Guramrit

Special Ed Concerns:
-give time to incorporate learning
-take to school team at end of year if not making suitable gains in reading and writing for possible learning disorders (e.g., expressive language disorder)

Useful Websites: www.kidslearningville.com/language-esl-efl/
-http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
Thornhill Public School online duolanguage books

Background information:
-6 year old male
-born in Ontario
-first language is Punjabi
-parents from India
-missed fifty days of school
in Kindergarten
-rarely participates in whole class oral activities
-shy and often chooses to play on his own at recess
-enjoys math, technology and building structures out of blocks and Lego
-there is another ELL student of the same background in the class
-his peers are quite willing to interact with him in the classroom environment

Family Dynamics:
-parents speak Punjabi, limited English
(translator required)
-do not read books in Punjabi at home due to lack of resources
-limited support with schooling
-has a sister in grade five with strong English skills

Progress to date:
-reading and writing at Step 1
-oral proficiency is Step 3
-recognizes some alphabet letters and most sounds
-knows beginning but not middle sounds
-does not yet finger track
-avoids writing (easily distracted)
-does not appear to pay close attention
-has difficulty following classroom instructions

Other considerations:
-meet with family and translator,
-stress importance of regular attendance and home reading program and learning concerns
-encourage him to practice L1 skills at home
-recommend online dual digital book site to family for books in Punjabi
-encourage peers to be inclusive at recess
-give Guramrit classroom jobs and pair him up regularly in small groups to promote oral literacy and make him feel more comfortable sharing
-encourage him to join some school clubs
-promote cultural diversity in the classroom(e.g, talk about special foods, celebrations)

Accommodations/modifications:
-check in with teacher for understanding after instructions
-scribe as needed
-picture dictionaries for language and math
-visuals, pre-teach new vocabulary
-word wall
-simplify vocabulary
-extra time to complete assignments
-encourage use of L1
-provide lots of repetition
-provide writing aids (sentence starters, graphic organizers, word banks,models)
-use assistive tecnology
-explicit teaching and modelling of concepts
-oral rehearsal prior to writing
-chunk writing tasks
-reduce amount of writing required
-use of drawings and phrases to write
simple ideas, using familiar vocabulary

Rich tasks to support the student:
-create a duolingo pattern book with other ELL student on structures (online structures, photos of their structures)

Main topic

Recommended
Teaching Strategies Reading:
-accelerated language study to fill in the gaps
-ongoing assessment to guide programming and scaffolding
-continue with alphabet practice, incorporating online games, and weekly learning of high frequency words
-build word families (do vocabulary sorts)
-visual dictionary (include words in Punjabi that he knows) with other ELL student
-daily book bag program (pattern books)
-partner with a native speaking reading buddy
-teacher and parent volunteer to read with him
-continue to practice finger tracking
-listen to simple book tapes and books online
-read with sister at home daily
-set a learning goal, number of books per month
-interactive reading sites (Raz kids kindergarten, ESL Learning Village -slower pace, simple text )

Planning/Support:
-the classroom teacher works collaboratively with the ESL teacher to provide some support
-working on alphabet,
-has only worked with him a few times, not on site on a regular basis due to workload

Universal Design:
-regular use of smart board to introduce and reinforce concepts through interactive games
-ipads are also used regularly to support math and language areas
-Guramrit participates readily during smart board activities