As I prepared to conduct this interview I was unaware of all
the many differences from a second language teacher and an ESL teacher. It was
quite interesting to know that the two different teachers used many different strategies
in order to help motivate and encourage their students. Although, things were
dramatically noticeable and different among those two students; things were surprisingly
the same compared to the last interview I conducted on a student learning English
as their second language. The biggest commonality was motivation and
persistence. In this interview I chose,
Dr. Blake, a bilingual and Spanish foreign language teacher at San Marcos High
School, in San Marcos, Texas. Dr. Blake has been teaching Spanish for about
five years now and agrees that motivation and dedication are the two biggest
reasons many of his students succeed in learning a second language. Dr. Blake
first started out teaching college before he moved to teaching and coaching
high school students. Dr. Blake mentions, “Although the dynamic between the two
students is relatively different the methods I use and the teaching doesn’t change….
Because it works.” Ortega states, “Human language manifests itself in spoken,
signed, and written systems across more than 6,500 languages documented to date.”
(Ortega, 2011, Pg. 2) Dr. Blake uses many different teaching strategies in
order to successfully teach his students such as peer interaction, role
playing, flash cards, posters, audios, and projects. Dr. Blake is constantly telling his students practice,
practice, practice! He believes the only way I person can ever be GREAT at
something is because they continued to try and furthermore they practiced at
mastering their craft. Dr. Blake believes the reason why he’s such a relate-able and understanding teacher is primarily because of coaching, it has given him
the discipline he needs for the classroom. According to Ortega, engendered more
personal engagement and afforded many more opportunities to take risks,
enabling these learners to produce longer turns and more complex language.”
(Ortega, 2011, Pg.77) Dr. Blake stresses on his students being open to the
challenges of foreign language and knowing that it isn’t easy but it’s possible
to achieve with help, and dedication. He states, “I don’t ask my students to do
anything I haven’t already done or something that I don’t already do. With
teaching such a complex but very vital subject that I think all students should
know especially living in America I am patient and understanding. There are naturalistic
learners that I don’t have to spend but five minutes giving instructions then
there are my language learners who need that direct instruction; though they
all need me the same in order to pass the class and learn the language the
same.”
Ortega, Lourdes. Second Language Acquisition. London: Routledge, 2011. Print
To listen to the interview from Dr. Blake and I about teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language click here.
