Monday, October 15, 2012

EDSS 555 Sociocultural Aspects of Schooling for ELs



From the first day of school, I noticed an Indian student that spoke with a strong accent, I knew right off the bat that he was en EL, but when I mentioned it to my CT she told me that she did not want me to bother him with questions that would make him feel uncomfortable or embarrassed. I was actually excited to have a student outside of American culture in our classroom because I want the opportunities to scaffold material and have another cultural representation in my class. My students name is Nichet, and his penmanship is really difficult to read because he write in Sanskrit, therefore he writes in cursive, the letters are all very similar. Rather than encouraging Nichet to type assignments, I would like to develop his writing skills. I would encourage him to work on his penmanship and write in print rather than cursive. While I realize that this may take him longer to do assignments, perhaps he can write one section in print and the rest in cursive. Throughout the semester, he will get accustomed to writing in print and improving his penmanship. This skill will help him in all of his classes, as he is sometimes marked down for spelling because I cannot make out what he has written. I would be willing to work with Nichet outside of regular class time if he would like extra help. In addition, there is tutoring onsite if he needs help with English grammar and CAHSEE prep classes if his level of English is affecting his ability to pass the exit exam. Nichet has not received his scores for the CELT. In addition, Nichet is faced with learning how to write from left to right, instead of from right to left.

Here is an example of Nichet's native writing:

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