Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Math Anxiety? Virgil is an ESL (English as a Second Language) student who has acquired two languages in his upbringing. He is moving to the United States with his family. The entire family is anxious to learn English and the American way of life. Virgil's family is very proud of their heritage and cultural traditions. They have decided to learn English at school and work, but speak their other two languages at home. Virgil is an outgoing young man who experienced difficulties in learning mathematical concepts in his native country. He is hoping that math will be easier for him in the United States. Virgil's parents enroll him in Ms. Tucker's third grade classroom. Hearing the English language being spoken and observing his new environment frightens Virgil. Ms. Tucker decides to ignore Virgil's fearful facial expressions and allow him to be totally immersed in his new culture. She continues to teach the students exactly the way she has done in the past. After all, her teaching methods have been successful for many years. In the afternoon, when the classroom students begin to take out their textbooks with numbers printed on the cover, Virgil perceives that it is time for math. The same sinking feeling he experienced in his old school started to reoccur in his new classroom. Not only was the new language confusing, but the entire math period left Virgil feeling lost and uncomfortable. After a few weeks of math lessons, Ms. Tucker decides to refer Virgil to the Special Education director. It was obvious to Ms. Tucker that Virgil was not understanding the math lessons and he was scoring poorly on the assessments. She felt that perhaps Virgil had some learning disabilities which needed attention. While he was receiving special help with math, Ms. Tucker could conduct class as usual. Questions: 1. Did Virgil suffer from "math anxiety?" 2. What interventions could Ms. Tucker implement before coming to her conclusions about Virgil? 3. Was total language immersion what Virgil needed? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) 1. Virgil did not suffer from math anxiety, he simply did not understand what was being taught. As a teacher, you need to help students seek new opportunities of how to learn in another language. For example, in this case it would be helpful to Virgil if the teacher had an assistant that spoke the same language as the student. This way the assistant teacher could explain the math to Virgil so that it's understood. 2. Ms. Tucker could implement the practice of explaining the math to Virgil in the students language. It would help the student tremendously to understand what is actually being taught. 3. No. Virgil needed to first learn the English language before being brought into the classroom of English speakers. It's a key factor that played a part in how well that Virgil understood what was being taught.                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue No The suggested solution is original Yes Comments: Rated On: February 11, 2013 3:41 pm Rated By: Kaleigh Thomas                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) Yes The suggested solution is relevant to the case Yes The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement Yes The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue Yes The suggested solution is original No Comments: Rated On: February 26, 2013 11:09 am Rated By:                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) No The suggested solution is relevant to the case No The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement No The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue No The suggested solution is original No Comments: I do not believe that he simply did not understand what was being taught. I believe that their is more to it than just that. I also do not think it would be helpful for Virgil to first understand English first before entering the classroom. I do like explaining the problem in his native language, but math is a language as well. I think having him work in a group, have the other students show him how they got their answer, how to help him get the right answer would be the best way to help him overcome this problem. Rated On: October 19, 2014 11:44 pm Rated By: dePyja                 Rating The suggested solution is respectful of the individual (student) No The suggested solution is relevant to the case No The suggested solution is reasonable (easy) for the teacher to implement No The suggested solution is likely to solve the problem/issue No The suggested solution is original No Comments: No Virgil did not need be taken into a special classroom nor did he need an assistant teacher who could speak his own language. What Virgil needed was a teacher who did not ignore his discomfort. Rated On: October 19, 2015 1:27 am Rated By: tygaBu