Individual Learning Plan for a student from a NESB/ESL Background

Individual Learning Plan for a student from a NESB/ESL Background

Background

For the purpose of this paper we will call our student “Jimmy”. Jimmy is a Year-9 student from a refugee family from Sudan. His first language is Dinka. Jimmy has two siblings. His brother was taken by the army one night, and the family still grieves for his loss.

Needs

In developing an Individual Learning Plan (ILP) for Jimmy (who has English as a second language or ESL), it is crucial to assess his needs first. Jimmy is a refugee coming from Sudan to Australia. This has implications for him as our cultures are very different and how we are taught to think is also different. Listening skills may also vary between cultures, therefore it is important to weave listening and negotiation skills into lesson plans for him.

Recently Sudanese refugees have been fleeing because of violence from civil war in Southern Sudan. Counseling should be offered to Jimmy to provide him with emotional support. Care should be taken to consider trauma that Jimmy faced in losing his brother, and dealing with grief, particularly that his parents are not talking about it.

Emotional anxiety is a limiting factor in learning. To understand Jimmy, we need to build a report with him, the same as any other student. Jimmy is going to have times where he will struggle with English and adapting to a new culture and get frustrated, and it is important to reduce these circumstances. The ILP is to be viewed as a longer term dynamic plan, being flexible to Jimmy’s proficiencies and needs.

Different cultural groups have different approaches- some place greater emphasis in group work, while others valve independent learning. There may be a need to explain fundamentals of group work- phrase generally to avoid embarrassing Jimmy. The communication provided by the teacher needs to be very clear, using different body language and gestures. Allow time for silence and recognise this as “processing time” to think and understand and for what he has learnt to transfer between working memory and long term memory, being aware not to overwhelm Jimmy with too much information.

Jimmy will need to be assessed differently to the native English speakers. The main difference is that the educational system in Australia relies on proficiency of being able to speak English to assess students on the subject they are being taught (Solano- Flores, 2011). For an ESL student, this would be likened to learning to play a musical instrument and learning to march at the same time (Wormeli, 2006).  

To counter balance this problem, Klenowski suggests that the socio-cultural view of assessment via participation (in contrast to the commonly used assessment of acquired knowledge) will extract what Jimmy actually understands (Klenowski, 2012). To supplement the teacher with resources, the school should consider requesting an “ESL new arrivals program” from the Department of Education for a short term ESL teacher to help Jimmy integrate into the school. Other resources such as literature in Dinka or programs written by the Dinka-English Literacy Project, and other schools supporting ESL students from Sudan would be highly valuable.

Speaking & Listening

Vygosky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) theory can be very useful when applied in a group for an ESL student. Planned conversations in group work facilitated by the teacher will encourage Jimmy to learn from his peers but also give the teacher an ability to gauge his English language skills. Jimmy’s confidence will grow with the language skills he is learning. It is important that planned conversation is structured in a way that promotes higher order thinking and connects Jimmy to meaningful conversations and activities. Jimmy must be given opportunities to speak, but not in a way that singles him out or embarrasses him if he doesn’t understand or cannot answer.

When developing the ILP, there should be a lot of opportunity to speak. Especially in conflict resolution and negotiation. This may need to be modeled by the teacher in role playing games and to clarify Jimmy understanding of the requirements. Because of the dynamics of the English language in different settings such as formal and informal and social, different rules apply. Because of a large cultural gap between Australian and Sudanese, Jimmy may need to greatly re-organise his thoughts to accommodate which set of language to use in the setting that he finds himself in.  

Listening is a base skill that the other skills- speaking, reading and writing develop from. Professor Jim Cummins explains why reading and writing skills develop (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency- CALP) after listening and speaking skills (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills- BICS) is fundamentally because BICS are a building block to reading and writing (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009b). In the fundamental stages of developing the IPL for Jimmy, focus needs to be put upon building BICS- listening and speaking skills, while introducing CALP.

Reading

Jimmy will need help to adapt Dinka to English. The ILP will add English to Jimmy’s linguistic capacity and while not replacing Dinka. To begin reading English, Jimmy will need to learn the English alphabet. The Dinka alphabet has some similar letters and sounds that can be substituted between the languages. Reading English in general needs to be structured in a way that it gives the reader a background into what is written, so the rest of the text will have cohesion. For Jimmy, it will be difficult to put some fictional readings into context as he is not likely to understand what is going on, or who is meant to be talking or any cultural assumptions. A bit like reading a map not understanding which way north is. An ESL teacher should make clear definitions on how the reading activity structure is to be read. Jimmy needs to be taught how to differentiate the switch of identity of the speaker, also explaining cultural knowledge, specific vocabulary, and how pictures or diagrams relate to the text (Jacka, 2014). The activity should also be able to be revised, assessed and repeated if needed. Readings should be simple to understand and free of technical and/or jargon terminology.

Writing

The phrase “think before you speak” can also be applied to teaching Jimmy to think before he writes, as long as he is proficient in writing in Dinka. Jimmy should be encouraged to write expressively in a way that is meaningful to him. Because we read words as a whole, it is important that the Jimmy can understand and link letter sounds to produce words. The ESL teach will supervise him to sound unfamiliar words out before writing them down. Therefore it is important to analyse what Jimmy says compared to how he writes (Jacka, 2014).

Adapting the Syllabus

The teacher will need to know how proficient Jimmy is at mathematics, this could be assessed verbally if the teacher feels that Jimmy’s writing ability is too limited. Based on this knowledge, the teacher would structure an ILP to bring Jimmy up to speed. The ILP should incorporate introducing new concepts that can be appropriated to Jimmy’s current mathematical proficiency that is relevant to his understanding to meet the developmental expectations of the syllabus. This may take the form of appropriating problem solving skills to familiar concepts. To gauge Jimmy’s understanding of the syllabus, the teacher may choose to appropriate concepts from “Learn to” from stage 3 in the Mathematics Key Learning Area (B.O.S, 2003) such as:

·         recognising different abbreviations of numbers used in everyday contexts e.g $350K represents $350 000

·         recognising, reading and converting Roman numerals used in everyday contexts e.g. books, clocks, films

·         applying an understanding of place value and the role of zero to read, write and order numbers of any size

·         using estimation to check solutions to addition and subtraction problems e.g 1438+129 is about 1440+130

From stage 3 in the Mathematics syllabus “Learn about” (B.O.S, 2003):

·         using large numbers in real-life situations e.g population, Jimmy may use this to estimate population in a refugee camp (Reflecting, Applying Strategies)

·         interpret negative whole numbers in everyday contexts e.g temperature (Communicating, Reflecting)

·         link negative numbers with subtraction, use concepts such as borrowing and debt (Reflecting)

·         use a number of strategies to solve unfamiliar problems,

including:

- trial and error

- drawing a diagram

- working backwards

- looking for patterns

- using a table

- simplifying the problem (Applying Strategies, Communicating)

Jimmy will need support with some or possibly all of the requirements in the syllabus. This is facilitated by the “curriculum cycle” through controlled support, guided support then moving onto independent production. The ILP should start where Jimmy is familiar with the mathematical concepts, then introduce concepts that he may not be familiar with such as managing money, reading dates and time as introduced by the Dinka- English Literacy Project (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009a).

Ten tools for teaching for transfer will help Jimmy understand models, concepts, expectations and structure. These tools include: Setting strong expectations, matching learning to real world application (e.g. spatial concepts), simulation, modelling through demonstration, problem based learning, anticipating applications, generalizing concepts, using analogies, parallel problem solving, and meta-cognitive reflection (Fogharty, Perkins, & Barell, 1992). The “Quality Teaching Framework” gives ESL students high levels of knowledge and understanding in a motivated and supported environment that gives meaning and significance to the knowledge acquired (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003). Providing Jimmy with constant positive feedback will boost his confidence in himself and push him to learn new skills.

Conclusion

Jimmy should be eased into English by teaching him words that he can link with familiarities. By the use of rote and repetition and graphical representations, he will be able to be assessed against what he has learnt. Small bursts of teaching will prevent him being overwhelmed. The gap between Jimmy’s speech and writing also known as the “mode continuum” will decrease as his proficiency in English increases.

B.O.S. (2003). Mathematics Year 7-10 Syllabus. Sydney: Board of Studies NSW.

Commonwealth of Australia. (2009a). Dinka-English Literacy Project. Retrieved from http://www.industry.gov.au/skills/AssistanceForTrainersAndPractitioners/Documents/FirstLanguageDinkaLiteracy.pdf

Commonwealth of Australia. (2009b). Teaching English language learners across the curriculum: Module 1. Retrieved from

Fogharty, R., Perkins, D., & Barell, J. (1992). How to Teach for Transfer Illinois: Skylight Publishing.

Jacka, M. (2014). EDU10714-2014-2 The Inclusive Classroom , Module 2 Topic 2b- Reading- Week 6. Retrieved 20/8/2014,  2014from https://learn.scu.edu.au/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_131577_1%26url%3D

Klenowski, V. (2012). Raising the stakes: the challenges for teacher assesment. Australian Educational Researcher, 39, 173 - 192.

NSW Department of Education and Training. (2003). Quality teaching in NSW public schools Discussion paper. Retrieved 21/8/2014,  2014 from https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/proflearn/docs/pdf/qt_EPSColor.pdf

Wormeli, R. (2006). Fair isn't Always equal. Assessing and grading in a differntiated classroom. Portland, Maine: Sternhouse Publishers.