Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Within my 6th and 7th grade Social Studies classes, I have three CLD students out of 130
students, all of who have exited the ESL program within the past 2 years. Although they have
exited the ESL program, completing Student Biography Cards allows me to have brief snapshot of
the language ability levels of these students and a brief snapshot on their home life and
sociocultural background so I can use it to find materials that relate to the students diverse
backgrounds. Since these cards include a brief snapshot of the students home life, I can
determine how I can communicate the students progress at home (e.g. if I would need a
translator to communicate with the parents). I can also use the Student Biography Cards to
identify what language is spoken primarily at home to determine what kind of extra academic
support the student will need to complete their assignments outside of the school setting (e.g. if
English is not spoken at home, but directions on an assignment are given in English and the
student, who is fluent in English, needs assistance at home, the directions could also be given in
the L1 so that a family member can help the student on the assignment). Also, I have use these
biography cards to ensure that my lessons do not contain culturally biased language and material
when teaching, and I have used the biography cards to identify potential language discourse
patterns from the students L1 that could still show up in their L2 usage. In the future, if I have
CLD students who are not fluent in their L2 and have not been exited out of the schools ESL
program, I can use the Student Biography Cards to first identify what the students L1 is, and
then find materials to use in my classroom that are in that students L1 to help promote that
students L2 acquisition. Along with creating and using materials in a students L1, I can use the
Student Biography Cards to plan any modifications I need to make to an assignment or activity to
fit the ability levels of that student. Furthermore, the Student Biography Cards that I used
include a section on language proficiency and how the level of proficiency was assessed. Since
the biography cards include this section, I could use the cards as a reference after completing
language acquisition-specific assessments to compare the students L2 acquisition over time. I
would also update the academic and assessment considerations portion of the Student
Biography Cards as the student improves their fluency in their L2.
This artifact aligns with the section 1 of my portfolio platform because in that section I
discussed how teachers should encourage CLD students to use their L1 in the classroom and that
teachers should provide students with classroom and lesson materials that use their L1 as much
as possible. The more a CLD students background is represented in the classroom, the better