LANGUAGE IS LIVING, LLC
MIAMI, FLORIDA

book. Students would sit around Gustavo captivated. A storyteller you couldn’t help but be drawn to. As I developed a deep affection for this boy’s energy and heart there were gaping holes that I didn’t even know existed. In the craze of the start of the year, I had overlooked so many bits of information that should have been molding my teaching. I wished I had been guided to the information earlier that gave me a better idea of each learner. There is so much data collected and filed but in many cases it is neglected. Making the time to look closely at it and fully understand the implications for future instruction takes purpose. Communities must make time to encourage teachers and service providers to talk deeply about the children in our midst Running records and written samples such as notebooks, booklets and on-demand pieces provide us with so much rich information about language and literacy. Many teachers support ELLs in beautiful ways without the background in language acquisition and a couple of additional resources would help to focus on language. One all-time favorite of mine, and thousands of other educators, is (friends/colleagues of mine will now laugh and chime in)… p. 29 from Mary Cappellini’s book The book transforms. This page transforms. Based on California’s former ELD standards (they were revised at the end of 2012) this one page should be in every teacher’s conferring toolkit when thinking about English language learners. It helps us to put words and next steps on language teaching by laying out the developmental levels as well as common language patterns expected at each. Another similar resource teachers have found quite helpful in providing specific guidance to language instruction is Gustavo. This is the time of the year when I got to know his mamá, tiny and polite, perfectly coiffed shoulder-length hair and always smiling sweetly, a bit overprotective of her only child. How his eyes sparkled when she came to pick him up each day. I noticed how excited he was to talk about his dad and the yummy pizza he delivered for the restaurant down the road. This is the time of year when I found out that his father, the pizza delivery man in the rusty car, had been a practicing attorney in Mexico. Gustavo’s mom was a nurse. And the story. One weekend when Gustavo was about two years old, both of his parents were tied up for an extended period of time and the family was robbed at gunpoint inside their home. The young son was toddling around the house the entire time and was witness to the violence. The details took my breath away. After a few days, the assailants left and the family fled with what little they could carry. With the help of friends and strangers they settled in Central Massachusetts and began to build a new life. Does your student have a quiet place to study? Is there someone to help with homework?