Student Support

Methods Journal
By: Zisi Gunsburg
EDPS 673: Methods and material for Teaching
English as a Second Language
Fall 2013-Session 2

SOCIAL HISTORY
CONDUCTED WITH PARENT AND TEACHER
STUDENT
NAME:
DATE: 11/25/2012

EMMANUELLE

Emmanuelle is an active and friendly four-year-old girl. She is the oldest of

four siblings. Her family is conservative Jewish. Her primary language is
Hebrew. She has learned English in school but her English is not so fluent and
she lacks a lot of basic vocabulary and grammar. Her father speaks Hebrew
at home, although he also knows English fluently. Her mother also speaks
Hebrew in the home and sometimes broken English. She has told her
husband several times to speak English in the home for Emmanuelle, but he
thinks it is not beneficial for her.
Her parents are well educated. Her father is literate in both English and
Hebrew, and her mother is literate in Hebrew and only partly literate in
English. She can read English but does not understand it so well and speaks
English with some lack in grammar and vocabulary. Her mother was a high
school teacher until she stopped when she had her third child.
Emmanuelle attends a conservative Jewish school. Her teacher reports that
she has trouble sitting for the whole circle time and needs constant change
of activities. At times, she does not follow classroom directions, and often
she will not respond when the teacher is speaking directly to her. The mother
took her for a hearing test and results were normal. Her mother reported that
she has trouble listening at home too.
Emmanuelles is at or above age level in her knowledge of ABCs, phonics,
phonological awareness and other cognitive and academic skills. She has
some difficulty answering questions based on a story; however it may be due
to her lack of complete understanding of English. Mother reported that

Emmanuelles speech goals written by previous evaluator and/or speech

therapist were to understand use of objects, understand verbs in context,
understand pronouns, follow directions, and recognize actions in pictures.

OBSERVATION
DATE:11/27/12

Session took place in a quiet library in her school. She was enthusiastic and
cooperative. I assessed Emmanuelles abilities based on what the mother
reported and based on goals from her previous therapist. I assessed her
vocabulary by showing her different pictures in cards and books and having
her label them. She knew names of about 60% of animals and 50% of
transportation modes. She know function of objects with 60% accuracy, and
she was able to follow directions for half of the trials. She had trouble
describing items/pictures and lacked basic action words. She had many
errors in grammar.
REFLECTION
Based on this observation I learned that Emmanuelle lacked a lot of basic
English vocabulary and grammar and needed help following directions. She
liked working 1 on 1 and could follow if motivated. She needs motivating
materials and lots of English language input. She may benefit from lots of
visuals and modeling. I am wondering how good her teacher is and how
much home language input she is getting at home? I will ask the mother how
much she is read to at home and if she can review some homework with
Emmanuelle. I realize that some of her previously written speech goals are
inappropriate for her as many of her goals are receptive language based on
understanding and she doesnt have such a problem with receptive as much
as she has with her expressive language. Next session I will work on more
vocabulary.
OBSERVATION
DATE:11/29/12

Session took place in school library, I showed Emmanuelle pictures and items
utilizing some visuals and presenting items within a specific category. I also
reviewed previous animal vocabulary. Emmanuelle identified toys presented
with 10% accuracy at first trial. These items were motivating because toys

are motivating to young children.

REFLECTION
I learned that Emmanuelle is motivated and likes to learn. Therefore, she is
making progress. She lacks a lot of basic vocabulary, but can learn it if
taught. I realized that animals that were taught already she knew a lot better
than when I first assessed it. I will ask Emmanuelles mother to review newly
learned vocabulary with her on a consistent basis.
Some strategies I used were lots of visuals (These sessions occurred last
year before I took these classes. At the present time, I would probably use
more visuals than I did.), repetition of words/items and lots of review.
Motivating items were used. Modeling correct answers was also used. To
increase success, I would need to make use of more items as opposed to
picture and possibly using a variety of modalities including role play and
acting out. I learned that different modalities are necessary and each child
needs to be taught differently even if they are lacking in similar areas. Next
session we will continue with vocabulary and work on answering questions.
OBSERVATION
DATE:12/4/12

Session took place in school library. I read Emmanuelle a short story with
pictures. Cues and scaffolding including repetition, connecting to her life, and
modeling were employed. She was able to answer who questions. She
identified 6/20 toy vocabulary words. During this session and others, I was
continuously assessing to check for other delays and improvements.
REFLECTION
I learned that student needed help with memory and sequencing skills.
Strategies I used were visuals, modeling, and contextualizing information
such as using vocabulary that she can relate to. They were successful, but

using real items may have had more meaning to her and maybe she
wouldve remembered them more quickly and easily. Maybe that is why she
is not progressing in vocabulary too quickly. Reflecting on these sessions
help me realize what helped Emmanuelle and what should have been done
differently. Next session I will continue with vocabulary.
OBSERVATION
DATE:12/6/12

Session took place in quiet school library. I utilized review and repetition so
that Emmanuelle should retain and start using new vocabulary words. I
presented pictures of toys within a single category. She identified 4/20 toy
vocabulary words. She was cooperative and enjoyed the session though she
got distracted easily.
REFLECTION
I was sticking with single categories to help her organize and therefore
remember the words better. Since she did not make progress with
vocabulary words and regressed, I will speak to the mother to make sure she
is reviewing at home. I will also try to use more realia (real items) instead of
pictures to teach the words. Maybe she will retain it better. Although
Emmanuelle is motivated to learn and does like coming to the sessions, I
learned that Emmanuelle has some difficulty focusing. Next session, I will
continue with vocabulary and try to use more realia or more motivating
items. I will target grammar as this may be more functional for her. These
reflections help me realize that as an educator, reflections are important so
that the I can assess what went wrong and improve instead of continuing on
an erred path.
OBSERVATION
DATE:12/11/12

Session took place in quiet school library. I moved on to food vocabulary

using a book with brightly colored pictures. She identified half of the food

that I asked her to identify. I also taught her regular plural s which she had
not been using properly. I taught it by modeling and showing her visually on
a paper (because she does recognize words and the letter s). She used
prepositions appropriately with 60% accuracy. I used visuals, repetition,
modeling, and descriptions. She was cooperative.
REFLECTION
I learned that Emmanuelle is smart and can pick up on grammar that is
taught. It also can be visually represented with letters, as she knows many
ABCs. I also realized that correct grammar knowledge and use is very
important and necessary for comprehensible language and sounding fluent
in a language. Some strategies I used were visuals, repetition, modeling, and
descriptions. Progress was not seen because I started with a new set of
vocabulary and new grammar skills. I think Emmanuelle would have been
more successful had I used more real items when teaching vocabulary and
when teaching prepositions and some other grammatical concepts. Next
session I will continue with vocabulary and it would be a good idea to use
some real items.
OBSERVATION
DATE:12/13/12

Session took place in quiet school library. Emmanuelle was cooperative

though she got up several times when there were distractions. I used
repetition modeling and pointing to direct her back to her chair. I reviewed
previously learned vocabulary and then introduced Emmanuelle brightly
colored, familiar pictures of things around the house. She initially correctly
labeled only 10% of the new pictures presented.
REFLECTION
I noticed that she has trouble with description order (description before
noun). Additionally, I realized that I will have to work on regular past tense
and naming colors. (She knows her colors but not the English words for

them.) I utilized functional vocabulary and modeling. She made small but
slow progress which would have been better by use of real items. Next
session, I will continue with vocabulary and try using the real items.
OBSERVATION
DATE:12/18/12

I went back to toy vocabulary to review using the same previous pictures and
pictures of items that she was able to relate to and found that Emmanuelle
was still only able to identify 4/20
toy vocabulary. I also taught her some clothing vocabulary. She was
cooperative throughout the session.

REFLECTION
I realized that I would have to focus on grammar just as much if not more
than vocabulary because I felt that incoherent grammar was impeding on her
comprehensibility more than vocabulary. Additionally, I would have to work
on expanding the length of her utterances. I also realized that I can
incorporate vocabulary with the grammar lessons instead of vocabulary
independently. I tried using pictures of toys that were familiar to her, but she
did not make much progress. This may be due to the fact that it is not
motivating her (although she is cooperative during the sessions) or because
it is too much information for her to retain or it is meaningless to her. Maybe
next session I can try more real items or role play to incorporate and teach
new vocabulary, or maybe I can make a song with the words I want to teach.
I did feel that she understood the clothing vocabulary and retained it better,
maybe due to the fact that I was able to point to real items. Next session, I
will continue targeting vocabulary and expanding her MLU (mean length of
utterances). As an educator, I need to do activities and use materials that
are more meaningful to Emmanuelle so that they can be remembered more

easily.
OBSERVATION
DATE:12/20/12

I went over clothing vocabulary again and she identified 10/20 of the
presented pictures. I also worked on expanding her mean length of utterance
using visual representation by writing a certain amount of blank lines on a
paper (3-4 words), filling it in with the words she says and showing her that it
was only, lets say, 2 words and she needs to make it a 4 word sentence. She
was able to expand her verbal utterances using visual and verbal cues.
REFLECTION
Emmanuelle retained a lot of clothing vocabulary considering that it was just
introduced last session. Working on expanding her utterances was very
helpful, meaningful, and appropriate.

I see that Emmanuelle retained the

information and understood it better at the end of the session. Maybe the
demonstrations and visuals were helpful to her. I will continue working on
this with the same strategies to teach and practice longer sentence use. I am
learning to assess why something was or was not successful.
OBSERVATION
DATE:1/3/13

Evaluation using the PLS took 3 sessions. This was the last session of the 3
evaluation sessions. It took 2 sessions due to Emmanuelles distractibility
and her language barrier. I repeated and reworded many of the test
questions and allowed a lot of "wait" time. Based on her answers, she had
some difficulty following directions, understanding some quantitative and
qualitative words, some prepositions, er endings of words to mean one
who and expanded sentences. She also had difficulty answering wh
questions, using possessives, description words, using adjectives and plurals,
and repeating sentences. She slightly below age level for receptive language
and moderately below age level for expressive. Based on the PLS screener

her articulation was age appropriate.

REFLECTION
This assessment showed that Emmanuelle has difficulty focusing, however
this may be normal for her age as it is long and time consuming. I also
learned that Emmanuelle responds well to positive reinforcement as I gave
her small breaks and allowed her to do reinforcing activities like playing with
play dough. This strategy was helpful and would probably be useful for
children with difficulty focusing or any young child. Additionally, this
evaluation made me realize that it may be necessary to modify standardized
assessment to accommodate bilingual clients.
OBSERVATION
DATE:1/10/13

10

I reviewed articles of clothing with Emmanuelle. She was able to

independently identify articles of clothing with 80% accuracy. We used
pictures of clothing and our own clothing to review. She was able to use
regular plural s independently. I moved on to irregular plurals by showing
her pictures and modeling correct production with which she needed models
for all of them.

REFLECTION
Emmanuelle made a lot of progress since last session because articles of
clothing are understandable and meaningful to her. Additionally, plural s
which was taught during some of the initial sessions were clear to her
because she knew what s is and understood when I visually showed her
that we add it on to a word. She, therefore caught on and starting using the
plural s immediately. I see she is able to learn and utilize what she is
learning if she wants to and comprehends the information. To increase
success for irregular plurals, I may need to use some role play activities.
Next session, I will continue with irregular plurals and vocabulary as well as

work on following directions. For following directions, I will use a physical

activity to keep her interested.

OBSERVATION
DATE:1/15/13

11

I reviewed articles of clothing with Emmanuelle. She was able to

independently identify articles of clothing with 75% accuracy. We used
pictures of clothing and our own clothing to review. She used irregular plurals
by showing her pictures and modeling correct production. She needed
models for all of them most of them however, 10% of them she was able to
do independently. She followed directions during Simple Simon Says game
(which involves body movement to follow directions) but required repetition
and modeling.
REFLECTION
The Simple Simon Says game was good for her because she has difficulty
sitting for long periods of time and doing and activity that requires
movement is good to help her focus. This caused greater response as well as
retention of following directions. Also as an English Language Learner, Total
Physical Response program (TPR) which involves body movements to learn is
proven to help make language comprehensible for ELL students. I need to
revise and add more goals for Emmanuelle to include answering questions
and other grammar goals. I mentioned earlier that I need to change goals
and have targeted appropriate goals, but I have not officially changed in on
her file. I will continue with previously targeted goals as well as following
directions, using physical movement. As an educator, I realized that each
child learns through different modalities and approaches.
OBSERVATION
#
DATE:1/17/13

12

I reviewed articles of clothing with Emmanuelle. She was able to

independently identify and use articles of clothing in her conversation with

95% accuracy. We used pictures of clothing and our own clothing to review. I
also targeted expanding her utterances this session within a sequencing
activity. I used activities she was familiar and involved with on a daily basis
such as brushing teeth and getting dressed. Emmanuelle was able to expand
her utterances, requiring me to model and repeat certain utterances with
visual cues in 6/10 trials.
REFLECTION
Emmanuelle has shown tremendous progress that she can identify and use
articles of clothing in her conversation most of the time. This shows that she
is internalizing what she is learning and carrying it over to her own personal
life and experiences. Using activities that Emmanuelle is involved with on a
daily basis can help her identify with the activity and make the language
more comprehensible. To increase levels of success, I may want to do actual
sequencing activities with her such as brushing teeth with a real toothbrush
and toothpaste or making a sandwich using real bread and spreads. Next
session, I will continue having her use bigger sentences and move on to
answering questions using a motivating story book with pictures.
OBSERVATION
#
DATE:1/22/13

13

I moved on to having Emmanuelle answer functional questions based on a

simple picture book and/or short story with pictures. She was able to answer
very basic what, and where questions about items or occurrences
pictured in the story half of the time. Functional who questions such as
Who puts out fires? or Who brings us the mail? she was unable to answer
at all. I used stories that with characters she liked such as Curious George.

REFLECTION
Looking back I think I should have used more visuals when asking her those
functional questions. She probably couldnt answer them because she did

not understand what I was asking. Using visuals within the story were helpful
to her because it helped her understand what I was asking. Furthermore,
using a motivating story made her want to attend. She made some progress
in better understanding what wh questions meant. The mother liked what I
was doing and the progress Emmanuelle was making. Next time, I will
continue with wh questions.
Final Reflection
At the beginning and throughout the sessions, the parents realized that
Emmanuelle needed help and they were happy I was helping her and liked
the materials I was using and progress I was making.
After the final observation that I recorded on 1/22/13, I worked with her for
many more sessions through June 2013. She was not approved for services
this past summer and then this school year, I left the agency and started
working for the Department of Education in a public school. It wouldve been
nice to be able to continue working with her until she progressed to
proficiency

and

did

not

need

speech

services

anymore.

However,

Emmanuelle has made tremendous progress since I started working with her
in November 2012. When I started with her she spoke in 1-2 word English
sentences with many pauses although she was proficient in Hebrew. Her
grammar was very poor and usage was almost always inappropriate. Her
content knowledge was age-appropriate or above average possibly due to
the fact that she received a lot of language input and instruction from her
mother in her home language. Socially, she played well with her peers,
though her language was sometimes an issue. After I finished working with
her social language and development improved without directly targeting it,
but as a direct result of working on her English language development in
areas of grammar, expanding utterances, answering questions, following
directions, and behavior. Her mother also reported improvement in her
behavior at home after I gave her strategies such as use of a chart and

consistency and structure to implement with Emmanuelle when she did not
listen. Observing her language at the end I saw that she started using much
longer sentences with correct use of regular plurals, use of pronouns at the
beginning of sentences and use of is. Her vocabulary bank definitely grew.
I would recommend that more realia (real items) be used to teach
Emmanuelle. Additionally, more role plays with me and peers to further help
Emmanuelle use of longer utterances would be helpful. Furthermore, more of
a variety of modalities such as singing, visuals, auditory input, kinesthetic,
and tactile input may be helpful.
Upon reflecting on the strategies I used last year before I took the bilingual
classes, I realize that new strategies I recently learned about to use with ELL
students would have been a good idea to implement with Emmanuelle. It
probably would have been helpful to her in learning English. Upon
completing this assignment and reflecting on past sessions, I understood the
reasons for the strategies that we learned in class when I realized that those
strategies would have been useful to apply with Emmanuelle. I definitely
grew from this experience through my reflection on previous sessions and
assessing what I could have implemented to make them better.