How does your native culture differ from that of where you went to school? How did that impact your initial school/educational experiences?

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First, familiarize yourself with the Florida Consent Decree http://www.fldoe.org/academics/eng-language-learners/consent-decree.stml and the related State Rules and Legislation http://www.fldoe.org/

First, familiarize yourself with the Florida Consent Decree http://www.fldoe.org/academics/eng-language-learners/consent-decree.stml

and the related State Rules and Legislation http://www.fldoe.org/academics/eng-language-learners/rules-legislation.stml

You will ask the interviewwe the first eight questoons and then you will answer the next five questions.

First, familiarize yourself with the Florida Consent Decree and the related State Rules and Legislation http://www.fldoe.org/academics/eng-language-learners/rules-legislation.stml

Second, identify an individual (other than yourself if you are also an ELL) who may be categorized as an English Language Learner per the Florida Consent Decree. Interview this individual about his/her experiences learning English.  Provide the questions you asked and the responses.

For example, questions might include the following:

  1. What country are you from and what is your native language?
  2. How old were you when you started attending school in the United States? In what city and state did you reside?
  3. How would you describe your English skills in terms of speaking, reading, writing, and listening?
  4. How does your native culture differ from that of where you went to school? How did that impact your initial school/educational experiences?
  5. What was most difficulty about being an ELL student? What obstacles did you face?
  6. How did being an ELL affect you personally? Academically?
  7. How did your teacher/school support/develop your English skills?
  8. On a scale of 1-10, how well did your school do in helping you develop your English language skills? Which approaches or services worked best for you?  What additional approaches or services would have been helpful?

After you have reread and analyzed your interview notes, respond to the following question:  Don’t forget to include your original questions and the interviewee’s responses.

  1. What are the major differences/similarities between your culture and that of your interviewee? What stereotypes about your respondent’s culture were upheld/destroyed/transformed through the interview?
  2. In terms of education and language acquisition, what approaches worked best/worst for your interviewee? What is your reaction to his/her experiences? Provide examples in your discussion.
  3. Provide a specific example of how one of the state rules or legislation that form the basis of the Florida Consent Decree supported or failed to support this person’s experience as an ELL.
  4. Having learned about this particular culture and the needs of ELL students, what skills do you think you need to develop in order to work effectively in diverse classrooms with ELL students? How could you develop these skills independently? How could teacher education programs be changed to help to enhance your effectiveness with diverse students?
  5. What other realizations, insights, lessons learned did you have from this experience?