Sara
Wieder
April 23, 2012
ELL Case Study
The class in
which I completed my field experience is a class in an English- speaking school
in Jerusalem. All the students in this class speak and write English fluently
because all the parents are either English or American. There were no students
in the class that classified as an English language learner since all the
children speak English. On the contrary, these students would be classified as
a Hebrew language leaner because they are learning Hebrew. Therefore, I
observed an English language learner in a different setting.
Simon Hus is
six years old and lives in Jerusalem, Israel. His farther is European and his
mother is American. Simon speaks Hebrew at home and to his peers and teachers
in school. Yet, since Simon’s mother is American she does speak a little
English. Furthermore, Simon overhears conversations that his mother has with
family and friends in English. Simon attends a Hebrew speaking school which
doesn’t teach any English at all. However, at the beginning of this school
year, Simon’s mother decided that she would like her son to know English. She
hired a private and bilingual English tutor/teacher that has many years’
experience teaching English. Simon learns English four times a week after
school for a one hour session.
Simon is an
extremely bright and gifted child. Speaking to his other teachers, I was
notified that he is an almost 100% average student in all subjects. Yet,
Simon’s command for English is really poor and his learning process is slow. He
is way behind his grade level and the teacher had to start from the ABC’s. He
has now completed all the letters and can recognize them and he knows their
sound. After the teacher was sure that Simon was fluent in the ABC’s she moved
on to words. I observed Simon learning words that end with “at” like cat, rat,
hat, and bat. Then, she moved on to sight words. The teacher made the lessons
engaging and interesting by providing a picture with each word. She also designed
a learning plan that motivated Simon by giving rewards for his achievement.
Simon is
extremely motivated and a pleasure to observe. He started learning English from
the beginning and he never got discouraged. Simon confided in me that his dream
is to learn how to read independently. He really enjoys reading and up until
now he was only reading books in Hebrew, but now he wants to read books in
English too.
I gained a
lot of knowledge and insight from watching this teacher. She never pushed Simon
too hard, but encouraged him in his learning . She gave him the feeling that he
can do it, and always complimented him on his accomplishments. The teacher
began the lesson with read aloud which I noticed Simon enjoyed the most from
the lesson. This is because Simon has great difficult reading but, he
comprehended a lot more. So, he was able to understand the story and experience
model fluent reading. I realized that the teacher took great care in selecting
the right materials for Simon without causing confusion or reading something
that is way beyond his reading level. The teacher used “Animals at Night” and
“Bedtime” to teach sight words.
It was
interesting to observe how the teacher always engaged Simon in the lesson by
connecting the story to his personal life or experiences. In particular, after
reading “Bedtime”, the teacher asked Simon, “What are the things you do when
you prepare for bed”? Then, she helped Simon write a list of the process of
“bedtime” in his house. Simon struggles with writing, and currently can write
the ABC’s and is now learning how to write words. Reading is also difficult for
Simon and he many times mixes up “b” and “d”. After read aloud, the teacher
asks Simon questions to ensure that he comprehended what was read. Usually,
Simon answers all the questions correctly since comprehension is his strong
point.
I personally
had the opportunity to read with Simon a story that I selected with permission
from the teacher. He loved the story so much that he asked for more, so I gave
it to him to read independently. It was an amazing experience to read to this
child who was drinking up every word. I learnt from the experience that with
motivation and a love for learning anyone can learn English.
Then, the
teacher moved on to guided reading. She selects a text that is easy enough for
Simon to read. I observed that the teacher chose books that had a picture with
very few words on the page. I believe that these texts were great for Simon’s
and really catered to his needs and abilities. It was helpful in that he looked
at the pictures to make sense of the book and then looked at the words and
tried to decode them. Also, very few words on a page are helpful so that Simon
should not get confused or frustrated. The teacher would then give the book for
Simon to re-read during his free time. The teacher told me that she believed
that giving Simon books to read independently that they have already read is an
excellent tool to build literacy. She explained that Simon wants to read on his
own, but is not ready to read most books independently. Yet, by giving him
books they read during the lessons is great practice with reading and simultaneously
boosts Simon’s confidence in his ability to read. I truly admire this teacher
for her devotion and kindness.
Writing was
usually practicing the ABC’s and writing some sight words. The teacher
explained that Simon is having great difficulty with writing and the learning
process is very slow. Therefore, she doesn’t want to push him too hard too
quickly before he mastered how to write all the ABCs. She said, “ABCs are the
foundation of all reading and writing, I must make sure he can identify them
and write them”.
The teacher
integrates spelling two times a week instead of writing. Since he can write
only some words, she reinforces the spelling of the words. Once a week, the
teacher does introduce a new word and helps Simon write and spell the word
correctly. Simon often skips the vowels, (maybe because in Hebrew many words
are spelled without the vowel, for example Rausman would be spelled in Hebrew
letters as Rasmn), for example, the teacher asked him to spell the word “wink”,
and he spelled it w-n-k. At the end of the lesson, the teacher would give Simon
homework, either a worksheet to complete or review a book they read.
Simon’s
parents are very supportive and try their utmost to help Simon with learning
the language. In particular, his mother
reviews with him and helps him with the homework. Also, Simon told me that
since he started learning English his mother speaks to him in English as often
as possible which really encourages Simon to try harder. In addition, his
parents bought Simon books in Hebrew that has translation in English. This is a
great way to help Simon transfer the knowledge from his native language to
English. The teacher also purchased a Hebrew-English dictionary which is very
helpful when Simon is stuck on a word that he doesn’t know and can look it up
in the dictionary.
Simon is
making slow but steady progress with his reading and writing. Even I realized
the improvement he made since I started observing the lessons. Yet, Simon has
some difficulties and weaknesses. Besides for his difficulty with reading and
writing, Simon has great difficulty with grammar and word usage. He often mixes
up singular and plural and skips words when he speaks. For example, one day
when I was leaving he asked me, “You come again”? Sometimes the errors are so
severe that I cannot even understand what he is saying.
In addition, reading can sometimes be
confusing for Simon and the teacher constantly reminds him were to begin
reading a sentence. This confusion is because when reading Hebrew you read from
right to left and English you read from left to right. The teacher used a great
strategy for helping Simon with this difficulty be placing a paper clip at the
left side of the page to indicate where to begin reading. Also, the Hebrew
language uses a different alphabet then the ABCs so it is also very confusing
and challenging for Simon to master the language.
According to
the Student Oral Language Observation Matrix, Simon scored a 13 which places
him in phase 2. Comprehension, Simon’s strongest point, was a score of five. I
believe that Simon has a five in comprehension because his mother speaks
English often, to him, and in conversation. Simon scored a 3 in fluency because
he often can’t express himself well in everyday conversation and a 2 in
vocabulary because of his limited vocabulary. He scored a 2 in pronunciation
because he often doesn’t pronounce the words properly and usually has to repeat
himself. Grammar scored a 1, which is Simon’s lowest score, because he makes so
many errors in grammar and word usage that is so severe that it is extremely
difficult to understand him.
Simon would
benefit from further intervention in many areas. First, I would design a lesson
plan the builds on grammar and word usage. Simon is so conscious of the way he
talks that he rarely talks in English. I believe that in order for Simon to
master English in all aspects he must be able to speak the language correctly
and confidently. Also, I would build on pronunciation and vocabulary so that
Simon will be able to speak the language while being understood.
Besides for
these weaknesses, Simon has made progress in many areas. He can identify and
write all the ABCs and knows many words and sight words. Also, he understands a
lot more then he can read which is beneficial in read aloud activity. Finally,
Simon can read some books independently though he comprehends much less then
when something is read aloud to him.
The ELL case
study was an amazing and uplifting experience. I gained a lot of knowledge and
insights on teaching ELLs. This experience was really special because I had the
opportunity to observe a student learning English one on one with a private
teacher. This gave me the ability to view and internalize what I observed.
Often, observing in large classroom can deny the observer from getting a close
look of the student and the teacher. Also, in a classroom the teacher is
teaching other children as well and in this experience the teacher was teaching
this one child. I hope that all that I learnt from the experience will help me be
an effective teacher to ELLs and all my students!
