Gaining deeper insight on my ELL Partner

O is a young freshman student who currently attends Winooski High School.  He is Somalian and has moved recently with his family from Burlington back to the Winooski area.  O has shown that he is a competent student, yet he is not always confident in his knowledge or comprehension of academic English.  He is a friendly person, talkative to his friends, and seems to be well liked by his classmates.  When O is confident in himself or his answers, he is loud and eager for the class to hear his responses.  In contrast, when it comes to what he deems to be his weaknesses, he becomes quieter and tries to remain unnoticed.

O has not spoken of or shared details about his family or friends, but he has shared his passion for basketball.  O enjoys and participates in basketball and plays the Forward position. He was quick to discuss his favorite NBA team and players after he had worked on his essay in class.  While working on his essay together, O’s work demonstrated firsthand how adept he was at understanding academic English.  He also displayed areas in his grammar and sentence structures where he needed further guidance and improvement.  O has demonstrated himself be a hard worker who is able to adjust to his situation accordingly and is enthusiastic to progress in his work.

O is from Somalia, which is a turbulent nation that has experienced unrest, famine, and conflicts throughout its history.  Somalia has a population of an estimated 10.8 million and is the world’s third largest source of refugees, behind Syria and Afghanistan.  The driving factors for many of the refugees to leave Somalia are drought, famine, floods, and a lack of economic opportunities for themselves.  O has not shared the reason for his family’s exit from Somalia, but it is logical to assume that any of these horrific factors could be the cause.  O has not informed me if he personally experienced life in a refugee camp, but given his age, it is reasonable that he must have endured some amount of time there.

The Importance of Planning

After completing the readings, I believe that two major takeaways are vital to the success of a strong advisory plan.  The most immediate point is that an educator must properly plan, from daily tasks to monthly and quarterly planning.  Without an established plan of goals and course of action, the teacher and students do not have a proper understanding of what is or will be conducted.  In the army, we had the phrase, "A failure to plan is a plan to fail", and I believe that this is true in the education field. Time is a valuable asset that can not be recovered and educators must make the most out of every minute in order to ensure their students are as prepared as they can be.

Planning that is conducted within the team with other teachers and in the classroom are both important aspects of the advisory team.  Each teacher brings their own strengths to the team and through proper planning, those skill sets can be fully exploited for the students' success.  Planning through the team also allows for each teacher to bring their experience or concerns so that an issues or compromises can be resolved.

The other part of a strong advisory team is contact with the parents of the students. Teachers and parents should both feel empowered in their student's success.  Open lines of communication between educators and students means more than just contacting one another when a student under performs.  It means letting the parents know when their student is exceeding the standard and encouraging participation from the parents.  On the other side, parents must not wait until their students are failing or struggling to try and be pro active in their student's life.  They must converse with the teachers to inform them of major changes that have the possibility to affect their student's work, both positively and negatively.  

Researching Somalia

The student who is an English Language Learner that I will be working with this semester is from the Federal Republic of Somalia.  In preparation, I have researched the country of Somalia and the culture in order to give myself some intial insight for my first visit.  The Federal Republic of Somalia has a population of 10.8 million people, with the languages of Somali, Arabic, Italian, and English being spoken.  The history of Somalia has been a troubled one, marked by turmoil, faction fighting, and anarchy since 1969.  In 2000, the Somalia National Peace Conference resulted in the formation of the Transitional National Government.  The Transitional Federal Government has followed and has the Transitional Federal Parliament to help govern through President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud.

38% of Somalia's population is literate with 6-8 years of formal education being the standard.  A large amount of Somalia's population is nomadic, which contributes to the national's lower literacy rate.  Somalia also has very high rates of discrimination against women in social instutions.  Current articles on Somalia involve the possibility of an upcoming famine and concerns for the upcoming election.

Articles: https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/somalia-on-brink
                http://www.voanews.com/a/somalia-changes-presidential-election-venue/3706421.html