Nekeisha Rivera is an eight year old second grader from Boston, Massachusetts. Both her mother and father are from Puerto Rico. Nekeisha moved to Florida when she was four years old. Her first language is Spanish. Her mother speaks moderately fluent English, while her father speaks very little. At home they only speak Spanish. Spanish is the only language Nekeisha was exposed to until she reached kindergarten. Here she began to learn English. She says she began to feel comfortable with using Spanish by the first grade. Nekeisha has not been taught any other languages up to this point. Even though she is developing her English fluency at school, she does not receive any help with learning English at home unless it pertains to her homework. In those cases her mother assists her as best as she can. In class, Nekeisha's teacher allows her to sit next to another ESOL student. This allows them to help each other with any difficulties they face learning English. She is social student, therefore she benefits from having a peer to work alongside. Also, her teacher works with her in small groups so that she may receive more individual attention and assessment.
Nekeisha writes phonetically, or as she hears them. It is noticeable that she is influenced by the slang of her peers. She used terms such as "brotha" instead of "brother". Based on this I would infer that her social interactions make up the majority of her oral language development. Through her interview she acknowledges her social interactions as asisting her English development. Nekeisha is also having difficulties with spelling. Certain words are spelled as she would pronounce them, with an accent. She is surrounded by Spanish language and dialect which may be making it difficult for her to differentiate while learning English. Nekeisha speaks fluent Spanish, however, she cannot read Spanish. Her first exposure to reading was in English in kindergarten at the age of five. She has a higher level of reading in English than writing. Evidence of this is apparent through the following writing and reading samples, and further analysis.
Nekeisha's reading fluency is at a moderate-high level, based on her reading sample and miscue analysis. She made few hesitations and added two contractions to the ends of words. She did not stutter or switch word order. During her interview she was able to comprehend virtually all of my questions. Also, Nekeisha easily opened up and gave descriptive feedback to open-ended questions.
Monday, November 24, 2008
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