Bilingual Interview Essay

I interviewed a student at Wedgewood Park International Middle School in Milwaukee. I did it on March 6th in the morning. The interview with Gaby (a pseudonym) lasted about thirty minutes during his reading intervention time, so he would not miss curriculum instruction time. He is an 8th grader who grew up in Puerto Rico. He attended school in Puerto Rico, but he said it was very different than it is here. He also said that the culture was friendlier there. He described walking down the sidewalk, knowing everyone he passed and hearing loud familiar music. He has lived in Milwaukee for about three years and spent a few months in Florida when he was six. Here, he said no one talks to each other when walking down the street. At home, he lives
He expressed that he struggled to make friends in that program because he did not feel like they had anything in common. After the administrators at the school corrected the error and placed him in the bilingual program, he said that everyone was easier to talk to and he had more in common with them. Gibbons (2015) states that “Learners need models of new languages […]”, which often comes in the form of interaction with teachers for students in a one-way bilingual program (p. 28). For Gaby, the mainstream program might have been a good opportunity to interact with good models of his new language. However, Gaby felt like he did not have peers that he could interact with successfully. Additionally, without the supports that the bilingual program offers, these models would not have provided comprehensible input for him. He does interact with native English speakers on the bus to and from school, but not during the school day. Even his specials are with other students in the bilingual program. It is hard for schools to find a balance between interacting with students that they feel camaraderie with and students that can be models of academic