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Hey, guys! My name is Lola Ogunro and I am in my senior year here at the University of Houston! My majors are Teaching and Learning EC-6, Generalist and Political Science. I am currently student teaching in HISD at Foster ES in a third grade self-contained classroom. The reason why I chose to pursue a dual degree in both education and political science is because in the I will transition into education policy later into my career. My ultimate goal is to transform education and restructure the systems of education in Texas, and hopefully at a national level as well. I believe it is extremely important to have knowledge and experience and both education and political science.

This class will serve as tool for me to utilize in order to gain knowledge in an aspect of education that I have little knowledge of at this time. I am monolingual myself, and have always been surrounded by English speakers for the majority of my life. In this class I will learn how ESL students may have to adjust their learning in and English language education system, which will help perspectives that I need to have in my future career of education policy.

As mentioned previously, I am monolingual, however my father is bilingual. My father is from Nigeria and began learning English as a young child, concurrently with his native/ethnic language of Yoruba. Since my dad learned English at a such a young age, he has always been comfortable with the language and able to articulate himself well. The challenge my father has to confront with being a bilingual immigrant is an accent barrier. Although my dad is speaking English, his Nigerian accent is still heavy, even after being in America for about 30 years. His messages aren't always understood in the way he'd want, because can't pronounce things in the same way native American English speakers would. My dad owns his own business and I felt that when interacting with his clients it could be frustrating for him to try to convey a simple message, only for his accent to get in the way and make the message seem much more complex.

From this class I hope to gain knowledge that will shape me to be more empathetic towards English language learners and ESL students. This experience will help me to be the best educator I can.