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Case: New Circumstances Mrs. Stewart is teaching a fifth grade class again this school year. This will be her fourteenth year to teach fifth grade in the school where she began her professional career. Mrs. Stewart has been very excited about teaching in this school for yet another year. After thirteen years, she knows many of the actively involved parent volunteers who faithfully commit their time working in the classrooms. However, this will not be a typical school year for Mrs. Stewart. This particular year did not have a familiar start compared to previous years. One week after school began, an ESL (English as a Second Language) student moved into the high income neighborhood surrounding the school. A young girl from South America became Mrs. Stewart's new student. The Spanish speaking girl, Anna, would be hearing the English language for the first time in Mrs. Stewart's fifth grade classroom. Mrs. Stewart was told by the office Secretary that Anna had been attending public school for five years before leaving South America. Additionally, Mrs. Stewart learned that Anna and her family only speak Spanish in their home. Mrs. Stewart fears that her collective experiences teaching fifth grade for all of those years would not compare in complexity to her new circumstances. Questions: 1. After being so familiar and comfortable with her fifth grade lesson plans, will Mrs. Stewart need to change her curriculum? 2. Will the language barrier and cultural differences prevent teaching and learning from happening in the classroom? 3. How will Mrs. Stewart involve Anna's parents in school activities? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) I feel like this situation is very common in some areas. Growing up I never had a classmate that did not speak English so it was a new concept to me. I think that Mrs. Stewart will definitely have to change her approaches to teaching especially if this is her first time having an ESL student. In school now, we are constantly taught to have sure that our lessons are very diverse so I think that Mrs. Stewart will have to add this type of differentiation to her lesson plans. I do not think that the language barrier will prevent learning but I think there will be some struggle. Mrs. Stewart is going to have to learn Anna the best that she can in order to help teach Anna in the best way that she can. Mrs. Stewart will always have to keep in mind that Anna's parent speak Spanish as their first language. I think Mrs. Stewart should make sure that she is pulling Anna's parents aside to discuss things going on in the classroom. |
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