I was very excited to meet my ELL student! It was an especially great exeperience because my student is also in my 4th period U.S. History class and I had already had the pleasure of meeting her. Her name is Maribel and she is from Acapulco. We began our session by reading the letter she had written to me introducing herself. Maribel wrote her letter in English, but I read the letter back to her in Spanish. She helped me with my pronunciation and with my Spanish vocabulary. This was a great way to begin because it helped Maribel to feel comfortable and set her up as the “expert” in teaching me Spanish. We went on the discuss her classes and what she thinks about Ms. R’s history class in particular. Maribel did a project about women in the Great Depression. I shared with her that I hope to teach about women and World War II whenever I have the opportunity too.
In anaylzing my experience with Maribel, I believe it was a wonderful first encounter. We were able to get more comfortable with each other and establish a rapport that will help us in the future. I am very excited that I also have Maribel in Ms. R’s class. I see our relationship as mutually beneficial. She can help me with my Spanish and also with understanding how it feel to be a English Language Learner in a school full of people who all speak a language that is not your first. I can learn how to better relate to these students and hopefully not make the same mistakes as many teachers do. Hopefully, I will be able to share my excitement about learning with Maribel and also encourage her in her pursuit of learning English.
Reflecting on this experience, I hope that all of our sessions fo as well as this first one. I hope we can continue learning from one another and each of us can grow.
