Blog #4

For this assignment, I chose to read a book about a puppy written in Korean.  I knew that this book was about a puppy because there was a puppy on every page.  I felt that the book was talking about the different things that a puppy needs because I also have a puppy and a lot of the items in the book that were in the pictures with the puppy are things that my puppy has. 

            To make meaning out of the book, I looked at the pictures to see if I could understand what the book was talking about through the pictures.  Next, I looked for words that were repeated throughout the book to see if I could figure out what the words were based on the context of the pictures.  On the “lift the flap” section of every page, it had the same words repeated each time.

            The implications for me as a teacher are ones that will stick with me.  First, teachers need to recognize that too much text will be overwhelming for students learning a new language and will often lead to frustration.  Teachers should choose books that have words or phrases that are repeated throughout the text.  Next, teachers should provide images or pictures for students to look at to help them create meaning before they read.  Teachers should also look for text/books where students already have background knowledge on the subject or can relate it to something in their life. 

            Strategies that I used were looking at the pictures, trying to make connections to what I already know, searching for repeated words, looking for words that are similar to the language I know.  If I knew someone in the class who was an expert at the language, I would have asked them to help me out as well.

            While going through and reading my book I became increasingly frustrated because I did not understand what was happening in the book at all.  I could guess at what I thought was happening; however, there was no way for me to actually know what the text said.  I can only imagine this feeling being multiplied for my ELL students in class.  These students are often given grade level text which most of the time has no pictures or images to help students read and make sense of the material.  ELL students usually do not have someone who can help them read and understand and usually are embarrassed or feel awkward asking for help.  This assignment has opened my eyes to the challenges of teaching to ELL students.