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Entry 4

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This class has greatly helped me in being able to understand the process of second language acquisition. I was able to clearly see the different areas where students may struggle at times, and where it can help to take an extra minute to aide your students in the process of language acquisition. Not all students learn the same way, and this class has helped me to see that that also applies to language acquisition capabilities. If you are not able to cater to individual student needs, it is more likely that they will struggle. You have to be able to understand that all students learn in different ways and that is a huge part of the process. This class currently has and will in the future impact my professional practices because I am much more aware of the different components of what comes into play in what it takes to learn a second language. When using specific academic language, such as words like persuade, synthesize, evaluate, classify, and analyze (Wright, 2015, p.42), I will ...
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Entry 3

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For this Vlog I was able to interview my cousin, Leila Khansa, an ESL teacher at the high school level. The program at her school is interesting because it is still possible to have newcomers at her campus, Seven Lakes High School, and teach ESL as its own class to newcomers and intermediate English learners. This type of ESL instruction is described in the textbook by Wright (2015, p.108). One of the biggest things that I noticed in talking to Leila was the fact that we discussed that her instruction is a combination of instructed and naturalistic learning. I think it’s interesting to have noted that, because as we all know naturalistic learning is a great way to develop day to day skills, but instructed learners progress at a faster rate, are likely to develop more elaborate language repertoires, and typically become more accurate in the language they are learning. That also shows that she took the roles of teacher as an educator and as a facilitator in her classroom (Wright, 2015,...
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Entry 2

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Being able to conduct this interview with this subject was very interesting because the interviewee, Ismail, began learning English as a second language in the public school system here in Houston when he was in Kindergarten through first grade. He then moved overseas to continue his education and then returned back to Houston for university. He then again took ESL classes at the university level, so I was able to assess both levels of education. It was interesting that Ismail noted that he did not learn any specific academic language that could help him in the classroom for specific classes such as Biology, Chemistry, etc. In the text, academic language is specifically touched on stating that academic language refers to words such as persuade, solve problems, synthesize, evaluate, classify, and analyze (Wright, 2015, p.42). These are some words that Ismail might have struggled with throughout his education because he felt as though he should have spent more time in the ESL classroom....
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Entry 1

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My name is Noor Kachmar, welcome to my VBlog! Click  here  to watch my introductory video!
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