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ESL Final Paper

Teacher Interview
Emily Savage
December 7, 2017
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I interviewed Ashleigh McCann. Her email is mccannae@svsd410.org and her phone

number is (425) 831-4021. She currently works at Fall City Elementary school where I used to

attend as a child. I also got to volunteer there for a couple years with some of my former

teachers. I’m really glad that I was able to interview Ashleigh because I liked hearing about the

way she teaches in the classrooms there. I hope to one day teach there as well. Ashleigh studied

elementary education at Western Washington University. She took four years of German in

highschool but was only able to retain the alphabet, counting to ten and a few simple phrases.

She grew up in Washington and has always loved working with kids and she loves being a

teacher. Ashleigh talked to me about how she grew up with a very large family and lots of

younger siblings. She always had to take care of her younger siblings. She learned after a while

that all she wanted to do with her life was help children in some way. She said that teaching is

the only thing she could ever see herself doing for her career. She loves her job a lot. After

talking to her it made me very excited about becoming a teacher and being able to work with

ELL students. It made me nervous thinking about teaching ELL students before because I was

nervous about not knowing enough languages. But after hearing how knowing less languages

actually helps her makes me feel a lot better about it. She told me how Fall City Elementary

school has many different learning opportunities for the children there and they make sure they

are learning everything they need. She has different ways that she uses to monitor the children’s

progress in the classroom. She said there is about 70 ESL students in the whole school. She has 3

of them in her own classroom. She explained how she loved working with her ELL students

because she feels she can really make a difference in their life. When she was explaining the way

she taught to me, it made me very excited to become a teacher and work as an ESL teacher so I

also can help out many children. I feel that ELL kids need more attention and more help in
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school so if we have the right teachers for the job then we can really make a difference on the

children’s lives.

I learned a lot of things I didn’t know before about teaching ELL students. I always

thought it was very important that you know multiple languages when teaching the students so

it’s easier for them to learn. But really, it’s good that you talk to the students in only english so

they are forced to learn it as you talk to them.“Understanding student talk is essential to the

teacher's ability to analyze what students know, how they understand, and what teaching

methods would be most useful” (Wright, 29). It’s important that you can understand what your

ELL student is saying so that what if they are having any troubles you are able to help them out.

Ashleigh hadn't really found that a problem in her teaching, but it’s always a good thing to make

sure you know how to do if the situation was ever to occur. She has her ELL students use an iPad

when working in class and while using the iPad, the children use a translation app which allows

them to speak to their teacher and also translates what the teacher says. It also has the capability

to translate written material (worksheets, textbooks, etc.). It’s really awesome that the children

are able to use devices like that. Having all of these updated devices in class mush help out a lot,

not just with ELL students, but with all the students in general. To communicate with parents

who don't speak english, the school district uses an IEP team (Individualized Education

Programs) to help translate to the parents. They will use “a translator, if you’re deaf or don’t

speak or read English fluently. You may ask the school to provide a translator. IDEA requires

that school districts do their best to accommodate parents who need this service” (Stanberry, 5).

There are many useful tools that school district supplies in order to teacher your ELL students.

This was probably one of my favorite paper I’ve written so far. I have such a different

outlook on how I will teach now and what it will be like teaching. Before, when I interviewed
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other teachers about their teaching methods, I understood what is expected of you in a classroom.

But now, after talking with Ashleigh, I know what it will be like teaching the ELL students and

being able to help them in a way no one else can. I really enjoyed hearing how passionate she is

about her job. When I start teaching my ELLs, I’m going to apply what I learned from Ashleigh

to my teaching. I want to make sure that all of my students, including my ELL students, feel

important. I want to make sure they I am teaching them the correct way and if they are confused

they are able to talk to me and I will be able to help them out. I am hoping to take a couple more

languages because after talking to Ashleigh I want to make sure i can communicate with my

students so I can help them. I’ll make sure that each of my teaching methods will be useful for

each student. I feel a lot “It’s a challenging job” Ashleigh said, “but at the end of the day it’s so

rewarding because you know you are doing some good for a child who needs it”.

Reference Page

Wright, W. E. (2015). Foundations for teaching English language learners: Research,

theory, and practice (2nd ed.). Philadelphia: Caslon.
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Stanberry, Kristin. “Understanding Individualized Education Programs.” Understood.org,

www.understood.org/en/school-learning/special-services/ieps/understanding-
individualized-education-programs.

Appendix

Ashleigh teaches K-8 grade. She has been teaching for 2 years now. She talks about how

at every job there will be a learning curve. She explained how it took her a few months to get a

hang of teaching ELL students. She had an excellent coordinator and great co-workers in our
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district’s ELL department, that helped her because she was able to lean on them for help until

they got a hang of it. She took four years of German in highschool but was only able to retain the

alphabet, counting to ten and a few simple phrases. She feels that it’s a good thing that she's not

bilingual, however, since her main goal is helping students improve their English. All schools in

the district have access to an interpreter if they need to speak with a parent who doesn’t speak

English. She explains how they do not use interpreters in the classroom, however, our students

who speak very little English are given an iPad to use throughout the school year. With the iPad,

they can use a translation app which allows them to speak to their teacher and also translates

what the teacher says. It also has the capability to translate written material (worksheets,

textbooks, etc.). The ELL program at Fall City Elementary is relatively new and very small

compared to the surrounding school districts. They are constantly learning and improving and

they do a great deal to help the students. Every year, they have a significant amount of students

who test out of the program, so the success rate is very high. She said they way she keeps her

ELL students involved us by providing a fun, welcoming environment. They have game and

prize day once a week – It’s a great way for them to still learn while having fun and the cheap,

junky prizes keep them wanting to come back! She said that she has never witnessed a non-ELL

student mistreat an ELL student, however, she doesn't spend much time in each classroom or on

the playground our lunchroom. She has never heard of an ELL being mistreated, but she doesn’t

doubt that it happens. She has however, witness an ELL student call another ELL student a

derogatory name regarding her nationality. A Hispanic student called one of her students whose

parents are from India a “dumb Indian.” She told him it was not acceptable and if I heard of such

a thing again there would be consequences. For ELL high-stakes testing she doesn't really talk to

her students about it much. About a month before the test, she will make her older students
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aware of the upcoming test and will let them take a practice test, but it’s important to minimize

stress around it. She doesn’t usually even tell her kindergarteners about it because they wouldn’t

know what she was talking about anyway. On the day of the test, she tries to make it sound as

fun as possible to her younger students. The way she encourages culture and diversity in the

classroom is by getting to know the students on a personal level, and ask a lot of questions about

their family life and different traditions they have. She thinks it’s important that they not only

get the chance to talk about themselves to herself as an adult figure in their life, but that they

also get to talk about their life in front of their peers, who may come from a completely different

culture. Her teaching style is pretty consistent, but she definitely has to cater to each students’

reading level. She also has to keep in mind that some students have much shorter attention spans

than others, so she tries to find materials that will keep them engaged. If she knows what a

certain student loves, she will seek out resources that pertain to their passions so they will be

more likely to pay attention and actually get something out of their time together. To deal with

parent language barriers she relies on interpreter services. Thankfully it hasn't been much of an

issue. The department doesn’t send out many communications to parents, and shes not all that

familiar with whether or not some parents receive communications in their native language. The

district’s website and all of our school websites can easily be translated into several different

languages with the click of a button. She has never experienced conflict between her teaching

style and the parent-preferred teaching style. She’s never met the majority of her students’

parents because their department doesn’t get involved in parent-teacher conferences, but the

parents that she has met have all expressed gratitude for our department. She feels that they are

quickly gaining traction and teachers and staff are gradually learning the importance of their

program.
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