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Matthew Frutchey
Professor Reilly
ESLS 503
27 August 2015
Mini-Lesson Reflection
On the first day of class, eight groups were formed and instructed to carry out a fairly
simple lesson of their choosing. However, it was later revealed that the lesson must be instructed
in a language that was not (presumably) our mother tongue. Our group, for example, decided to
teach the class how to make a pizza while speaking in Italian. Immediately our entire focus
shifted from giving concise directions in English to grasping for broad concepts that we could
communicate using some Italian words, visual cues, acting, and a simple activity to gauge our
classmates' understanding.
As stated previously, the shift to the Italian language posed an immense challenge to most
of us in our group. We were fortunate that we had someone with a basic understanding of the
language, but that did not take away from the fact that we were communicating to a class that
would not understand us regardless. While we could communicate the lesson verbally in Italian,
we had to create ideas to express our lesson visually. We took advantage of the word "pizza"
being borrowed from the Italian language and made sure to write the word on the board and
include it in our PowerPoint presentation to convey the main objective of our lesson to the
students. Using simple language and more borrowed words, the students were all able to
understand their assessment task of making a pizza from construction paper and glue and
completed it with success. As a teacher communicating in a language that the student body did
not understand, it was awkward, challenging, and also rewarding when the lesson "clicked"

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despite the language barrier. It presented us with the issue that despite that possibility of the
teacher being bilingual, the students still may not understand either language. We had to search
for familiar imagery and actions along with linguistically similar vocabulary to communicate our
lesson; something every ELL instructor doubtlessly attempts to do while instructing a group of
ELL students.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, being a student in this situation was also eyeopening. If I had closed my eyes and simply listened to the lesson, nothing would have been
understood. I found my mind grasping for anything familiar in the language and relying mostly
on pictures and examples. Some of the best lessons I recall included: learning colors in Spanish,
due to the music, rhyming, and comprehension test; the "selfie" lesson, also in Spanish, because
of the relativity to pop culture and the physical demonstration; and the lesson about folding a
shirt due to it being an everyday activity and the video accompaniment. All of these topics were
easy to grasp as a student because of their relativity and everyone's background. The lesson that
was perhaps the hardest was creating a declarative sentence in French. This particular one was
more verbal, requiring more time and vocabulary retention, whereas the others were focused on
demonstration. I feel that this activity simulated what ELL students will struggle with and what
they will use to their advantage. They will look for any cues that tap into the background of what
they already know, yet struggle with new concepts where the relativity might be non-existent.
I believe the purpose of this activity was to convey the challenge of both the student and
the teacher in an ELL classroom. From a teacher's perspective, one must choose his/her
vocabulary carefully, use visual cues, and find how they can make it relatable to the students.
Students therefore must actively use what they already know to their advantage, whether it be

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pictures, a demonstration, or words that have similarities in the instructed language and their
own.