Final Teacher Interview 1

Quinn Freeby
December 10, 2017
Teaching & Learning 333
Final
Final Teacher Interview 2

The teacher that I chose to interview, Amy Hunter, is one that I have known for a few

years, and periodically help with in the classroom. Amy, is a kindergarten teacher at a local

elementary school in my town called Sunset Elementary School. She has been teaching in the

University Place School district for over 30 years now, but plans to retire after this year. I met

Amy through one of my high school classes where I was assigned to her classroom. I then spent

two class periods each day going into her class and helping out, working with the kids. I loved

her and the class so much I decided to come back after my first year at WSU and volunteer in the

classroom for the rest of their school year. I have learned a great amount from Amy, and how

each group of kids is different, and that when working with ELL students you need much

patience. Teaching mostly kindergarten she also has taught first and second grade however, she

says her heart is in kindergarten and can be contacted by email at ahunter@upsd38.org.

Amy has worked in the same district since she started working, and as a kindergarten

teacher has a couple of ELL students each year. She explained to me that as a kindergarten

teacher everything is from square one, meaning that she does not have to change too much in her

lesson plans to accommodate them. For example, she doesn’t expect an average kindergartener

to know what a line is or what a circle is, she explains everything to them. While also teaching

the students descriptive words such as, above, below, behind, in front etc. In kindergarten she

explains that you must show everything that is expected using manipulatives, and making sure

that the students understand what she expects. However, when Amy taught first and second

grade, she explained to me that you assume a student knows what a line is, and what it means to

sit. But for a ELL there were things that she had to change and add the lesson to help her ELL

students. Including many more pictures and explanations within the lesson, but as a kindergarten

class these things are already incorporated into the curriculum. Because Amy was first a
Final Teacher Interview 3

kindergarten teacher than a 1-2 grade teacher, she was easily able to help her ELL students. She

did this by pulling out kindergarten materials such as, pictures, activities, and manipulatives, in

order to give them a better understanding of the material. Often times she has had other teachers

of her school, 1-4th grade teachers ask her for materials for their ELL students. Amy has also had

many different types of ELL students throughout the years, from kids knowing little to no

English, to those who were pretty fluent, each student is different and requires different

accommodations.

One main issue that was brought up in the interview was the lack of ELL teachers within

the school district. The school district in which Amy works in has much support from the

community, and can afford many different types of teachers. However, she explains how there is

a lack of ELL teachers, for about 4 different schools in the district there is only one ELL teacher.

This means that that teacher jumps around form school to school helping her students. The

amount of time that the ELL students spend with the teacher is only twice a week, for twenty

minutes. The University Place School District uses the pull out method, as stated in Wright

(2015, p. 90) the pull-out English as a second language is when a trained and certified teacher

works with ELLs, pulling students out of the regular classroom for ESL instruction. The ELL

teacher at their school is quite busy with the students, and could use another hand. Another

interesting thing that I found out when I interviewed Mrs. Hunter is how she communicates with

parents. She explained to me that during parent teacher conferences they have an interpreter.

However, the school district has no program or anything to help the parents of the ELL students.

This was surprising to me, and she said that she thinks it would be helpful for the district to

provide help to the parents. But the most interesting thing that I learned from her was that she

believes it is almost harder to get in touch with her other students’ parents than her ELL
Final Teacher Interview 4

students’ parents. The reason for this is that she believes the ELL students and their parents want

to be in school, and have their students learn English, therefore they are often times more

responsive.

A theme that corresponds with both the teacher interview and the content we have

learned in class is the silent period. The silent period, as stated in Wright (2015, p. 155),

describes the silent period as an adjustment period where the students are not ready to speak yet

and that it may take a few days or weeks. Mrs. Hunter had an ELL student once that was from

Korea and did not know any English when she first came to the United States, and in her

kindergarten class she refused to talk to anyone, she was mute. However, Mrs. Hunter did not

worry too much because she knew of the silent period. The parents wondered if the student

should be held back, but Mrs. Hunter said no, that the student was taking her time to adjust. Sure

enough the next year she came to school for first grade speaking full sentences. She was just

taking it all in her first year in the United States. Another theme that was relevant to both the

teacher interview and a theme in from the content of the class was, Assessing Listening and

Speaking. As stated in Wright (2015, p. 175), Assessing Listening and Speaking is a method for

ELLs and how to asses them, and that the only way to effectively asses ELL students is orally,

and by talking to them. Mrs. Hunter currently has one ELL student, his parents do not speak

English and they have just moved from Yemen. However, their son who is in kindergarten

speaks quite well for an ELL students and does well completing assignments. But Mrs. Hunter

says that although he may seem well off his speaking skills and when to use a specific word still

need help. She told me that this is really the only effective way to evaluate ELL students, and by

talking to them one on one, not giving them a paper and pencil test. This is quite important for a
Final Teacher Interview 5

teacher to remember because although this may take more time and effort, it is the most effective

way to asses a students and help them succeed.

Depending on the school district, there are different views on ELL students and if they

should be allowed to speak in their native language. Many people have different opinions on this,

but in Amy’s cases she has had multiple cases where encouraging a student to talk in their home

language became quite helpful when they were learning English. There are two terms, as stated

in Wright (2015, p. 2), that correlate to this type of leaning, language –as –problem orientation

and language – as – resource orientation. Language –as –problem orientation is where the home

language of an ELL is views as a problem that needs to be overcome as the student begins to

learn English and academic content through English, while language – as – resource orientation,

is where the ELLs home language is views as a strength to be developed and built upon to help

the student as they begin to learn the English and academic content. In relation the Mrs. Hunter,

she once had a student, Josie, from Korea that knew no English, and a student who was also from

Korea, Kerry, that was further into learning English. Since they were both placed in her class,

she allowed them to speak in Korean to each other because this way Kerry could translate what

Mrs., Hunter was saying for Josie. Amy explained, that some teachers frown upon the use of the

home language but that she found it was quite helpful and more importantly, beneficial to both

Kerry and Josie. She said that by Kerry translating English to Korean, she showed that she

understood what Amy was saying well enough to explain it to Josie. Josie, was then able to

understand and learn English faster because the language barrier was taken away by Kerry

translating. In the end, both Kerry and Josie left kindergarten knowing and understanding

English quite well, while still holding onto their native tongue.
Final Teacher Interview 6

The Common Core State Standards, as stated in Wright (2015, p. 79), is a state led

initiative that was started by the National Governors Association and Council of Chief State

School Officers to develop language arts and mathematic standards that states voluntarily adopt.

With the adoption, the public schools in Washington are required to follow the Common Core

standards, however, there is often much controversy over them, especially in relation to ELL

students. The reason for this is because, ELL students often need more accommodations, time,

and help with their schooling, and in the Common Core Standards there is little that relates to

their needs. In fact, she said that because of the new Common Core State standards, the

University Place School district has actually raised their own standards to be above the common

core standards, in order to challenge their students.

After interviewing Mrs. Hunter I was quite intrigued by her way of teaching ELL

students and how as a Kindergarten teacher she does not have to change much of her lesson

plans to accommodate them. Until I interviewed Mrs. Hunter, I thought that she would have to

make a lot more accommodations for her ELL students. I also found that teachers do incorporate

similar teachings from the Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners. I think that as

a teacher of over 30 years, Amy has had many challenges she has had to face and teaching

curves that she went through with ELL students. But, as became more attune to her students and

the atmosphere, she was easily able to incorporate the ELL students and their culture into the

classroom. Overall, I will use the information from Amy, and her experiences to apply in my

own classroom when I become a teacher, being aware of the ELL students and their needs. I

think if I became a kindergarten teacher I would be able to do similar things as she does in her

class, but that if I teach a higher grade that I will need to be aware that taking my lessons and
Final Teacher Interview 7

changing them is normal. Using many more pictures, and taking the time to get to know my ELL

students and what best fits their needs.

References

Hunter, A. (2017, November 20). Personal Interview.

Wright, W. (2015). Foundations for Teaching English Language Learners: Research, Theory,

Policy, and Practice. Philadelphia: Caslon Publishing.

Appendix

1. Introductory questions. (Name, school they’re teaching at, teaching experience etc.)
2. What are the demographics of their classroom? (For instance, how many native English
speakers do they have and how many non-native English speakers/ELLs do they have
and what languages do their ELLs speak?)
3. What methods have you found to be the most effective when teaching ELLs?
4. How do you incorporate culture into your teaching?
5. How has teaching ELLs helped you grow as a teacher?
6. What is the biggest reward in teaching, overall?
7. How do you encourage parents to become involved in the school setting?
8. In what ways does your school support ELLs? Do you find it effective?
9. What is the best way to communicate with ELL parents?
10. What is the most important thing to teach an ELL when they are learning a new
language?
11. What are some techniques you use to help ELLs be more successful in test-taking
environments?
12. How do you work with an ELL's parent, if there are no resources such as interpreters,
who can communicate with them?
13. What advice would you give to a 1st year ELL teacher to help them get through their 1st
year?
14. What obstacles have you encountered when working with ELLs in your district? How did
you overcome these obstacles?
15. What changes have you made to your teaching style from when you first started teaching
to now?
16. Would you say teaching and working with ELL students made you a better teacher? Why
or why not?
17. Do you feel supported by the school/district/state? Why or why not?
18. How do you interact with parents during parent-teacher conferences?
19. Which subject is the hardest to teach ELL students? Why? How did you overcome this?
20. Is there anything you would change about your school's ELL program or how they go
about it?
21. What programs do you find is the most effective for your ELLs?
22. How do you feel about standardized testing? Are there special accommodations for
ELLs?