Running head: REFLECTION 2 1

21/20-Hour Practicum Reflection Log

Melissa Plug

0525510

Dr. I. Gonzlez

Lakehead University

EDUC-4000

November 8, 2016
REFLECTION 2 2

Having completed my twenty-hour in class placement I can say with certainty that working

with English Language Learners (ELLs) is a pleasure. Not only is it gratifying to see the students

learn and understand the language but witnessing them grasp on to our unique Canadian culture

is an entirely new and rewarding experience for me. I am very thankful that this class has given

me the opportunity to work with the Lakehead International Program.

During the second half of my placement I made it my goal to try to understand more about

each students culture while simultaneously teaching them about my culture. Earlier in the course

we talked about how important it is for people to maintain their cultures. I found this to be very

rewarding for me. As a person who comes from a predominantly English-speaking Caucasian

community learning about other cultures outside of a classroom was not something I had the

chance to do regularly. It was interesting for me to learn what things that we do in Canada are

rich points for people from other countries. A rich point is when we find ourselves in situations

that are unfamiliar to us, or that we do not understand (Agar, 2006, p. 4). The students in this

class are eager and willing to talk about their cultures this showed me how important the aspect

of their cultural identity is to them. We did an activity on Halloween about the Canadian

Halloween culture and where it comes from. Before we could even begin the some of the

students form Mexico were already at the front telling me about Halloween in Mexico. Other

students were entirely unaware of the culture of Halloween, making this a rich point for them.

After this experience I thought it was important to incorporate aspects of their cultures into the

classroom activities that I put together.

One of the aspects of culture that I found more difficult to incorporate into my activities

was native language. Willinsky states that language is an important part of who we are as people

(1998, p190). I am an English speaker and that certainly shapes who I am. There were students in
REFLECTION 2 3

my class who speak Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Chinese and other languages these

languages were a part of the people who spoke them, many of the students felt passionately that

their language was the best language. While they are in this class to learn the English language I

believe that it is still important for students to hold on to their own cultural identity, which can be

done through language. We discussed in class that not only do people identify themselves

through their own language, but they are also identified by others based on the language that they

speak (Li, Myles and Robinson, 2011, p.30). Even in class I found this to be true, often times I

would here Lena say something about the Japanese students having a different curriculum. I

noticed that having this identifier was something that they wanted to hold on to even when they

were doing English activities. I often brought up their native languages up in classroom

discussions; I wanted to know if they had a word similar to our English words. It was these types

of discussions that had the most class participation, as everyone was eager to share things about

their culture and their own languages.

I was very fortunate to be given the opportunity to work with Lena. Throughout the

duration of my placement I learned a great deal from observing her and the way she manages her

classroom. I have much admiration for the way that she has her pupils consistently engaged in

her lessons and discussions. I think that one of the reasons for this is that she has built such a

positive relationship with each of her students, no one is afraid of making mistakes in class. Lena

corrects mistakes with without centering her students out and making them feel like they are

stupid, this is something that I needed some help with going into my placement and I think that

after watching Lena work I have improved in this category. Lena was also excellent at sitting

down with me and telling me what was expected of me. Setting clear expectations is something

that I definitely want to do in my classes as it made it much easier to complete tasks knowing
REFLECTION 2 4

that I was doing it correctly. Lena was also very helpful and gave me lots of constructive

criticism, all things that I will definitely take into account moving further with teaching English

language learners.
REFLECTION 2 5

References

Agar, M. (2006). Culture: Can you take it anywhere? International Journal of Qualitative
Methods, 5(2), 1-12.

Willinsky, J. Learning to Divide the World: Education at Empires End. University Of

Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, Minnesota. 1998. PDF

Xuemei, L., Myles, J., & Robinson, P. (2011). Cultural Considerations. In Teaching ESL in
Canada. (22-41). Oxford University Press