1 00:00:01,710 --> 00:00:06,710 Identify two aspects you would change to improve the Language Assistant program. 2 00:00:06,710 --> 00:00:09,710 Explain briefly how you would do it. 3 00:00:09,710 --> 00:00:20,989 So the two things that come to mind with regards to this question are relatively broad, 4 00:00:20,989 --> 00:00:23,989 and I don't have the best solution for them. 5 00:00:23,989 --> 00:00:31,989 But one thing that came up when talking to other LAs or ETAs is that you see a wide range 6 00:00:31,989 --> 00:00:38,189 of what is expected of ETAs and how hard we have to work 7 00:00:38,189 --> 00:00:40,090 and how much we have to contribute to the classroom 8 00:00:40,090 --> 00:00:46,390 and how much people are either there being an active grading disciplinary teacher figure 9 00:00:46,390 --> 00:00:49,350 or more of just like this floating dictionary in the classroom. 10 00:00:50,009 --> 00:00:55,229 And so one thing that I feel like would be very beneficial to the ETA program, 11 00:00:55,929 --> 00:01:00,609 not just with Fulbright but in the whole comunidad in general with all of the ETAs, 12 00:01:00,609 --> 00:01:15,329 It would be some sort of standardization if there were some, like, much more delineated rulebook of expectations that say, like, as an ETA, you will be doing this much work, and then all teachers that work with ETAs would somehow be on board with that. 13 00:01:15,629 --> 00:01:24,010 But as this would be a comunidad-large issue dealing with thousands of teachers and auxiliares, I don't know the best way to solve that. 14 00:01:24,010 --> 00:01:34,150 But on the level of just Fulbright, however, the issue of discrepancy was also relevant with regards to global classrooms. 15 00:01:34,409 --> 00:01:42,750 Because I was kind of fortunate in that I had a counterpart at my high school, and we worked four hours a week with two different classes with global classrooms. 16 00:01:42,750 --> 00:01:50,950 But I know some other students or auxiliaries really had to fight to have global classrooms times in their school. 17 00:01:51,629 --> 00:01:56,310 And so that put us all occasionally on an uneven footing 18 00:01:56,310 --> 00:01:58,030 when it came to the Global Classrooms Conference. 19 00:01:58,810 --> 00:02:01,290 And so if things could be somewhat more standardized, 20 00:02:01,650 --> 00:02:02,650 I think that would be beneficial. 21 00:02:05,069 --> 00:02:07,950 And then my second one is also, 22 00:02:08,069 --> 00:02:10,330 my second area of improvement is also pretty large, 23 00:02:10,389 --> 00:02:11,990 and I don't know the best solution for it, 24 00:02:11,990 --> 00:02:16,810 but discipline has been a persistent issue in my school 25 00:02:16,810 --> 00:02:18,389 and I think with other auxiliaries too. 26 00:02:18,389 --> 00:02:24,090 because as a language assistant or teaching assistant you're sort of in this limbo where 27 00:02:24,090 --> 00:02:31,490 you're not a full teacher who can discipline students with a parte which is the the form that 28 00:02:31,490 --> 00:02:39,530 they give students when they really act out and so any threat that we give students is kind of 29 00:02:39,530 --> 00:02:43,889 you know an empty threat like be quiet or else you know you can't follow through with it or else and 30 00:02:43,889 --> 00:02:47,830 So it can be difficult to maintain discipline 31 00:02:47,830 --> 00:02:48,729 in the classroom. 32 00:02:48,729 --> 00:02:51,629 And plus, you know, 20 to 30 teenagers 33 00:02:51,629 --> 00:02:53,569 is gonna be a rowdy group regardless. 34 00:02:53,569 --> 00:02:58,370 So I guess if we were given some more specific tactics 35 00:02:58,370 --> 00:02:59,889 on how to manage discipline at the beginning, 36 00:02:59,889 --> 00:03:01,189 that would be beneficial. 37 00:03:02,229 --> 00:03:07,229 So I think one aspect is definitely the English classes 38 00:03:08,069 --> 00:03:10,229 where the assistants are placed. 39 00:03:10,229 --> 00:03:14,930 So I have a lot of classes where I'm working with students 40 00:03:14,930 --> 00:03:18,569 with an extremely basic level of English. 41 00:03:18,569 --> 00:03:22,710 And I think sometimes it's not super useful 42 00:03:22,710 --> 00:03:24,509 for these students to have us in the classroom 43 00:03:24,509 --> 00:03:28,669 because especially since we are not speaking Spanish at all, 44 00:03:28,669 --> 00:03:31,789 it's kind of just another voice that they have in the room 45 00:03:31,789 --> 00:03:33,189 that they don't understand. 46 00:03:33,189 --> 00:03:35,810 And I think it's a little bit intimidating for them. 47 00:03:35,810 --> 00:03:38,930 So I think it's kind of best to really focus 48 00:03:38,930 --> 00:03:47,370 the, um, assistance on either the bilingual, um, side or with classes that have some sort of 49 00:03:47,370 --> 00:03:52,250 ability to have conversation or on a conversational level, because otherwise I feel like we're not 50 00:03:52,250 --> 00:03:57,849 really sure how we can be utilized in those situations. Um, maybe one other option could be 51 00:03:57,849 --> 00:04:02,050 one-on-one with some of these students, but I think just having us in a classroom of students 52 00:04:02,050 --> 00:04:07,270 that really don't know, um, even the basics is kind of a difficult situation. So maybe changing 53 00:04:07,270 --> 00:04:15,210 that placement. I think another thing might be really to foster more collaboration between 54 00:04:15,210 --> 00:04:23,009 the teaching assistants at the school. So I had two other teaching assistants and I think it took 55 00:04:23,009 --> 00:04:28,389 us until March or April to realize that we should be collaborating because some of us even had 56 00:04:28,389 --> 00:04:33,029 the same groups of students, but we weren't doing any collaboration. So I think maybe 57 00:04:33,029 --> 00:04:37,850 having the school set times for just the assistants to meet and kind of share activities, 58 00:04:37,990 --> 00:04:41,750 maybe encourage them to have some sort of joint folder, because I know we had that for Fulbright, 59 00:04:41,870 --> 00:04:45,470 but not really with the other assistants at the school. So I think that could be another 60 00:04:45,470 --> 00:04:55,370 really great addition to the program as well. Would you recommend the language assistant program 61 00:04:55,370 --> 00:05:08,850 to other English speakers in your country? Why or why not? I would absolutely recommend the program 62 00:05:08,850 --> 00:05:13,209 to other speakers. I know that many young Americans, whether university students as I was, 63 00:05:13,209 --> 00:05:17,629 think occasionally about whether we could become teachers, whether we have the stuff that it takes 64 00:05:17,629 --> 00:05:21,709 to become a teacher or a debate coach, whether we have the patience and the creativity 65 00:05:21,709 --> 00:05:25,069 and the collaborative capacity to do all of that. 66 00:05:25,069 --> 00:05:28,949 And what I discovered in Spain this year is that thanks to the language 67 00:05:28,949 --> 00:05:32,970 assistant program, I now understand what teaching really entails. 68 00:05:33,110 --> 00:05:36,649 It's not just about preparing a lesson beforehand and lecturing to students. 69 00:05:36,930 --> 00:05:40,629 It's also figuring out how to adapt the material to motivate 70 00:05:40,629 --> 00:05:43,050 students who have different motivation levels 71 00:05:43,050 --> 00:05:44,870 and different academic abilities 72 00:05:44,870 --> 00:05:47,189 and the answer for me in the end has been 73 00:05:47,189 --> 00:05:48,990 that I do think that the high school 74 00:05:48,990 --> 00:05:51,029 classroom teaching life will be the correct 75 00:05:51,029 --> 00:05:53,050 life for me and I have to thank 76 00:05:53,050 --> 00:05:54,769 the language assistant program for that 77 00:05:54,769 --> 00:05:57,250 so if there are young Americans 78 00:05:57,250 --> 00:05:59,050 or other English speakers who have an 79 00:05:59,050 --> 00:06:01,089 interest in education and want to 80 00:06:01,089 --> 00:06:03,209 see what those possibilities can bring 81 00:06:03,209 --> 00:06:04,790 for them and for their students 82 00:06:04,790 --> 00:06:06,970 then I think it would be a wonderful option 83 00:06:06,970 --> 00:06:08,230 for them to consider 84 00:06:08,230 --> 00:06:15,730 Yes, I would definitely recommend the program to other English speakers in the United States. 85 00:06:16,129 --> 00:06:25,750 I think I would say I would recommend it to people that like teaching and like working with children or teenagers because it's not easy. 86 00:06:26,009 --> 00:06:27,370 I mean, it's pretty stress-free. 87 00:06:27,629 --> 00:06:29,610 We get to test out the classroom. 88 00:06:29,790 --> 00:06:35,790 We get to be assistants and learn about teaching and not necessarily be stressed and in charge of our whole class. 89 00:06:35,790 --> 00:06:40,790 But you still have to think about activities you want to do. You still have to deal with discipline. 90 00:06:40,790 --> 00:06:46,790 You have to do work outside of the classroom to make sure that you're going to run the classroom well. 91 00:06:46,790 --> 00:06:50,790 So it's important that you like the work you're doing. 92 00:06:50,790 --> 00:06:57,790 And I think that I really enjoy going to most of my classes and that makes it worthwhile and it makes it really fun. 93 00:06:57,790 --> 00:07:02,790 But if I didn't enjoy teaching, I don't think I would enjoy being a language assistant.