D. Initial Assessment of ESOL Child (both Girls)
This section is to be completed by students who skipped section F because they are working with an actual ESOL child.
A. Writing
Choose one of the following prompts based on the cooperating teacher’s recommendations, given the possible proficiency level of the student.
General:
- Write a story, fable, myth, fairy tale, poem, or play
- Recount or summarize a newspaper article or a story
- Write about an event that happened recently in your life
Language Arts:
- Retell a story from the newspaper.
- Give us the instructions for some particular procedures (building a model, using a DVD player, playing a particular game).
- Write a report on the story we just read.
- Does television promote crime in your community?
Social Studies:
- Pretend you’re a famous person. Write a diary entry for that person.
- How and why do you use a map?
- Give us a report on oceans.
- How does soil erosion occur?
- Do you think the punishment for crimes in our society is appropriate?
Math:
- Describe how you solved a particular problem.
- How do you find the perimeter of the room we’re in?
- How do you help your parents pay for electricity bills?
- You need to go to Disney World. What is the best way to get there?
Health:
- Record your exercises and eating for a day.
- Give us a recipe for some healthy cookies.
- How do you take care of yourself when you have a cold?
- How do you help your family when they have a prescription?
- Is smoking dangerous?
Science:
- Explain what happens when chickens hatch.
- Write the results of some experiments.
- Give us a report on birds.
- Explain how rain forms.
- What is the relationship between electricity and magnetism.
- Give the child somewhere between 1 and 30 minutes to write, depending on the anxiety level. If the child simply can’t write, then go ahead and stop the exercise, marking down the amount of time spent. If the child starts to look frustrated or exhausted, mark down the time and stop the exercise. If the child gets to 30 minutes, markdown 30 minutes and stop the exercise.
- Collect the child’s work. Scan it as a jpg file.
- Comment on the content of the message and its intelligibility, as well as its expressiveness of the child.
- Then analyze the actual language of the child. Comment linguistically on specific excerpts from the writing.
- Decide on the proficiency level of the child, based on the criteria discussed in class. Be sure to justify your decision, citing specific examples. You could even rescan in the exact example here.
- Use one of the following two rubrics to help you analyze the child’s writing.
Elementary Written Language Matrix (grades K-3)
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Elementary Written Language Matrix (grades K-3) |
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Support Level |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
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Vocabulary |
Limited vocabulary |
Vocabulary expanding but still limited |
Some descriptive language used |
Vocabulary more advanced |
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Content and organization |
• Focuses on one idea • Can be a collection of unrelated ideas • Copies from a model |
• Writes concrete descriptions • Some descriptive language used • Personal experiences included • Sentences around one idea |
• Developing elements of a story • Connections in the story; uses connecting words • Retelling of a personal experience, though not necessarily in order |
• Beginning, middle, and end • May contain some or all of the following: setting, characters, problems, events, solutions • Many descriptive details • Sequences, possibly including chronological order |
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Verbs |
Few used, usually not more than one per sentence |
Limited use of tense |
Subject verb agreement emerging |
Variety of tenses |
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Sentence structure |
Single words and phrases |
Mostly simple short sentences With simple patterns |
Minor errors in word order and grammar |
Some compound and complex sentences • Correct grammar |
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Form |
Draw pictures • Labels pictures • Emergent spelling |
• Regular spelling difficulties • Spelling errors reflect L1 • Punctuation rules less evident |
• Punctuation mostly correct • Occasional spelling errors |
Appropriate punctuation • Few spelling errors, especially among common words |
Elementary Written Language Matrix (grades 3-6)
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Elementary Written Language Matrix (grades 3-6) |
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Support level |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
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Vocabulary |
• limited vocabulary |
• vocabulary expanding but still limited, usually consisting only of concrete words • some descriptive language used |
• abstract vocabulary use becoming evident • idiomatic forms emerging |
• extensive use of abstract vocabulary • substantial use of idiomatic language |
|
Content and Organization |
• focuses on one idea • ideas may be unrelated • sentences around one idea • copies from a model |
• writes concrete descriptions • some descriptive language used • personal experiences • beginning to organize paragraphs |
• loosely organizes • starting to use topic sentences, body, and conclusions • main ideas clear but still lacking supporting ideas |
• ideas clearly stated and supported • paragraphs well organized • drafts and re-drafts; student self-corrects |
|
Verbs |
• few used, usually not more than one per sentence • many agreement errors • tense errors obscure meaning |
• limited use of tense • agreement errors |
• subject/verb agreement emerging awareness of simple tenses (present, past, future) |
• wide variety of tenses |
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Sentence Structure |
• single words or phrases • words missing •ranges from non-sentences to simple sentences, but subject/verb/ object patterns not yet established |
• short sentences with patterns developing • beginning to use connectors (and, but, or) • words still missing (e.g., prepositions) |
• complex sentences emerging • connectors a regular feature • meaning not always clear on first reading • minor grammar errors |
• complex sentences with some errors • appropriate prepositions |
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Form |
• writing may be dominated by spelling errors • little or no understanding of punctuation or capitalization |
• regular spelling difficulties • spelling errors reflect L1 • awareness of punctuation rules • run-ons and sentence fragments |
• some spelling errors • few punctuation errors |
• appropriate punctuation |
B. Speaking
Story telling activity
- Using a picture stimulus, asks the student to tell you the story of the picture in as much detail as possible. Record the student with a digital recorder.
- Note: Hold on to this picture, as you’ll want to give the same stimulus at the end of the project in a few weeks.
- Comment on the content of the message and its intelligibility, as well as its expressiveness of the child.
- Then analyze the actual language of the child. Comment linguistically on specific examples from the recordings and transcriptions.
- Then using the following two charts, identify where you think the child falls on both of the following two charts. Highlight the box (using the color of your choice) where you think the data leads you to. Be sure to justify your decision, citing specific examples, including the recordings and the transcriptions above.
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Levels of language development |
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Levels of language development |
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Assessment outcome |
comments |
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Level 1: labeling |
• continue to develop vocabulary orally and focus on basic communication with lots of concrete examples to support learning |
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Level 2: telegraphic speech |
• may be about ready for basic reading but still has significant language gap • uses phrase and pivot words to communicate (here, want, that, give ball) |
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Level 3: basic sentences |
• tells what characters are doing (man is fishing; ducks are swimming) |
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Level 4: language expansion |
• describes relationships between the characters and other things in the picture (main is fishing in the pond) • should be introduced to basic reading and offered support focusing on language development |
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Level 5: connecting |
• able to connect ideas on possibilities (man is fishing but he won’t catch any fish) |
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Level 6: story telling (concrete) |
• perceive picture as part of larger story, responses include indications of time, place, and cause/effect |
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Level 7: story telling (abstract) |
• combines all previous steps and adds responses that include mood, emotional reaction, and conclusion |
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