Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Silent Period Grigor is in my 4th grade classroom. He came to the US last year with his family from Bulgaria. He was in 4th grade at our school last year as well. He was retained in 4th grade because he did not develop his English language skills. I learned about a "silent period" that children go through when they learn a new language. My guess is that Grigor is in the silent period. But it does not make sense to me that he would be in the silent period for almost two years. He does not say anything in class. He does not socialize with his classmates either. He can read and write in simple English though. His parents tell me that he acts completely normal at home and he is able to communicate with English speaking people at home when they have guests. This is really puzzling. I have to find a way to communicate with Grigor and discover what is holding him back from communicating with people at school. I need some help. Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) To open up a line of communication with Grigor, I would advise beginning with simple interactions. Perhaps a simple "hello, how are you today Grigor?" will help him open up. Since you seem to have a line of communication with his parents, I would ask them if there is anything that Grigor responds strongly positive towards. Maybe he really enjoys soccer, or perhaps he has a love of animals. See if you can find something to spark interest from him and them incorporate that thing into your lessons. Also, give Gringor opportunities to speak with small groups or with a partner. It could be that all of the opportunities to practice speaking English aloud thus far have been whole class settings. Even for native English speakers, this is terrifying. Public speaking is one of the most common fears amongst the American people.