ELL Case Study

Conversation with the teacher:

The teacher that I worked with was very eager to share her teaching experience with me. She works with many ELLs and she is very sensitive to their needs. She believes that a teacher needs to use very practical, and useful material when teaching ELLs. They need the chance to see for themselves how the new language (English) is used. They like to see it acted out and need to practice it themselves. It speaks to them more when they are reading high interest material. This teacher is able to get her students motivated and eager to do their work because of her attitude toward these students.

She believes that a student's family can help the child to learn English by encouraging him/her to read English books and speak in the English when possible. Having appropriate reading material available is important. Books on tapes is good for these students too, as well as going to English plays and other performances in English.

She believes that the difficulties that ELLs have in school is their spelling and grammar errors which can occur frequently. They don't usually like to read orally and they often have poor writing skills. These students need strong motivation to to keep putting effort into learning the language.

The teacher finds that many of the books that she uses for students to read from have stories and pictures of all types of backgrounds and cultures. This helps students to understand cultures different from their own and students from different cultures enjoy reading the stories about people similar to themselves. She believes that it is important to do research and find out about the different cultures of the students in the class. Find out what is interesting to them and give them what they appreciate. An effective teacher shows the students that she is interested in what the students are interested in. Teachers don't need to get involved in the religion and cultures of their students but it is important for them not to expose the students to something if the family does not want. If there is a special holiday, teachers can do something special to show the importance of and to support the students' culture.

The teacher believes in real language experiences - activities such as reader's theater, songs, visual aids, and all kinds of hands-on activities to get ELLs really motivated and excited about their learning.

The student's writing:

Tiffany is in second grade and she is learning how to read and write in English. She she reads on a first grade level and writes on a kindergarten level. I observed her practicing her long vowel sounds, consonant blends, reading many stories and doing some writing activities. She understand the stories that she reads because her comprehension level is very good compared to her reading level. Her handwriting is very nice because she puts in the effort to make her teacher proud. She likes reading stories but especially when she finds them relevant and meaningful.

Tiffany was not able/willing to come up with an idea of her own to write about. Even the topics that were given were not enough to create a story in her mind. What we did instead was gave her a visual story (picture cards) to put into sequence, guess what the ending would be, and then to write the story. She started off with discussing what she saw in the pictures and deciding the order of the story (prewriting). Then she wrote a first draft. It was the basics. No fancy words or extra explanations. The words were there, but they were not spelled correctly. In order to know what she wrote, I needed to have seen the story myself. It was a good first draft for an ELL on her level. Then the teacher would read it over with her. The teacher could read it first and then the student could read it. When the student reads it, she realizes her mistakes and think about what needs to be improved. Then she writes it again with correct spelling and better grammar usage looking up correct spelling and asking herself/peers/teacher about better grammar. She doesn't necessarily hear anything wrong with the grammar that she used so the teacher can point out the problem. Then the teacher would work with her to embellish it with adjectives, better verbs, etc. And then she would write her final draft.

The teacher used this kind of visual story for the ELL because the student didn't have to think of an idea on her own. She was able to see the story in front of her yet she still wrote the story on her own. She enjoyed the sequencing activity and it wasn't too difficult either. This was an excellent writing prompt for her.

Evaluation of writing (based on Solom and NYS Standards writing matrix):

Tiffany is in the high level for beginning-level in reading and writing. She can read common words and sound out some words that are not familiar. She can figure out what some words mean based on context clues. She can look back in the story to find information to answer questions and to make clarifications. When prompted, she can make references to previous knowledge and make connections.

When she writes, she has limited self expression. It is much easier for her to write about something that she read or was told about. She can make sentences, yet her vocabulary is very simple and there are many spelling and grammatical errors. She writes a sentence first by thinking out loud what she will write and then she writes it in the way that she thinks is correct.

According to the SOLOM matrix, Tiffany can comprehend at level 4 – she understands almost everything that is said at normal speed, although sometimes repetition is necessary. Her fluency is level 4 also – she can can speak fluently although she does occasionally think of the correct word or expression to use. Her vocabulary is also at level 4 – she sometimes needs to rephrase what she said because she realizes that it wasn't said correctly. Her pronunciation is at level four too – she can always be understood, but sometimes she mispronounces words as she reads or talks. Lastly, her grammar is at level 4 – on occasion, she makes grammar mistakes, but they don't change the meaning of what she wants to say.

Culturally responsive strategies:

The student preferred not to write about specific topics because of what she is taught at home. She was not comfortable to write about some experiences because she felt they were not fit to be shared or brought back bad or sad memories. The teacher accommodated her wishes and we respected her preferences and gave her material that she knew that she would enjoy more and not become offended and she was able to write about a different topic that she did enjoy.

Reflections:

It was amazing to see how much effort Tiffany puts into her learning. She liked working on the stories and other activities that were fun, but she didn't enjoy the assignment that seemed too daunting. Watching her reading skills slowly improve was a big learning experience for me. Reading assignments and other work that she had originally complained about, she had begun to do with enthusiasm.

I enjoyed this school-university partnership. I think that it was beneficial for both sides. I learned a lot about teaching ELLs and the student gained by having a personal coach at her side, cheering her on. I think she was more motivated while I was there because she wanted to impress me. I'm glad I had this opportunity to work with this ELL and I look forward to helping many of my own ELLs in my own classroom.