How My Daughter Taught Me to Teach: The Importance of Active Communication

In this article, the author shares how her daughter, who was diagnosed with a profound hearing loss when she was a year old, taught her to teach, and demonstrates the importance of active communication. Teaching her daughter English as her second language has posed many challenges, but has also revealed successful strategies that the author has been able to bring to the classroom. The most important lesson she learned is that teaching involves the assurance that what she is saying is being understood. Her background with her daughter, taking additional second language acquisition and multicultural courses for the Cross-cultural, Language and Academic Development credential (CLAD) from the State of California, and knowing some Spanish assisted in her preparation of teaching English language learners (ELLs).