Grade 6 EAL class learns English with Ms. Visser (Yuto W./ The Buchhof Bulletin)
By Yuto W., Grade 6
How do students who don’t understand English spend their time at school and what problems do they face?
Albin K., Grade 6, had difficulty learning English at school, and at first, he would just wave and say “hi.”
“I just waved or said hi that was a good starter,” Albin said.
He said it was hard when he first started.
“ To learn English in the first place,” Albin said.
Albin`s tip is:
“Always try to listen to the teacher and do your work,” Albin said.
Simon H., Grade 6, said that after his first year, he finally started to understand English. He started MIS in 4th grade. During his first year, he would think about recess, or say he was going to the bathroom and read a book. He had difficulty writing and understanding what other people were saying. He said the secret to learning English is to enjoy what you understand.
“After my first year in EAL, I started to understand class,” Simon said. “In my fist year I mostly just got to school for the breaks.“
“Mostly not listening, but thinking what I will do at break,” Simon said. “One time I said that I was on the bathroom but I was reading a book.”
Simon also has a tip.
“Don’t think about what you can not do,” Simon said. “Remember how you started and don’t give up. Enjoy what you understand. Practice makes perfect.”
EAL student takes notes during class (Yuto W./The Buchhof Bulletin)
Ms. Visser said that she became an EAL teacher because she herself learned English.
“I became an EAL teacher because I had to learn languages and want to help others with it,” Ms.Visser said.
And, EAL students first face the problem of language differences. So, the teacher teaches the students in the same way as other teachers, but she thinks about the students and interacts with them.
“Learning a new language can be very hard,” Ms.Visser said.
Also, by attending EAL, speaking, writing, listening, and reading skills are developed. And, the teacher’s hint for learning English quickly is to read a lot of English books!
”They can get better with listening, speaking, writing and reading in English and become more confident,” Ms.Visser said.
She said that what she does with other teachers is generally the same, but that EAL teachers need to pay more attention to their students than regular teachers.
“We teach a subject just like other teachers but we need to really look at the level of the students,”Ms.Visser said.
Ms. Visser said her tip for learning English is read a lot of English.
“Yes. Read a lot of in English,“ Ms. Visser said.
Jiho L ., Grade 6, aid he was very scared to talk to his friends, but after going to EAL, he said he was no longer afraid to speak.
“I got better English skills and I’m not afraid of talking with my friends anymore,” Jiho said.
He also said that his classmates were kind enough to help him when he didn’t understand English.
“They were being nice to me and helped me,” Jiho said.
Jiho’s tips for English students are:
“Try to make many good friends,” Jiho said.
Difficulties at school include communication, but what’s even more troubling is not being able to listen to what the teacher is saying, or reading tests or documents. This includes important things as well as what the teacher is saying, so if you don’t understand, you’ll miss out on them. And if you don’t understand tests or important documents, you can’t do them in the first place. If it’s a test, you won’t understand the questions, and if it’s a document, you won’t understand the contents. But if you are patient and don’t give up and listen to your friends, you will gradually start to understand.
I came from Japan and am still learning English, but I can still communicate with my friends using gestures and other things.
“It is important to know where students come from and what language they learned first,” Ms. Visser said.
In this interview, we talked about how EAL students spend their school life and how EAL teachers interact with EAL students. What most of them have in common is that it was difficult for them to learn English in the first place. However, now the people we interviewed can speak English. If you don’t understand English, why not try EAL?