ENTRY 3: INTERVIEW WITH SECOND LANGUAGE TEACHER

With my mother also being a second language learner, she is also a second language teacher! My mother has a Master's degree as a reading specialist and has taken many theory classes, but in all honesty, my mom doesn't worry about matching what she does to research or theories. She teaches based off of her students' needs and what she feels to be right, which is why it is eye-opening to see how my mom's natural teaching pairs with the readings. After reflecting on the video, I found that my mom believes that "speech cannot be taught directly, but "emerges" on its own," as said in Gass & Selinker's chapter 10 (Gass & Selinker, 2001, pg. 303). A question I should have asked should have been about the topic of input and output. I wanted to see my mom's insight and stance on the behaviorist view or "focusing on innateness and the innate system" (Gass & Selinker, 2001, pg. 308). If I had to guess, I would believe that she would gear towards focusing on innateness. She is big on building relationships with the students as said in the video and giving them the experiences and opportunities they need in order to grow as individuals. I think that with my mom being a second language learner herself, she has a lot of empathy and insight for her English language learners. It has truly been a privilege to see her in a different light and to experience what a great teacher she is.

Here is a link to the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yopRB_9Lft0&t=13s