My First Experience in an ESL Classroom

Up until last week, our SED407 class had mostly been observing classrooms in small groups with the supervision of either our professor or one of the Innovation Lab coordinators. However, last week we finally were able to break off into pairs and observe classrooms on our own. To add another layer of intrigue, we were visiting ELL classrooms for the first time in many of our college careers. Going into the observations, I felt a little hesitant-I expected the students to be a little more difficult, the work to be strenuous and the understanding between the teacher and students to be minimal. However, I was pleasantly surprised after completing the observations. The majority of the ELLs were totally engaged in the work the teacher had assigned/was facilitating. Not only that, but when I spoke with students in the classroom, they weren't hesitant in the least to show me their work, tell me about themselves, and generally engage in brief discussion with someone they had never met before in their lives. This, to me, was a sharp contrast with my expectations. The perception I had always gotten about ELLs from teachers I have spoken with was that they were difficult students, and that teaching them effectively was a really tough proposition. Now, however, I could definitely see myself getting an ESL certification so that I could work with these students in the future. It is rare that you see students that immersed in their learning, and it was a bright spot to me so far in the District C experience. For teachers (or future teachers) who are looking to improve their knowledge of foreign languages without committing too much money to something like Rosetta Stone or comparable programs, there is a great new website, which also has an easy-to-use app for phones, called "Duolingo". This website was developed by a computer science professor and software developer from Guatemala named Luis von Ahn. The link provided goes to a page where von Ahn discusses the website and how it works. Did I mention its totally FREE?