Interview with a comparable ESOL student.

Onessa is a girl that is very close in age to Rosa from our ESOL profile; however, Onessa is more advanced and has been speaking English for much longer. Although she was born in the United States, her family is from Honduras and she grew up speaking Spanish in her home. Onessa still speaks to most of her family in Spanish, but many of her friends in the United States speak English, so she primarily speaks English with them and at school. Onessa reports to having little difficulty getting started in school, although sometimes she gets vocabulary mixed up and still works in the LEP program two nights a week to do her assignments. Throughout her years, Onessa’s English has progressed to the target level for her age and her Spanish has also progressed through speaking at home, watching television and visiting Honduras.
Throughout the interview, it was evident that Onessa is at a more advanced stage of her second language learning. She is in stage four of negation and was able to keep the conversation flowing rather smoothly, with only a few instances of not knowing the correct vocabulary. While Onessa’s speaks and reads very well, her writing skills are even better. During the interview it was difficult to gauge how she formed complete sentences and used her vocabulary when her answers consisted of yes, no, or one word answers. In her writing however, she formed complete sentences and had no problems with tense, verb agreement and spelling.

Interview Transcription

Hi I’m ____________. What’s your name?
Onessa: Onessa

Q: And how old are you?
O: Eight.

Q: What grade are you in?
O: Third.

Q: Third grade? Do you like school?
O: Yes

Q: Do you have a favorite subject?
O: Yeah.

Q: What is it?
O: I have two.

Q: Okay, what are they?
O: Math and science.

Q: Math is my favorite subject too…I like math.
O: And writing.

Q: Oh so you like lots of things, that’s good. Onessa, who do you live with at home?
O: My mom and my step-dad.

Q: Do you have any brothers or sisters?
O: My dad’s son.

Q: Oh, so you have a step-brother…How long have you lived in Florida? Do you know?
Has is been a long time?
O: Like, I came at half past last year.

Q: And where did you live before that?
O: New York.

Q: New York? Is that where you were born?
O: Yeah.

Q: What language does your mom speak?
O: Spanish.

Q: What language do you talk to your mom in?
O: Spanish.

Q: What about your step-dad?
O: Spanish, but he’s a teacher of English…in a pre-K school.

Q: Where is your mom from? Do you know?
O: Honduras

Q: Have you ever been there?
O: Yes.

Q: Have you ever lived there?
O: No, only for months…only to visit.

Q: What?
O: Only for a few months.

Q: Who did you stay with there? Do you have family there?
O: My grandma and a lot of friends.

Q: Did you have fun there? Do you like it?
O: Yeah, my um… my um dad…my dad um took me on a motorcycle. He took me fishing.

Q: How fun. Did you like that?
O: Yes. I play with my dog.

Q: What’s your dog’s name?
O: Dixie.

Q: Is it a boy or a girl?
O: um…I think it’s a boy.

Q: When you were little, before you started coming to school? Did you speak English?
O: um… Yes, a little

Q: Who spoke English to you?
O: My one uncle and two aunts.

Q: When you started school, was it hard for you, to speak English all the time? Or was it
easy?
O: It was a little easy.

Q: Oh, I can tell, you are so smart.
O: No.
Q: Of course you are.
O: No, I’m not good at reading.
Q: You read great a minute ago, and remember, you can always practice.

Q: Do you like to read books?
O: Yeah.

Q: You do? Do you have a favorite book?
O: I like all of them.

Q: Yeah, me too. I don’t have a favorite either…What do you like to do at home, for fun?
Do you like to play?
O: Yeah.

Q: With what?
O: With a game named…something.

Q: Do you watch TV?
O: Yes

Q: You do, what do you like to watch? Do you have a favorite show?
O: I have two.

Q: Two? What are they?
O: Rugrats and Jimmy Neutron.

Q: Oh cool, when you watch TV at home, do you watch it in English?
O: Yeah.

Q: Do you ever watch TV in Spanish?
O: Sometimes, only one.

Q: Only one show?
O: Program.

Q: Only one program?
O: Yes.

Q: What program?
O: Um…it’s called…

Q: You can say it in Spanish.
O: Vivo los ninos.

Q: Do you ever have to do chores at home? Do you have to help out?
O: Clean my room.
Q: Anything else?
O: um…

Q: It’s okay if not.
O: In the morning I have to eat my breakfast.

Q: Oh, and help get yourself ready for school?
O: I just have to clean my bed.

Q: Do you have a favorite food?
O: Yeah.

Q: What is it?
O: I have two.

Q: Okay, what are they?
O: Pizza and um…Chinese food.

Q: Yum, what is something that you don’t like?
O: …?

Q: Do you have a food that you don’t like to eat? Or do you like everything?
O: Don’t like…I don’t know…I forget what it’s called…I don’t know.

Q: That’s okay, I don’t like mushrooms. Do you know what those are?
O: I don’t like them either.

Q: Now I would like for you to read me just a couple pages from this book please.
O: “It was, it was almost seven an you can see all if quiet in the Bear’s home sweet tree. The cubs are asleep. At seven o’clock, the alarm goes off. It’s as quiet…It’s as quiet…It was quite a shock. Five minutes later, they are back to sleep. Brother and Sister are back to sleep. Papa’s coffee starts to…prek?...perk. Papa will soon be going to work.”

Q: Good, do you know what perk means? When the coffee starts to perk?
O: Boil?

Q: Yes good, when it starts to brew and gets hot.

Q: Great, thank you very much Onessa, You have been a big help