My first day again with my ELL which was suppose to be my second. As the time approached to meet with my new ELL I was not sure what to expect knowing that I previously created a great rapport with the previous ELL student. I know how important it is to create that rapport with your student showing them that I do care. I started the day by asking her name, if she had brother sister and what she wants to be in life etc.. It was hard not having the “Me Poster” not allowing me to relate what I said to pictures so she would have a better understanding of what I’m talking about.
I read her a passage about a family and after I finished the reading I asked her several questions to assess her comprehension. As I asked these questions she did not understand what I was asking therefore she asked me to read the passage again.
I then asked her to read a passage to herself and after she finished the passage I asked her to retell the story in her own words and she did a great job. Then I asked her several question after the reading and she for the most part was able to explain the question with very little trouble here and there. Whenever she did have the trouble I would explain the question in a different fashion and she had no problem understanding. Her ability to comprehend the information quickly was good. When asked to ask if she any problems understanding any words she answered, ”there are a couple of words I do not understand” simple words one would take for granted which lead me to believe she could only comprehend a certain amount of the enlish language and her vocablulary was at a novice/intermediate level.
When creating the diagram the family tree she had no problems after we created the one before the assignment started. She asked one question which referred to Panchinto who is Francisco other then that she did great.
This experience will help a lot in my future teaching allowing me to have a better understanding what to look for and what to pin point as a future problem. I also learned that it is better for me to speak the language aloud when i would read the passage so she could articulate the words better. By me reading aloud this gave her an opportunity to process the information in her head. I think for the most part she was at a intermediate level even though she has only been here for seven months. For the future, this taught me to never let her give up ,even though she might shake her head in furstration I can not let her give in. I have to let her know, I’m here to help and that I care. I know she appreciates that becasue she said “thank you for helping me when I had problems” GREAT FIRST AND SECOND DAY.
