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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!)
Since Grigor is not communicating in the school environment, lessons can be tailored to address his language needs. Implementing the Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) may help Grigor to communicate more effectively in the school environment since he is able to communicate socially with English speakers in his home environment. By honing in on language that is essential to the academic lessons through SIOP, this may help the student to learn vocabulary that is pertinent to learning new content, while increasing his knowledge of the subject matter as well. Additionally, if Grigor is not receiving ESL instruction, this may be helpful to him as well because there will be other students in the class whose first language is not English. Lastly, Grigor may feel more comfortable expressing himself through the creative arts. It may be a good idea to implement visual arts, music, dance, or drama into learning centers so that he can express himself in other ways, as opposed to just expressing himself verbally.