My future ELL students

One thing that has definitely changed my thinking in regards to Cambourne’s Conditions is immersion.  I had always thought that for ELL students it would be better for them if they were able to speak both in their native language as well as English while they were just starting to learn English.  After my experiences on this trip however, I am not so sure.  I noticed that being able to talk in English made it harder for me to learn Spanish because I wasn’t practicing as much as I should have.  As far as the rest of Cambourne’s conditions, I feel that I was pretty well on target for how I should teach my ELL students.  I have always felt that demonstrating is the best way for teaching any student whether they are ELL or not and that giving them responsibility for their learning as well as high expectations was the best way to encourage them. 

                Before this trip I didn’t know much of anything about Halliday’s seven functions of language.  I think this knowledge will help me when teaching my ELL students because I will be able to asses their progress based on these seven functions so I know what I need to do to help them achieve all seven functions of language.  I am glad to have this knowledge as a guideline for teaching this students and helping them to progress.  I think this is important for all education majors to know this information because it is hard to know exactly how you can help your ELL students or what you should expect from them.  Knowing Cambourne’s Conditions and Halliday’s functions of language help give me an idea of where I can start with my ELL students.  From there I feel that it will be easier to get more ideas and methods to help them succeed and keep the paces of their classmates.