I began observing an English Language Learner (ELL) at a school I currently have the pleasure of credentialing at in Northern California. The classroom is a second/third grade class with 23 students. The boy whom I have chosen to observe is seven years old and in second grade. For this blog, I will call him José. So far, I have spent four days around José and one day observing him. He was one of the first students I got to know because his mother brought him to school the night before class started to familiarize him with the new classroom. He is very reserved and slightly shy. He loves getting help from the teacher and myself, which is the main reason I know José better than a lot of other students. The first day, the students had an assignment in which they had to ask their fellow classmates questions. For example, they had to find a classmate that had one sister and one brother, a classmate who liked pizza, etc. I walked around to ensure everyone was up and asking questions when I noticed José standing still in the back of the classroom. I asked him if he had any names on his paper yet and he looked up at me with his big, brown eyes and shyly said, “I don’t know what I am supposed to be doing,” a slight accent accompanied his soft voice. I went over the assignment with him then walked around with him to different students to help him gather signatures. Once he had a couple, I walked away and let him finish it on his own. Although José likes getting help, he never really asks for it. He will sit quietly at his desk until the teacher or I specifically ask him how his assignment is going before he will admit that he doesn’t understand something. He accepts any and all help and in all honesty, I love helping him.
On Friday, August 28, I began formally observing José. I watched how he interacted with his classmates and I also sat down with him to talk about his at-home interests. I gathered that he is the middle child. He has two older sisters, but since he has not seen them in a while, he did not know too much about them. He lives with his mom, dad, his fifteen year old half brother, and his five year old sister. He loves to play video games when he is at home that are mostly in Spanish, and he shyly admitted that he likes driving the car in Grand Theft Auto 5. His mother is very involved and bakes cakes for a living, but she does not speak much English so it is hard for her to communicate with the teacher. This lead to her being late to the annual Ice Cream Social and unfortunately missing out on the ice cream. I am still gathering where they are from but José did mention Mexico at one point when telling me about his dad. He doesn’t mind talking about himself or his life but he doesn’t offer too much extra information and I think that goes along with his naturally reserved personality. When tasks are being done in the classroom, he is always doing exactly what he is supposed to and never really gets in trouble. The teacher described him as being a “teachers’ pet,” she also loves spending time with him and helping him. The teacher has some good strategies for getting her ELL's involved, such as having the whole class answer questions or go over vocabulary words. This way, José can say the answers out loud with the whole group. Also, the teacher allows the students to have thirty minutes of silent reading and thirty minutes of buddy reading. I think this has helped José become a really good reader. His favorite books to read are dragon books. I asked him if his family goes to the library and he said they do sometimes but the library doesn’t have dragon books. He knows these particular books so well that he will tell me exactly whats going to happen, if I ask of course. When he reads to me, there is not much expression in his voice but his face lights up when he is getting to a funny part. Overall, he is a very good student and is always doing his work.
When I link what I know about José with his behavior, I can notice some parallels. He mentioned to me that he primarily speaks Spanish at home. I think this probably makes him more shy at school because his experience is different than many of the other classmates who are not bilingual. I think on some level, he doesn’t relate with a lot of his peers. Don’t get me wrong, everyone in the class likes José, but the classmate who he spends most of his time with is also an ELL. Also, José has a very adorable accent when he speaks English which I am sure he notices that other students don’t have one. I am excited to continue observing José and I would love to see how he interacts with others and what he likes to do at recess. I am also excited to simply learn more about him as it will help me become a better teacher.
On Friday, August 28, I began formally observing José. I watched how he interacted with his classmates and I also sat down with him to talk about his at-home interests. I gathered that he is the middle child. He has two older sisters, but since he has not seen them in a while, he did not know too much about them. He lives with his mom, dad, his fifteen year old half brother, and his five year old sister. He loves to play video games when he is at home that are mostly in Spanish, and he shyly admitted that he likes driving the car in Grand Theft Auto 5. His mother is very involved and bakes cakes for a living, but she does not speak much English so it is hard for her to communicate with the teacher. This lead to her being late to the annual Ice Cream Social and unfortunately missing out on the ice cream. I am still gathering where they are from but José did mention Mexico at one point when telling me about his dad. He doesn’t mind talking about himself or his life but he doesn’t offer too much extra information and I think that goes along with his naturally reserved personality. When tasks are being done in the classroom, he is always doing exactly what he is supposed to and never really gets in trouble. The teacher described him as being a “teachers’ pet,” she also loves spending time with him and helping him. The teacher has some good strategies for getting her ELL's involved, such as having the whole class answer questions or go over vocabulary words. This way, José can say the answers out loud with the whole group. Also, the teacher allows the students to have thirty minutes of silent reading and thirty minutes of buddy reading. I think this has helped José become a really good reader. His favorite books to read are dragon books. I asked him if his family goes to the library and he said they do sometimes but the library doesn’t have dragon books. He knows these particular books so well that he will tell me exactly whats going to happen, if I ask of course. When he reads to me, there is not much expression in his voice but his face lights up when he is getting to a funny part. Overall, he is a very good student and is always doing his work.
When I link what I know about José with his behavior, I can notice some parallels. He mentioned to me that he primarily speaks Spanish at home. I think this probably makes him more shy at school because his experience is different than many of the other classmates who are not bilingual. I think on some level, he doesn’t relate with a lot of his peers. Don’t get me wrong, everyone in the class likes José, but the classmate who he spends most of his time with is also an ELL. Also, José has a very adorable accent when he speaks English which I am sure he notices that other students don’t have one. I am excited to continue observing José and I would love to see how he interacts with others and what he likes to do at recess. I am also excited to simply learn more about him as it will help me become a better teacher.