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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!) It is very obvious that Virgil struggled from "math anxiety," he clearly had an enthusiasm for learning and was excited about learning the American culture, except for math. Math was weighing heavily on the forefront of his mind and was something that he was not very confident in, even though he seems to exude confidence in other subjects. Ms. Tucker should have closely observed Virgil on the first day to read his body language and see where she thought he was struggling. Ms. Tucker could tell he was intimidated by the math and kept going without asking any questions. Ms. Tucker could have given him a peer that speaks his native language or given him a peer tutor that was good in math and could simply just show him the steps broken down. Virgil did not need total immersion, especially on top of the math anxiety. The immersion only added to the intimidation and fear that Virgil was already experiencing. |
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