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Running head: DEVELOPMENT/INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES

Development Individual Differences Essay

Everardo Sanchez-Reyna

Dr. Tracey J. Meyerhoeffer

EDUC 205 Development/Individual Differences

Online, Spring 2017

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Development/Individual Differences Essay

Students with limited English proficiency (LEP) suffer a lot through school and in their

social life until they can finally break though that new language barrier. This is what my friend

Jordan is dealing with at this time in his life. Jordan recently moved from Mexico to the United

States and is leaving in the state of Nevada. While I was observing him and talking to him, it

brought back memories because just like Jordan, I moved from Mexico when I was 9 years old

having limited English proficiency. In this essay I will give feedback of all of my observations

dealing with the development of Jordan in the physical, cognitive, and socio-emotional areas.

General Information

Jordan comes from a Hispanic background. He is a young man at the age of 12

years and 3 months old. Jordan is the youngest in the family, he has three sisters whose names

are Alicia which is 28, Maria which is 24, Leticia which is 21, and his only brother Refugio is 17

years old. This last August Jordan stared middle school. Hes story is very interesting due to the

fact that he was born here. When Jordan was three years old, his mom was deported and he had

to go live in Mexico with his mom and his brother Refugio. Once his moms legal status situation

was fixed, he moved back. As you can imagine, he forgot the small amount of words that he

knew in English and adopted Spanish as his first language. Jordan lives in a 2 bedroom

apartment with his brother and parents. Every day he goes in to school at 7:58 and doesnt get

out till 3:14. His day doesnt end there as he continues to help his mom with family functions

around the house. Some of this functions are throwing away the garbage, vacuuming, and

washing dishes. When Jordan is done with this, he will get started with his homework, finishing

the homework that he can, and attempting while struggling to finish the one he doesnt

understand. He will seek for help with his older sister as she understand a little bit more English
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than his relatives. They both try their best, but that still doesnt get him to finish all of his

homework. He is such a hard worker and always tries to give his best effort in everything he

does.

Physical Development

When you look around the classroom or the playground, you will not notice any

significant differences amongst any of the teenagers playing or doing their homework. Jordan

has black hair, black eyes, and dark skin. He dresses like the other teenagers around him, he is

mature in both aspects physically and mentally. From what I have observed, Jordan says hello to

all of his classmates and sometimes to students from other grades. When he is in the playground,

he usually goes with his classmates that speak Spanish and that are of his same background

because thats where he feels more comfortable. When a teacher of other students that do not

speak Spanish as him to do something he goes ahead and does it; if he doesnt understand, he

will smile and then shrug his shoulders letting the other person know that he didnt understand.

During the physical activity class he is all smiles because he gets to run around and play

with the other kids. Jordan is in great physical shape and doesnt seem to have any physical

issues. I asked him what his favorite sport was and he told me that it was soccer, but that he also

enjoyed basketball. He stopped practicing soccer because almost everyone plays basketball and

he wants to fit in. Jordan is very outgoing and seems like he can be a good asset down the road

for the high school sport teams. It seems like he is adapting into this new chapter of his life.

Cognitive Development

While I was observing Jordan, I noticed that he has different types of classes that he is

enrolled in. Some classes, his electives, are the same as the English speaking students. When it
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comes to his core classes like math, science, and history, he needs a paraeducator to be with him

so that he can be explained what is being taught to the class in Spanish. One of his strongest

subjects is math. I noticed that after he has been told what to do, he will have no problem in

doing the math problems. Other students will struggle with math, but he is very good at that.

When the professor is teaching a lesson, he cannot participate because he doesnt understand

what the teacher is saying. Jordans best style of learning is hands-on learning and is a visual

learning as well. During his physical education class he is very participative. Although Jordan

has the language barrier, he is very polite and pays attention while the teachers and going

through a lesson.

Socio-emotional Development

Jordan is a very popular guy in school. During his recess time, everyone wants him to be

in his team when playing a sport. His friends will talk to him as they are walking from one class

to the next and never is alone. He tries to communicate with everyone, but his language barrier

enables him to do so. Jordan has his bilingual friends translate for him when he cannot get a

message across.

From the times I have talked to Jordan, he has a high self-esteem and is confident that he

will soon get a grasp of the English language. Just like any other teenager, he tries to fit in with

society and will do what his classmates are doing. An example of this is that he dropped soccer

and stated playing basketball. Jordan is a very intelligent teenager with the tenacity of

overcoming his language barrier.

Summary of Major Findings

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After my observations, I came to the conclusion that Jordan is a very normal teenager. He

participates in class, is an active listener, tries to do as much as he can, and is emotionally,

mentally, physically, and socially healthy. Jordan is a confident teenager and wants to learn how

to speak English as soon as he can. During his P.E. class, Jordan engages well in guided

participation. His mathematical reasoning is excellent. Although he needs the help of a

paraeducator to explain him the instructions, his mathematical ability is great.

In his ESL classes, he works with the computers. Jordan plays games that are bilingual

and that help him learn English. At the same time, he has a paraeducator that he can ask any

question to and that helps him with his worksheets. Jordan has shown great advancement and is

always willing to get help and ask for help.

I believe that the best way for him to become this language barrier to practice speaking it.

The work that he does with the ESL programs and the one-on-one with his paraeducator have

help him tremendously and he definitely should continue to use them. Jordan is using some of

the techniques that are used with younger children. He is fast-mapping all of the new grammar

he learns every week. I believe that in no time, Jordan will be speaking English fluently.
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Work Cited

Berk, L. E., & Meyers, A. B. (2016). Infants, children, and adolescents.