ELL Case Study

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!