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  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!)
I would suggest incorporating things into the lesson that may peak his interests. Maybe incorporating some Bulgarian culture would be helpful. Furthermore, I would start spending some one-on-one time with him to see if maybe he will start talking more then. Maybe it is the number of kids in the classroom. He made feel intimidated. Also, I would let him visit the school counselor. He might have some feelings about being retained due to not speaking English well. I would also investigate how well he was doing in Bulgaria. I had a student come from Germany who was doing well over there and came over here started performing poorly due to his poor English. He started getting very reserved and silent with others. Upon speaking with his mom, his confidence was low due to low scores in here and he felt dumb. He didn't understand why he wasn't smart anymore. I used that information and every time he got anything correct I praised him. I praised him until he gained his confidence back and his grades started soaring. Sometimes it takes a little praise and a little bit of investigating to see what the problem is.