Student Interviews About their Culture and Family: Pictures and Analysis
Analysis
Description
I am currently placed in a Kindergarten and first grade English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. I decided to perform my interviews with three kindergarten students. This was a wonderful learning experience because it allowed me to build my relationship with some of the students as well gain a better understanding of their culture and their concept of their culture and language.
The concept I interviewed the students about was their family, their home culture, and their home language. The students in my classroom come from all different cultures and backgrounds. In the two classes, the students come from twelve different countries and speak fifteen different languages. Some of the students have been in the United States since they were very young, and one student has not even arrived yet from Palestine. In choosing the concept, I hoped to learn about how the students are making sense of being in America and speaking English as well as being a part of another culture and home with their family and in the community.
Since the students are only five and six years old, I decided to keep the questions very simple in order to be a starting point for telling me about their family and home culture and language. In order to make the students feel comfortable talking to me and to facilitate the discussion, I had the students draw me a picture of their family. They were given these tasks on a sheet of paper. This template can be found in the appendix.
I used a picture for the interview for a few reasons. The students have limited English proficiency, so drawing allows having a conversation more practical and comfortable for the students. Kindergartners have short attention spans, and they need guidance and direction in creating a conversation. Lastly, young children can sometimes best express themselves through their drawings rather than their words, so I thought it would elicit more authentic data. As they drew, I asked questions about their drawing in order to elicit conversation about their family and culture.
Data
I interviewed three kindergartners from different home cultures and languages. They will all be given pseudonyms to protect their identity. The first will be called Gabe. Gabe is a five year old boy. When asked how many siblings he had, he wrote he has two brothers. When asked where him and his family are from, he replied, “Arabic.” Later, after asking a few questions, he said he is from Morocco. He drew himself first. Next was his father, next was his friend, and next was a dog. He describes that his dad is bigger and that he is going to work. I then asked if Gabe had friends that speak Arabic, and when asked where he sees them, he responded, “at the Morocco.” When asked what he does at the Morocco, he says that he goes with his sister outside, and that he had his happy birthday there.
The next student will be called Mia, and she is five years old. She told me that she has one brother, and that her and her family are from India. She was able to spell India in the blank space on the work sheet. While drawing the picture, she first drew her mom, then herself, then her dad. When I asked her who she was drawing first, she told me it was her mom and that she has a dot on her head. When I asked why she had a dot on her head, she said it was because her mom speaks Gujarati, Hindi, English, and a little bit of Spanish. I asked Mia about India. She told me that it is messy in India and that there is no grass and there is stuff dropped everywhere. While drawing herself, Mia added a dot on her forehead in the picture and told me that she wears it to “India parties and stuff.” She tells me that he is Mexican, and that her mom is a little Mexican. When I asked what language she speaks at home, she told me Gujarati and English. When I asked if her dad speaks Gujarati, she says, “No. I try and learn him but he says no,no,no.”
The last student interviewed will be called Jason, and he is five years old. Jason did not know how to write his name, so I wrote it for him. He told me that he has ten sisters and eleven brothers. He told me that his family is from Uganda and also America. He first drew his father, then himself, then his baby sister, then his mother. He told me that him and his dad like to go for walks in the grass. He speaks Uganda at home. He drew a large hat for his father and a smaller hat on his head. While drawing his baby sister, he told me how she wears a flower hat. He told me that his father’s leg is very broken, and that he has to go to the hospital. He lives with his grandma and grandpa. Then he drew clouds, and told me that it is raining in his picture.
Analysis
I am looking forward to learning more about the students’ cultures, home languages, and their overall understandings and resonations with their home culture. Through these interviews, I realized just how much I do not know about the students and their home cultures. I received a better understand of just how essential it is for a teacher to put in the effort to understand the student and their culture in order to provide the most relevant and accessible learning possible.
After conducting these interviews, I feel better equipped to teach a lesson or unit on countries; especially their home countries and languages. At the end of the year, the kindergarteners will be engaging in a country study, and I will use this new knowledge as a foundation for planning the lessons. For example, Mia knows a great deal about India, and it is a very important part of her life, as seen through her drawings and through our conversation. Mia can be a model of how to share about her home country and some cultures and customs in her culture. This type of model will be very beneficial for students such as Gabe, because Gabe is unsure as to what a country is. Gabe gave me great insight into the fact that students are very knowledgeable about their culture, but it is difficult to articulate their knowledge because they are unaware of the aspects of culture, or they do not have the language yet to articulate themselves. I saw this through him telling me him and his family were from Arabic at first, and then calling his house of worship the “Morocco” instead of the Mosque. Gabe’s inability to express his knowledge of certain aspects of culture should not be misinterpreted as him being unaware of his own culture. He is still the best resource in the class for learning about Morocco and Arabic culture; he just needs the resources to be able to talk about it. This is great information regarding instruction design and implementation.
Both Mia and Gabe connected their culture to their language. Mia points out that her mom has a dot on her head because she speaks several different languages. Gabe understands that his family is from Arabic, which demonstrates that Arabic is one of the most important aspect of culture to his family. Jason, however, commented that him and his family speak Uganda at home, instead of telling me him and his family speak Luganda, This shows that Jason has stronger ties to his country rather than his language.
Throughout the interviews and reflecting on the interviews, I have made several inferences and conclusions about the students and their cultures. One conclusion that I came to is that other cultures view ‘brothers and sisters’ differently that in America. In America, brothers and sisters are immediate siblings in the family. Jason told me he has eleven sisters and ten brothers. I believe in Uganda, extended family or members of the community are called brothers and sisters as well, because he only has one sister living with him in the United States. When asking Gabe how many brothers and sisters he has, he told me he had two brothers. Later on, he told me about his sister at the ‘Morocco’ (which described the Mosque), and that she is really just a friend. This shows me that in his family and culture, they call people outside the immediate family ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ because of religious purposes.
Through the students’ drawings, I was able to get a better understanding of their relationships in their family. For example, Jason drew his father first, which tells me that his father may be the most important man in the household, or the parent he is closer to. Mia drew her mother first, and talked mostly about her mother, which explains that she is very close to her mother. She knew her mother’s first name and age, but named her father ‘daddy’ and explained that she did not know how old he is. She also described how her father does not want to learn Gujarati, which is one of Mia’s strongest ties to her culture. Gabe drew himself first, then his father, and did not include his mother in the picture. From his drawing, I inferred that he feels important in his family, and that his father is a very important part of his life and household. In our conversation, we talked a great deal about his father and how his father interacts with him and his siblings, but he does not mention his mother. This information gives me insight into the students’ relationships with their families, and also family relationships in other countries.
These interviews provided me with an tremendous amount of information, thus it was difficult to add it all into one short analysis. However, I am looking forward to continuing this research by actually spending time talking to the students about their cultures even more, and hopefully participating in a cultural event with them in some way. I will also use this information greatly to shape my instruction and interaction with the students in the class, as well as all of my future students.
I am currently placed in a Kindergarten and first grade English as a Second Language (ESL) classroom at Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. I decided to perform my interviews with three kindergarten students. This was a wonderful learning experience because it allowed me to build my relationship with some of the students as well gain a better understanding of their culture and their concept of their culture and language.
The concept I interviewed the students about was their family, their home culture, and their home language. The students in my classroom come from all different cultures and backgrounds. In the two classes, the students come from twelve different countries and speak fifteen different languages. Some of the students have been in the United States since they were very young, and one student has not even arrived yet from Palestine. In choosing the concept, I hoped to learn about how the students are making sense of being in America and speaking English as well as being a part of another culture and home with their family and in the community.
Since the students are only five and six years old, I decided to keep the questions very simple in order to be a starting point for telling me about their family and home culture and language. In order to make the students feel comfortable talking to me and to facilitate the discussion, I had the students draw me a picture of their family. They were given these tasks on a sheet of paper. This template can be found in the appendix.
I used a picture for the interview for a few reasons. The students have limited English proficiency, so drawing allows having a conversation more practical and comfortable for the students. Kindergartners have short attention spans, and they need guidance and direction in creating a conversation. Lastly, young children can sometimes best express themselves through their drawings rather than their words, so I thought it would elicit more authentic data. As they drew, I asked questions about their drawing in order to elicit conversation about their family and culture.
Data
I interviewed three kindergartners from different home cultures and languages. They will all be given pseudonyms to protect their identity. The first will be called Gabe. Gabe is a five year old boy. When asked how many siblings he had, he wrote he has two brothers. When asked where him and his family are from, he replied, “Arabic.” Later, after asking a few questions, he said he is from Morocco. He drew himself first. Next was his father, next was his friend, and next was a dog. He describes that his dad is bigger and that he is going to work. I then asked if Gabe had friends that speak Arabic, and when asked where he sees them, he responded, “at the Morocco.” When asked what he does at the Morocco, he says that he goes with his sister outside, and that he had his happy birthday there.
The next student will be called Mia, and she is five years old. She told me that she has one brother, and that her and her family are from India. She was able to spell India in the blank space on the work sheet. While drawing the picture, she first drew her mom, then herself, then her dad. When I asked her who she was drawing first, she told me it was her mom and that she has a dot on her head. When I asked why she had a dot on her head, she said it was because her mom speaks Gujarati, Hindi, English, and a little bit of Spanish. I asked Mia about India. She told me that it is messy in India and that there is no grass and there is stuff dropped everywhere. While drawing herself, Mia added a dot on her forehead in the picture and told me that she wears it to “India parties and stuff.” She tells me that he is Mexican, and that her mom is a little Mexican. When I asked what language she speaks at home, she told me Gujarati and English. When I asked if her dad speaks Gujarati, she says, “No. I try and learn him but he says no,no,no.”
The last student interviewed will be called Jason, and he is five years old. Jason did not know how to write his name, so I wrote it for him. He told me that he has ten sisters and eleven brothers. He told me that his family is from Uganda and also America. He first drew his father, then himself, then his baby sister, then his mother. He told me that him and his dad like to go for walks in the grass. He speaks Uganda at home. He drew a large hat for his father and a smaller hat on his head. While drawing his baby sister, he told me how she wears a flower hat. He told me that his father’s leg is very broken, and that he has to go to the hospital. He lives with his grandma and grandpa. Then he drew clouds, and told me that it is raining in his picture.
Analysis
I am looking forward to learning more about the students’ cultures, home languages, and their overall understandings and resonations with their home culture. Through these interviews, I realized just how much I do not know about the students and their home cultures. I received a better understand of just how essential it is for a teacher to put in the effort to understand the student and their culture in order to provide the most relevant and accessible learning possible.
After conducting these interviews, I feel better equipped to teach a lesson or unit on countries; especially their home countries and languages. At the end of the year, the kindergarteners will be engaging in a country study, and I will use this new knowledge as a foundation for planning the lessons. For example, Mia knows a great deal about India, and it is a very important part of her life, as seen through her drawings and through our conversation. Mia can be a model of how to share about her home country and some cultures and customs in her culture. This type of model will be very beneficial for students such as Gabe, because Gabe is unsure as to what a country is. Gabe gave me great insight into the fact that students are very knowledgeable about their culture, but it is difficult to articulate their knowledge because they are unaware of the aspects of culture, or they do not have the language yet to articulate themselves. I saw this through him telling me him and his family were from Arabic at first, and then calling his house of worship the “Morocco” instead of the Mosque. Gabe’s inability to express his knowledge of certain aspects of culture should not be misinterpreted as him being unaware of his own culture. He is still the best resource in the class for learning about Morocco and Arabic culture; he just needs the resources to be able to talk about it. This is great information regarding instruction design and implementation.
Both Mia and Gabe connected their culture to their language. Mia points out that her mom has a dot on her head because she speaks several different languages. Gabe understands that his family is from Arabic, which demonstrates that Arabic is one of the most important aspect of culture to his family. Jason, however, commented that him and his family speak Uganda at home, instead of telling me him and his family speak Luganda, This shows that Jason has stronger ties to his country rather than his language.
Throughout the interviews and reflecting on the interviews, I have made several inferences and conclusions about the students and their cultures. One conclusion that I came to is that other cultures view ‘brothers and sisters’ differently that in America. In America, brothers and sisters are immediate siblings in the family. Jason told me he has eleven sisters and ten brothers. I believe in Uganda, extended family or members of the community are called brothers and sisters as well, because he only has one sister living with him in the United States. When asking Gabe how many brothers and sisters he has, he told me he had two brothers. Later on, he told me about his sister at the ‘Morocco’ (which described the Mosque), and that she is really just a friend. This shows me that in his family and culture, they call people outside the immediate family ‘brother’ or ‘sister’ because of religious purposes.
Through the students’ drawings, I was able to get a better understanding of their relationships in their family. For example, Jason drew his father first, which tells me that his father may be the most important man in the household, or the parent he is closer to. Mia drew her mother first, and talked mostly about her mother, which explains that she is very close to her mother. She knew her mother’s first name and age, but named her father ‘daddy’ and explained that she did not know how old he is. She also described how her father does not want to learn Gujarati, which is one of Mia’s strongest ties to her culture. Gabe drew himself first, then his father, and did not include his mother in the picture. From his drawing, I inferred that he feels important in his family, and that his father is a very important part of his life and household. In our conversation, we talked a great deal about his father and how his father interacts with him and his siblings, but he does not mention his mother. This information gives me insight into the students’ relationships with their families, and also family relationships in other countries.
These interviews provided me with an tremendous amount of information, thus it was difficult to add it all into one short analysis. However, I am looking forward to continuing this research by actually spending time talking to the students about their cultures even more, and hopefully participating in a cultural event with them in some way. I will also use this information greatly to shape my instruction and interaction with the students in the class, as well as all of my future students.