ELL Case study

ELL Case Study

I observed a student by the name of Esther Fink who moved to Israel a year ago. She knows basic hebrew because her mother is originally Israeli and spoke it at home but her first language is English. Her Father is American and her mother lived in america most of her life. THey are both trying to speak to her in Hebrew but it is still hard. The family communicates mostly in English. Esther goes out 3 times a week to learn the Hebrew language but is having a hard time keeping up with the work and is feeling really self consious about herself. She is also falling behind work because she is catching up on her language.

Esthers mother knows hebrew and tries to help her at home. She practices reading with her as her teacher mentioned and is benefitting form that. She also knows how to read basic hebrew because she learned how to read hebrew in america.She is still having a very difficult time with reading fluency and comprehension. her mother is helping her with that and being very gracious in helping Esther.

Esther does understand most of what is said by her classmates. She does ask them for some explanations but she is able to communicate. She cant speak so fluently because she has to think a lot before saying what she is thinking. She is embarrassed by her american hebrew so doesn't talk much and therefor is not doing so well socially. She gets mixed up with the tenses and rules by the language. Instead of saying Ill see you tomorrow. Shell say tomorrow we see you. WHile class is going she understands completely what is going on and cooperates. She doesn't like to participate or be called on because of her embarrassment. She translated many phrases directly from Hebrew to ENglish. This made it even harder for her because it translated it differently.

Esthers had a weak point with reading. It was the hardest for her. It was not fluent and very slow and choppy. She was able to say the words pretty well but had a very difficult time with any word she did not know. When reading a story shell knwo the basic idea but no detail. She has no problem understanding a text and reading a story. but when you ask her specifically she cant necesarily answer you. She also can not retell a story because that requires to many details.

Esther read a text on the civil war. She read about the fight between the north and south. When finished reading and asked questions, she was only able to answer some of the questions. She had a hard time with the vocabulary words of independants, slavery, etc. She was able to understand the concept that there was a war and why but couldn't understand who was who. When showed pictures and words she was able to understand it much better.\

I gave esther a letter to read that a slave wrote personally so it would be more interesting. I gave ESther pictures to show what the letter was talking about. There werent many difficult words and she was able to read it pretty fluently. The teacher said that the day before I came they went throught the letters so that is why she was much better. The fact that there was visual pictures helped Esther understand the letter better.

She did have a difficult tiem with some vocabulary words in the letter like lonesome, abused, etc. I asked her comprehensions on the letter and she answered most of them pretty well. she was able to tell me how the slave was feeling and what went on during that time and how they treated the slves. I think that the reason she understood the topic so well was because of the actual letter that she read from a real immigrant.

When the class was divided into groups for differetn activities in the classroom, Esther was paired up with another ELL student in order to go on her pace. THis was a very smart move of the teacher. For these activities th teacher also gave the students with ELL translating sheets to help them go along.

Esther is a little Weaker in the Math area. The teacher told me that Esther is getting the help she needs for that subject outside of the classroom. HOwever, because she is getting so much help in language her math subject is being somewhat neglected for the fact that she needs help.

after 8 weeks of observing Esther, I was able to see the slow progress in language. She is still behind in the Hebrew language but is progressing quickly and will catch up to her class. She is still behind socially because she is still emabarrased of her accent, but i think she will catch up.

Teh teacher does use technology and different strategies for all kinds of studetns. I really learned a lot form observing her.

I find that Leah will cover up many times when not understanding a concept. This is an issue, because by covering up, she is not able to get the correct help that she needs. She’ll pretend that she gets it, when really, she has no clue what’s needed to be done. Despite all this, her teachers’ attitude is amazing. She has loads of patience and will repeat instructions and directions many times so that Leah can understand what needs to be done. She’s always ready and willing to help when she has a question, which I feel is really important for an ELL student. Her teacher also paired her up with other students whenever she needed the extra help so that she can get the assistance needed. Overall, I feel like the classroom environment and recourses in the classroom really aid in helping Leah progress and grown.

During my observations, I realized that Leah sat towards the back of the classroom, which I don’t think is beneficial for her. Because of this, she’ll tune out during class many times and do her own thing. I think that if she would be placed in the front of the classroom, she would be forced to be more involved in the lesson and she would need to follow along all the time.

According to the SOLOM ratings, ESther is currently in phase 2 with a score of 19. Her strengths are her listening skills and vocabulary. she is able to listen and understand most of what is being said. Sometimes, she will have a difficult time with certain words, but that doesn’t keep her back from understanding what is being said. When reading a text, she is able to grasp a big part of what is being read, and when asked specific questions, she is able to answer them.