1. How many languages do you speak?

a. “Two. I speak spanish mostly and English sometimes.”

2. What language do you speak at home?
a. “I only speak spanish at home because my mom don’t speak English much.”
3. What language do you speak at school?
a. “English because my friends don’t know Spanish.”
4. Do you know someone who speaks a different language and is trying to learn english?
a. My mom is trying to talk in English because she can’t talk to my teachers.”
5. What was it like and how do you communicate with them?
a. It’s mostly easy because if she doesn’t know what I’m saying then I just say it in
Spanish.”
6. What are your interests at school?
a. “I like to read and PE is fun because I get to play games with my friends.”
7. What are your interests at home?
a. “I play soccer in the yard with the people down the road. They are funner than
being alone.”
8. What do you want to learn in you classes at school?
a. “I want to learn division because the smart big kids know those things.”
9. What do you think you will learn?
a. “Probably more math and to read big books. The 4th graders read big books!”
10. Tell me one thing you want your teacher to know on the first day of class?
a. I’m quiet a lot, but I still learn like everyone else.”
11. Tell me about your favorite class at school.
a. “It’s fun because my teacher dances funny and my friends are there too. We get
to do our things together and talk.”
12. Why is it your favorite?
a. “Because I don’t get bored and tired. Sometimes I want to go back to sleep in my
class.”
13. What types of books are you reading at school?
a. “Captain Underpants is my favorite, but my teacher reads us books. I don’t
remember what it is called.”
The purpose of this tool was for me to gather more information about ELL students and how

they speak , interact, and learn with their peers, family, and teachers in their daily lives. In order

to figure out information about the child’s life outside of school I asked questions like what they

do outside of school and what their interests are. Asking these questions abled me to get a better

response from the student because we discussed things that he was interested in.

Using this tool is beneficial for the teacher so they have to opportunity to get to know their

students on the first day of class before they even begin learning. Knowing this information

about your students allows the teachers to build better relationships and figure out how they learn

inside and outside of the classroom as well as their interests and what they do on their spare time.

Asking the students to share about their past experiences at school will allow you to consider the

student's individual needs so you can attempt to accommodate for that in the classroom. It is also

beneficial for the student because they have the opportunity to tell their teacher some things that

they might not have to opportunity to say otherwise. As a teacher, I would hope that all of my

students would answer these questions honestly and know how important these teacher to student

relationships are and how much they can help them in the classroom. From using this tool I have

learned that asking a student open ended questions will allow them to take the question wherever

they want it to go and you will end up getting more information out of them then you were

probably looking for. They will begin to bring up different topics in their conversation and you

can continue to bounce questions off of that to gather more insight of their school experiences.

This tool meets ELL standards because it includes simple sentences that are easy for the students

to understand as well as discourse. The word/phrase level is appropriate for their grade level (p.
61). This tool also requires the student to use both academic and social language and requires

them to think about their past experiences as a student and self evaluate (pg. 62).

I felt that all of my material was easily gathered. The student didn’t seem uncomfortable

answering my questions and was really open when and comfortable having a normal

conversation outside of the questions I had on the paper. Before we started, I told the student

what I was doing and informed him that nothing he said would be repeated to anyone at his

school and his name would be kept private. I think this gave him a little more security to say

what he really felt. He was very honest and thought about his answers before saying them.

Sources:

Gottlieb, M & Ernst-Slavit, G. (20014). Academic Language in Diverse Classrooms. Thousand

Oaks, CA.

O'Malley, J. M., & Pierce, L. V. (2009). Authentic assessment for English language learners:

practical approaches for teachers. New York: Longman.