Narissa Hill

Intro to ELL
● As a teacher, what was your biggest challenge while planning the lesson?
Figuring out how to make the class understand our lesson without the use of English
was probably the most challenging part of planning the lesson. Also, figuring out how to
best use drawings and use body language was difficult since we knew no one would
understand when I spoke Tagalog or when Aoife spoke in Irish.
● As a teacher, what challenges did you face when trying to teach your
lesson/content to the class?
Trying to use pointing and drawing on the board to get my point across while I was
speaking Tagalog to a class that didn't understand me was challenging. Unlike Spanish,
not many Tagalog words sound like English ones so it was challenging to get that
across. Also, most students have taken Spanish at one point in their life so I feel as
those who taught in Spanish were understood better, while Aoife and I spoke languages
no one understood.
● What did you do to “overcome” these challenges?
Holding up our own notebook to show that we wanted to class to hold their paper up
was one was we used body language in correspondence with our two languages to get
the point across, Also, Sabina was modeling exactly what to do on the board. We also
used sounds, for example clapping, to get the attention of the class.
● As a teacher, how did this activity simulate trying to instruct one or more ELL
students in your classroom? How did you use "language" in your instruction?
I think the use of body language, pictures, and sound were all things we used that would
help and ELL student in my classroom. Language doesnt just mean spoken language,
body language is very important to ELL learners.
● As a student, what did you rely on most to comprehend what was being taught?
I heavily relied on pictures and body language to understand what was taught. I
remember this used to be helpful when I was still struggling with learning English as a
child.
● As part of the "class", how can you relate this activity to the experience of ELL
students in an English speaking classroom?
Being in the class shows students how it feels to sit in a classroom and not understand
a word being said to you. I can remember this feeling from when I was younger in my
classes when I still wasnt flute in English. I think this is the closest way that most of the
class will ever ge tto underdtaning how ELL students feel and hear during a class.
● Overall, what do you think was the purpose of this activity?
I believe the purpose of this activity was to put us in the shoes of an ELL student. It
allowed us to see what it would be like to not understand what was being taught and not
understand the language being spoken. It also taught us how to think outside the box
and use things like body language and gestures to get our point across to the class.