rest of the traditional classroom teachers. This is key to helping ELL

students reach their full potential in the pull out program and in their traditional classrooms. I

was told that many of the language lessons presented in the ELL pull out time correspond to

lessons given in class. It provides more centralized time for these ELL students to meet with

someone who can fully explain things to them rather than in their traditional classrooms that may

be too fast pace for them to truly learn and understand the topics. One perk to this school is that

there is a mandate in place called the GLAAD program for Lake Dolloff that the teachers are all

trained in which focuses on sheltered instruction. Since there is such a high percentage of ELL

students attending the school, it is important to both teach the necessary academic topics as well

as language. Sheltered instruction lessons can be easily integrated into a traditional classroom so

that even non-ELL students are learning academic subjects and vocabulary or language rules.
This program seems to be very popular in Lake Dolloff and many of the other teachers who I

was able to speak to there gave me positive feedback about the implication GLAAD has on their

ELLs language development as well as academic knowledge.

Another interesting note that I took out of this interview is that Lanzade is able to try new

methods fairly freely within the ELL program. The pull out program system is the obviously

used method of teaching the English language learners, yet she has recently implemented the

push in method that refers to her involvement in the students traditional classrooms. Instead of

pulling the ELLs out of their classrooms to further learn English, Lanzade is actively stepping

into the classrooms to give focused vocabulary and English rules instruction. I was intrigued by

this idea as it does not seem to be a very popular method utilized by many schools, yet upon her

explanation I could see its value in ELL learning. Lanzade revealed to me that this method is

showing exponential results when it comes to their test results. Since their traditional classroom

is where the primary learning takes place, the additional English instruction being taught there as

well has helped them to gain the advantage of context. It is harder for them to take what they

have learned in their pull out classroom and apply it to the content being taught/assessed in their

traditional classroom, so the push in method has allowed her to build off the context of their

original classroom.

Overall, I believe my interview with Jovelle Lanzade has given me a better insight into

what a typical school does to accommodate for their ELLs. I was also able to learn about a

couple different components of schooling that these students undergo such as testing, the pull out

program, the GLAAD program, the push in program, etc. With this gathered information and a

little taste into Lake Dolloffs ELL program, I feel more prepared to teach English language

learners in a traditional classroom setting. In fact, my biggest goal for teaching ELLs in my own
classroom one day is to be in communication with the schools designated ELL instructor to best

serve my students. I also hope to implement some sheltered instruction lessons so that my

students can learn academic subject matter while also allowing for English language knowledge

to be acquired for my ELLs.

Reference

Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research, theory,
and practice. Philadelphia: Caslon.