Case
Mixing Words

Mao is a first grade student from Laos. He arrived here a year ago with his sister and two cousins. He is in the same class as one of his cousins. When they arrived, he and his cousin were at a low level of English Language Acquisition, and a low reading level. His cousin has advanced quickly, and is now on grade level, and speaks fluently. However, Mao is not. He has trouble reading, but his difficult is puzzling. He will often look at a word and swap it for a synonym. For example, when reading the book "Tall, Small, Tall", Mao looked at the title and read it, "Tall, Little, Tall." It is obvious that he knows the meaning of the word, but he consistently reads them differently than what the word says. The ESOL teacher and the classroom teacher have discussed his situation, and they both feel that he needs to be tested for placement into ESE services. However, administration does not want to do this because he is receiving language services. What should they do?

Posted on: 02/17/15 | Views: 1025
Solution #1
Top Solution
I agree that he should be tested but not nessicarilly for ESE. You said that he understnads words but then swaps in words with the same meaning like little in for samll. For someone to substitute words like that does not sound like an ESE at this time. I would recomend testing in the sense that as long as he answers question semantica or definition correctly that he would be correct. So lets say the first question of the test is to read the title " Huge Man's chair" but he then says Big man's chair. For this test alone I would not consider him wrong. This tell that he infact is learning English but it also allows for the administration to decide if he is at grade level or needs more language help or in fact does need ESE testing.

I agree that is shows Mao's understanding of the idea, which is important. Considering all options for this student, not just ESE placement is most appropriate.

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Solution #2
Well I agree with the testing, but not necessarily for ESE placement right off the bat. They do to see what his ability level is. One way to do that is test him in his native language. He may not be ESE at all, he may just be having language troubles in English. If that is the case, he may just need additional instruction in English.

I agree with you and will utilize solution in my classroom if I am ever in this situation.

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Solution #3
I do not think Mao should be tested based on the example given alone. If there were multiple other indications, then perhaps. Based on the example, he is understanding the ideas and getting there with his words. The adults must remember, the child is in a state of interlanguage, and everybody develops at a different pace. To label him as ESE would be premature in my opinion.
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Solution #4
I feel it is necessary for Mao to be tested for placement of ESE based on the relationship with what they see out of the other children in the family and how they have learned to accomplish things reading and wording with already aone year spent in the United States.. I would also recommend having his cousin become a bilingual partner on the same grade level and see if there is any improvement.
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Solution #5
I think a lot of repetition and sight words would help. Asking the cousin what did he do differently that allowed him to catch on faster, or involving the parents to see what did they do to help the cousin catch up faster if they helped at all. Since they are related and came here together, I'm sure they won't have a problem with the children working together at home.
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