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"Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going." - Rita Mae Brown

Ena (ELL)

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Ena is a sweet, curious artist with an observant eye. She enjoys spending time with her school friends and teachers and has requested that her mom arrive at the end of dismissal so that she can spend extra time with her friends. 

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Ena and her family arrived in New York two years ago from Japan. Her older brother attends the school across the street and is also an ELL. The family speaks solely in Japanese at home; when the school year began, Ena did not speak any English.  

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During the first two months of school, Ena would communicate mainly through gestures and by pointing to cards with common phrases and things from our day. While I sometimes used the translator, Ena would listen and nod or shake her head but did not want to reply in Japanese verbally. 

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During conferences, Ena's mom shared that she would go home and tell her everything we did in school and that she did not want to talk to her teachers in Japanese.

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The green shaded area represents the widely-held expectations for Ena's age group. From the Fall to the Winter, Ena has shown significant growth in the Language domain and is now meeting the standards for her age.

TSG Assessment Data

From the Fall of 2023 to the Winter Ena has moved up from level 4 to level 8 in objective 37, showing growth in her listening and understanding skills in English while understanding more complex phrases used by teachers and classmates. Ena has also moved from level 2 to level 5 with progress in speaking English, showing growth and now using multi-word phrases in her social interactions. 

Fall 2023

At the beginning of the year, Ena responded and reacted to English words when visual aids or gestures accompanied them. When another Japanese student who only spoke Japanese joined the class, we saw her show him around the class and adopt a leadership role. Images/visuals were used during whole group discussions and votes to scaffold the learning of our diverse learners.

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When it came to expressive language, we often noticed her looking at the speaker's mouth when they spoke. She would silently practice her answer during morning meetings, always choosing to be the last to participate. Ena would also use rest time to sing "The Good Morning Train" quietly or to look at the book we had read during story time, sometimes silently mouthing words. 

Ena mouthing the countdown to drop the skates.

Next Steps

The goal was for Ena to respond and react to common classroom words and phrases without using visuals or gestures. 

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In her newfound leadership role as a model for the other Japanese student, I began to have Ena help me model the new activities during group meetings. She felt a new sense of pride and confidence, quickly learning the names of the different materials we would use during activities. 

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To scaffold Ena with speaking English, we would have her eat lunch with the most expressive, silly, and friendly children to reduce the stress of being in a verbal environment. We sang various songs repetitively to offer many opportunities for her to practice saying those words. 

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Ena participating during a group activity without being last.

Ena calling calling out to her friend during lunch.

Winter 2024

Ena understands more complex multi-word phrases used in the classroom. She volunteers to answer group questions without being the teacher's assistant. During choice time, she runs to get things her friends need 

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Ena describes what she does using multiword phrases when talking to her friends in social situations and during small group instruction. She also responds appropriately to questions from her teachers with words and gestures.

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Ena segmenting her classmates name.

Ena describing how many and what type of line are in the first letter of her name. 

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