Personal Research Journey

My reasons for choosing this topic and subtopics is because of my personal and professional experiences.  Personally, I did learn English as a second language.  Professionally, I work at an elementary school where a high percentage of the students and families are also learning English as a second language.  I have had the opportunity to teach children English language development and English phonics as well.  This school year, the topic is even more relevant as I am working with two new students from Vietnam who have only been in the country for six months.  Adding to that, there is also a new student in the same class who only speaks Arabic and I have been working with the three of them together in a group.  I am interested in seeing how it will all work out.

In last week’s discussion I shared that the general early childhood topic of my choice was second language learning but I have decided to refine my choice to that of English Language Learners or ELL’s.  With the topic of ELL for the simulation the subtopic that will be the focus of my simulations in the coming weeks is if there is difference in approaches with teachers who were ELL’s themselves and those who were not.

I chose this topic because of my personal and professional experiences with it.  Personally, I learned English as a second language myself.  Professionally, I work at an elementary school where most of the student and family population are also learning English as a second language.  I have had the opportunity to teach children English language development and English phonics as well.  I am curious to learn if and what types of personal experiences make a difference when the teaching ELL’s.

My personal experience with this simulation process is that I am still learning a lot about the terms, topics and how to properly reflect on research and resources.  The “Understanding Research Chart” is a very appropriate assignment that helped me identify areas in which I need improvement, it helped me better understand the content and how to apply it.

Any advice, insight or resources that might help is appreciated.