Blog #5

As I've been in my service learning placements I have seen lots of evidence of historical events. The one I have seen the most is the support for English Language Learners. In the 2nd grade class I observed that there are a handful of students where English is their 2nd language. A few where they are fluent in English now, however there is one student in particular that is new to the class and she knows very little English. I have been impressed by how my service learning teacher has adapted her curriculum to reach this student as an ELL. There are posters around the room that are specific for ELL's, pictures by the vocabulary words and spelling. This has been nice to teach the English word for what they are learning.
Another thing I have seen is that when they do partner work. She will pair this student with a partner that knows both English and Spanish (which is both students first language). This has helped this student to feel included but to also comfortable to ask questions. This also has been good for the partner who gets a chance to teach and practice their English as well.
Last, the class uses I-pads to work on phonics and reading. This is effective in the sense that it works with each student at reading level they are on. For those that are learning English, they are able to work through things that are simple as they are learning, while they are able to participate in the same activities as the other students.
I learned that these things I have observed are a landmark result of Lau vs. Nichols. Where it was ruled that bilingual students where to have resources to help them throughout their education.