Interview with an ESL Teacher

Interview Questions with ESL Teacher

Q: Please describe your ELL teaching experience.

I have been a ESL teacher in this school district for 10 years now. I got this job straight out of school so I was very lucky.

Q: What is your perception on ELLs in terms of their learning motivation and performance (especially in reading and writing)? What learning difficulties do ELLs usually encounter in schools? What is the role of the family and community in helping ELL's learning?

I feel that an ELL student learns better and is motivated when learning is engaging, fun and they feel like they can contribute to the classroom. That is a hard question to answer because each student is different. Some students have trouble with pronunciations. It is extremely important that the family becomes involved in the student's learning. I feel that students whose families are involved do better in the classroom. It is also important to have community support.

Q: In your opinion, how do classroom teachers resolve ELL's learning difficulties? What strategies do you adopt? Are they effective or not? Do you participate in on-going professional training for teaching ELLs? What if your experience in terms of working with students from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds? How do you make sure that your teaching is culturally responsive? How do you go about reaching out to the family and community?

Classroom teachers do try to resolve ELL student learning difficulties as best as they can. Some teachers learn some basic words of the ELL student's native language, and are able to communicate with them in difficult situations. Some teachers use pictures to help students understand words. However, it is often hard for them to spend too much time when they have 22-25 students to teach; that is where the ESL teachers come in. I make sure that my teaching is culturally resonsive by doing my research on it. I also frequently attend seminars and workshops.

Q: If you have an ELL in your class whose culture you are not familiar with at all, how do you go about teaching the child?

If I have a an ELL student whose culture I am not familiar with, I do research on it.