Interview Audio File & Written Transcription

Link to Full Audio Interview



Me:  Actually what I’m doing is I am going back to school to be a teacher.  When you go to school to be a teacher you need to teach kids who don’t have English as their first language how to learn and that is what they are helping you learn to do here.  What I am going to do is ask questions of you, being a student, what it’s like to be a student and trying to learn.

Obviously you speak two languages.

Maria: Yes

You speak English and what else?

Spanish

Have you always lived in Brandon or in Florida?

Mexico

Do you live with your mom and dad?  Shakes her head yes

Do you have brother and sisters?  Shakes head no

No? It’s just only you?

Oh I do have brothers and sisters that live in Mexico.

Oh they live in Mexico, how old are they?  Do you know?

My sister is 16 my brother is 13

And what are their names?

Dulce and Daniel

Do your mom and dad work?

Yes

Do just the three of you live together or do you live with other people?

I live with my grandmother, my aunt, umm I have more people at my house

Really?  How many people do you have at your house?

Twelve

Wow, 12?  Are they all family or are some of them friends?

Family

You probably don’t get much alone time do you?  Shakes her head no

Are there other kids living in your house?

Yes there are some who go to my…. who go to this school.

Oh really?  Are you the only one in 3^rd grade?

Yes

So do you like Wimpy Kid?  Shakes her head yes

My son is in 4^th grade he loves The Wimpy Kid, he’s read all of them.  Ok why don’t you pick what you want to read and read me a page or two.

OK

Reads passage

Very good.  What pages are those?

66 and 67

And which Wimpy Kid is this?

Um the Ugly Truth

The Ugly Truth is that the first one? Do you know?

No

Did you put those stickers on there (the cover of the book)?  Shakes head yes.

That’s pretty cool.

OK I’m going to ask you a couple questions and then I have something for you for helping me.

How old are you?

9

When’s your birthday?

January 7^th.

Oh mine is January 1^st, so mine is not that far from yours.

So your first language is Spanish right?

UmmHmm

Do you speak any other languages besides English or Spanish?  Shakes head no

Let’s see.  Who is your favorite teacher?

Ms. Hertz

What does she teach?

Science, Math, and Social studies

Can you read in Spanish?

Little

Can you read more in English than you can in Spanish?

Yes

Did you go to school when you lived in Mexico? Or have you ever lived in Mexico?

I…I didn’t go to school in Mexico cause I was like one or two.

What is it like to learn English?

It’s a awesome cause then you can learn more languages that you never even learned.

Did you start to learn English when you came to school?

Yes

And have you been at Boyette Springs since kindergarten?

Hesitant “yes”

Have you been to any other schools?

I have been to lots of schools

OK because you parents move around?  Shakes head yes

What is the hardest part about speaking English?

You have to like spell out big words

That is hard, what has been fun about learning English?

Sometimes you get to draw pictures of it.

Instead of spelling the words you can draw pictures?  Shakes head yes.

How long have you been learning English?

More than..I’ve been here (then counts out the years she’s been in school under her breath…4 years.

So you started when you began kindergarten.

How did you learn how to read?  What was the best thing that worked for you?

When I went with Mrs. Jimenez who taught, he taught me how to read books in English.

Did she? And did she speak Spanish to you?

Yes

And would she speak Spanish to help you or did she just speak English?

Both

And did you like it when she spoke both?

Yes

Did it make it easier for you to understand when she spoke to you in English, because she could speak to you in Spanish also if you didn’t understand?

Yes

What did you find hard about speaking English?

The hardest part is when you have to write big…when you have to write great sentences with words that you don’t even like don’t know too much.

Do you speak English at home or do you speak Spanish at home?

Spanish at home

Do you teach anyone that you live with how to speak English?

Hmm…Yes

Like when you go to the store do you speak or do they?  Say you had to go to Walgreens to get candy and you had a question-like where it was..

I speak to them…(hesitantly like she doesn’t understand what I’m asking)

If you have your mom or dad with you.  Does your Mom or Dad speak English?

My dad speaks some and my mom already know like Hello.

So she knows a little but you know more than her.

What does your dad do for work?

He works at this place where they build houses.

And does your mom work?

Yes, she works at Wendy’s.

Oh, which one? Do you know?

I don’t know

Does she work during the day? Or at night?

During the day

So she’s home at night when your home. Does your Grandma work?

No

What does your teachers do to help you with your reading?

They telling me questions about how I… um… if I understand or not.

What was the one thing your teachers did to help you learn English?

Umm they let me spell out the words phnoem. (Phonetically)

Do you find any sounds that are harder for you?

No

What are you favorite books to read?

The Wimpy Kid

That’s it?  Did you ever read Captain Underpants?

Only once, but I didn’t like it.

No?  You didn’t?  Was it too silly? What about Junie B. Jones?

I like Junie B. Jones

What other books do you like?

Ummm… I like Cat in the Hat books.

Well it looks like you are getting ready to leave for lunch.  Thank you for being so great and helping me out.