Technologic..Technologic...

Technology
The one thing that always seems to surprise me in my practicum is that fact that although the students seem to be limited in their use of the English language, they are very confident in using technology. A major part of almost the students learning I observe is a program called APEX. This is an online "class" that they can take that quizzes them regarding certain topics. One of the girls in my first period was working on this so I observed her for a few minutes--Basically, the student reads text about a certain thing and then at the end of the reading takes a quiz on what she/he has just read. Seems simple right? The problem I have noticed with some of the students however, is the level of comprehension in what they are reading. When I looked at her test scores they were in the 50 percentile and a little higher even though she seemed to be whizzing through her assignments. Other students are very proficient when using the computer especially when it comes to using Microsoft Office & etc. My teacher has also taken to getting certain articles off of the internet in relation to subjects they are learning such as The Iditarod, and creating a sort of "fill-in-the-blank" worksheet where the student has to find the article online, and figure out what goes where. While there is still a large space that could be filled with technology in terms of classroom resources, the fact taht students can still use a computer/internet and find things on their own without instruction is fascinating to me.

Language Variation
From being in an ESL classroom, this obviously allows me to see a large range of different cultural backgrounds and the languages that follow. From what I have observed, there are three major types of ethnicity in my two periods: Mexican, Dominican, and Hmong. The two mexican students and the 5 or 6 Dominican students are still able to communicate with each other because they both speak Spanish although a different variation for each background, and I have also noticed that the Korean & Hmong students can do the same although my knowledge about their language variation is very limited (one Hmong student can even speak Thai). My teacher is Philipino but based on previous comments, she seems to be able to understand some Spanish and Hmong but has a better grasp on who exactly can communicate with who and applying this to her teaching. When a student needs help, she tries to find another student with a similiar background that can help and pairs them together; this is partly because some students still have trouble translating what they would like to ask/say into English. She finds that even though her students should be asking questions in English, if it is something relatively complex instead of wasting that student's time making them "spell it out" she would rather they get the information they need from someone who can translate; sometimes she even has a student translate to me and I will help them instead. But more than often than not, she will make a student figure out how to say what they want to say in English instead of that student taking the easy road and just having a peer translate for them, especially if it is a question directed at her & even more so if it is one of the rowdy Dominican boys!