SOLOM Evaluation

SOLOM Teacher Observation
Student Oral Language Observation Explanation

Student Pseudo Name: Sally

Grade Level: Third

Language Observed: English

Date: February 21, 2008




A. Comprehension – A “4” was given and because she “understands nearly everything at normal speech. Although occasional repetition may be necessary.”

B. Fluency – A “5” was given and because her “speech in everyday conversation and classroom discussions are fluent and effortless, approximating that of a native speaker.”

C. Vocabulary – A “4” was given because the “student occasionally uses inappropriate terms and/or must rephrase ideas because of lexical inadequacies.”

D. Pronunciation – A “4” was given because her speech is “always intelligible, although the listener is conscious of a definite accent and of occasional inappropriate intonation patterns.”

E. Grammar – A “4” was given because she “occasionally makes grammatical and/or word order errors that do not obscure meanings.”

Total Score: 21 out of 25

Miscue Example 5

Miscue Example 4

Miscue Example 3

Miscue Example 2

Miscue Example 1

Fry's Readibility Graph

Reading Analysis

Reading Analysis

Reading Analysis

Sally is at the intermediate fluency level in her English language learning. She is proficient in reading competencies. For example, she reads from left to right, uses her finger to read aloud, uses context clues, self corrects, and has a sense of reading intonation. Similar to her writing sample, she tends to run on with the sentences rather taking a pause between punctuation marks. We noticed that she is also having trouble in pronouncing the ‘th’ sound in words and substitutes these sounds for the ‘d’ sound. We think that she is reading mentally faster than she is speaking, which causes her to sometimes repeat words and then correct them. According to Fry’s Readability Test, the books that she selected were estimated to be at a first grade reading level. Graph was obtained at http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/fry/fry2.html website.

Writing Analysis

Writing Analysis

For an English language learner in the third grade, Sally’s handwriting is legible and she seems to understand punctuation and some concepts of print like using capital letters, commas, apostrophes, periods, and exclamation points. She does, however, display trouble with her spelling and the abbreviating of words, although one can tell that she is on the right path. Also, she tends to run all of her words together, not separating them with finger spaces. She does follow the conventions of return sweep and from left to right writing, which is much different from her symbol writing of her native language of Iranian and Farsi.

Interview Analysis

Interview Analysis

Background Information and Previous Schooling
We did our final case study on a nine-year-old girl from Iran. She is currently in the third grade at Lawton Chiles Elementary School and arrived in the United States only three months ago on December 2007. For confidentiality purposes, we will call her Sally. Sally came to the United States by plane and said that the trip took two days. Our interviewee was very excited to come to the U.S. and looks forward to making new friends and taking art and ballet classes. Unfortunately, she was disappointed that she had to leave large toys at home like her scooter, bicycle, and some clothing. Sally was born and raised in Tehran, Iran with her family. She is an only child and now lives with her parents at a new home in Tampa. Originally, upon arriving in the states, the family stayed with an aunt and uncle temporarily until they moved into their own house. The one thing she misses most in Iran is her family; especially her grandmother who she says will be joining them in the U.S. in a couple years.
At home in Iran, she lived in the city of Tehran, where she resided in an apartment close to all of her family. She spoke Farsi (her parents Persian native language) while she was in Iran. Now that she lives in the U.S., her parents speak a little English but usually Farsi is used in the home. Plus, outside of regular schooling, Sally had taken English classes before coming to the states through a private school. Both Sally and her parents feel school is extremely important and seem very encouraging for her growth. In Iran, Sally said that in her school she went to recess twice a day and school would let out at noon on most days. Her mother did not hesitate to place her in school here.
She has made one friend here so far, a girl in her classroom from Puerto Rico. Also, Sally seems to possibly be computer literate for she tells us that her parents have a laptop in the home. Her favorite thing seems to be art. She loves art class and painting and mentions them several times throughout the interview. However, when asked what her favorite subject is, Sally responded that she wants to be a doctor or veterinarian. For family recreation, Sally loves to go to the park with her parents and their friends. Regarding chores, Sally does not really have any regular chores, but does help her mother with dusting and sweeping occasionally.
In addition, Sally knows and can speak English. She seems to be in the intermediate fluency stage of her English language learning, but is still on her way to becoming a fully proficient language speaker. She is confident in her speaking and can hold a full conversation using short but complete sentences. She can understand the questions being asked although she does hesitate at moments.

Questions / Problem
Sally seems to be adjusting well to her new culture although our concern is that as time passes will she continue to do so without the regular contact with her grandmother?
As a resolution it might be helpful to bring this to the mother’s attention. In school, she has mentioned her grandmother on various accounts through her writing sample and interview. To us, it seems like a cry for help. Some suggestions that we would have for the mother would include: making the grandmother a pen pal, regularly being able speak with her, or to keep a journal.

What would you recommend for this child based on what you know?
First, relationships are important to her, so we would like to see her develop more friendships in the class. Some examples would include switching up group members and buddy pairs, an art club or other extracurricular activities, and a Farsi pen pal. These ideas would be an avenue to for her to make new friends.
Second, it would be helpful if her teacher were to incorporate her culture in school activities through books, videos on Iran, and holidays etc. Although Sally is here, she still misses life in Iran. If she were to share stories and traditions from Iran, it would help her make the transition to this culture. In addition, all students would benefit from learning about each other’s home culture.
Finally, Sally should have lots of opportunities to practice English through her reading, writing, and conversations. Because she shows an interest in art and classical music, we would like to see this woven into the content areas. For instance, encourage a writing assignment on Van Gogh and his paintings.

Who will do what in our plan for the child?
We want to embrace the resources at school, home, and the community. The teacher may want to introduce her to the school guidance counselor slowly so that she will have another outlet to discuss her fears and concerns while building new relationships. The teacher will plan field trips such as museums, concerts, and libraries. The mother will volunteer some time at the school or in the classroom. Hopefully, this will encourage her to learn English while helping us learn their culture.

Tehran, Iran

Writing Sample 1

Writing Sample 2

Interview Transcript 1

Transcript of Student from Iran
(third-grade girl)
S = third-grade student I = pre-service teacher
I: Tell me anything you want.
S: My name is Samin.
I: Okay. Can you tell me how old you are?
S: I am nine.
I: Nine years old? A hum.. .and what grade are you in?
S: third grade
I: What's your teacher's name?
S: Miss Gonzalez
I: How long have you been in this country?
S: humm...three...months
I: three months? So, hum... Were you excited about coming to this country?
S: hum...yes
I: Why? Can you tell me why?
S: Because I'm...I'm going to see my cousin. I'm going to go to new school. I'm going to find
some new friends. To be with them.
I: When you came over, did you come by.. .how did you, how did you get here?
S: with airplane
I: Okay. Was that a long flight?
S: It was hum two days.
I: Two days? On an airplane? Wow! That's a long way.
S: urn hum
I: Long way, so who did you come with?
S: my mutter, and my fotter
I: So, do you have sisters or brothers?
S:no
I: no?
S:no
I: So, but you said you have a cousin here?
S: Yeah, I have a cousin, but I don't have any sisters or brothers.
I: Does your cousin live in Tampa?
S: urn hum (indicates yes with nod of her head)
I: So, you get to see them or no?
S: Yeah, I.. .we were living in their house and now we bought a new house for ourselves, and
then my mutter going to pick-up my cousin and then we're going to their house.
I: How old is the cousin?
S: She's ...sevenyears-old.
I: Okay, so, she's a little bit younger than you? And, so what grade is she in?
S: She's in second grade.
I: Oh, second grade. Your English is very good.
S: Thank you.

Interview Transcript 5

I: Oh.
S: I was too late for this school because takes because I come here from four months later like
is school was started.
I: Okay.
S: And then I came here and because of that my mom said you have to go with school.
I: She didn't want to wait any longer then. So, in your country, you were in the second grade or
the third grade?
S: third grade
I: You were in the third. And you missed some time?
S: ummhumm
I: when you moved here?
S: Yeah.
I: And so, your mom did not want you to miss any more time.
Srumhum
I: Is that what you're saying? What's your favorite subject? Do you have a favorite?
S: umhum My favorite subject is being doctor and maybe arts, doing arts.
I: Okay, so you're going to be a doctor, what kind? Do you know?
S: mmm.. .Dentist or maybe mmm making the pets well.
I: Okay. How about holidays? Do you celebrate any holidays?
S: In Iran, we celebrate some of them like one holiday was like Christmas and we celebrate it.
I: Okay.
S: And here we don't celebrate any.
I: You don't celebrate any? Ah, not even Christmas?
S: The Christmas my.. .my cousin's mom celebrate it and we came to her house when we were
living at their house.
I: How do you, how do you celebrate Christmas in Iran?
S: hi Iran
I: What kinds of things do you do?
S: We like put candles and we put mirror and we put some things some apples, everything that
we have "seh" in Iran that's like is like "c" but we say "seh" and everything that starts with "c"
here and in Iran, we say "seh" we put it on the table.
I: Okay.
S: And we call it aid for like Christmas we call it aid.
I: aid, okay.. .1 had read a little booklet, a little bit in a book about Iran and I think I know what
you are talking about because they were describing some of the holidays that you celebrate.
S:Yeah
I: And I think I remember something about the what you're saying.. .ah anyway, how about
birthdays? Do you celebrate birthdays?
S:Yeah
I: How do you celebrate your birthday?
S: We put birthday cake and, hi Iran, how we celebrate it?
I: Either one
S: They're the same like we put presents and birthday cake and we open the presents when
were in birthday.
I: Okay, do you have candles on the cake?
S: mmhum

Interview Transcript 4

S: Yeah, I like I like to go see new toys or new museums or schools or classes.
I: Okay. So, toys, museums, and classes. Do you play any sports?
S: Yeah, I, I'm going to go to ballet class because in Iran I was going and then.
I: So, you like ballet?
S: mmhum
I: Is that popular in your country?
S: No, we just have one ballet class in our country because they don't let us to open some ballet
classes or something.
I: I see. Is that the government or? Okay, ballet is something you really want to get into.
S: Yeah, and painting class, art.
I: Painting, you like to paint. I have a daughter who likes to paint.
S:Oh.
I: She likes urn, she especially likes acrylic paint. Ah, she likes to do things like flowers and
landscapes. What kinds of things do you paint?
S: I paint some girls and some pets sometimes and some trees.
I: Do you have pets?
S: No.
I: No. Not even a fish?
S: I had a fish, but I don't have, but my mom said you don't need a fish, if you want a dog I'm
going to buy you when you were sixteen years old or bigger.
I: Oh, she wants you to be older then.
S: So I can take care of my pets by myself.
I: Yeah, they're a lot of work. I had a cat. He was less work. You don't have to walk a cat.
S: Oh, yeah. I like cats.
I: I did too. He was the first one I had and didn't um think I really care that much for him, but I
did and I had him for about nine years so.
S:Oh.
I: Do you read books?
S: Yes.
I: Oh, I meant to bring a book for you to read to me. What do you like to read?
S: ummm.. .Some like pets books or some books that are strange and funny.
I: Oh, okay. Do you have a favorite?
S: umm...hummno
I: No, do you have books in the classroom that you could read?
S: Yeah.
I: We'll have to go back over there and get a book so that I can hear you read.
S: Okay.
I: umm How about ta computers. Do you get to work on the computer?
S: Yeah.
I: Do you have one of those at home (I pointed to the desk top PC in the classroom.)?
S: ummhumm No, we have laptop. We don't have computer.
I: Okay. Okay. How important is um, is a school? Is school important to you?
S: Yeah.
I: How about to your parents? Do you think it's important?
S: Yeah, because that's when the first day when I come the second day when they put me in
this school.

Interview Transcript 3

S:no
I: No, you had those kinds of things there, too. Okay.. .When you came did, did you bring ah all
of you things with you or did you have to leave some things behind?
S: I had to leave like my all my clothes and some of my big things like my scooter and my bike
and some of my toys.
I: You had a scooter? Like a motorcycle?
S: No, the normal, the normal kind.
I: Okay, okay. Can you tell me a little bit about your old neighborhood? What was that like?
S: mmm It was there is no child, but I don't really know him or there were families, but the
child that they had were big and I don't really like to meet them.
I: You don't like to meet them?
S: No, but some of my neighbors were had child that I like to and all the times my friends
comes to my house.
I: Oh, do they? So, um I'm trying to imagine what you are saying. It's a big city, was your
house like a.. .an apartment building?
S: mmhum
I: Okay, it was.
S: Yeah.
I: Okay, how about here.. .when, when you were there what language did you speak?
S: Iranian, Farsi
I: Okay, ah was that language spoke at home?
S: Yeah.
I: and at school?
S: Yeah.
I: Do your parents English?
S: They speak a little, but their real language is Farsi.
I: Okay, Farsi is another name for Persian isn't it?
S: mmhum
I: Okay, does your, do you speak any other languages?
S:no
I: Okay, so that's your first language.
S: I speak Farsi too and English.
I: Okay, did you find it hum difficult to learn English or?
S: No, easy, a little easy.
I: Easy? Is it very similar to Farsi?
S: Yeah.
I: in some ways?
S: mmhum
I: Looking at your letters that you showed me on the board, they don't look like.. .ah the
alphabet. They look like pictures...
S: Yeah, they're like, they have, in Iran the the things are going together, but their like "a" is
not matched with "e" like they're like lines.
I: Yeah, yeah that's what I saw on the board out there.
S: Yeah.
I: Okay, umm What do you like about living in the United States? Is there anything you like
about living here?

Interview Transcript 2

I: Were you studying English in your other country?
S: I went to English class.
I: You did? Oh, so, ah was it just English that they taught you or was it ah other subjects?
S: No, just English, but it was not in my school. It was somewhere else.
I: Somewhere else in your country, okay. Tell me about your school day. What was your school
day like in your country?
S: hum.. .It was like we can go to recess we went to recess two times of the day. We like don't
play we just, we could play, but we can't run and we have to eat fruit, and then we have to line
up to go to our classes.
I: What time did school start?
S:seven
I: Seven in the morning?
S: seven and a half
I: seven thirty, seven and a half? That's how you say it. And so, how, when did you get out of
school if you started at seven-thirty?
S: We get out of school in twelve, but now sometimes like in Wednesday, we get out in two
and sometimes one-thirty.
I: Okay, so you have a shorter day than what you do here.
S: rnmhum, yes
I: What country are we talking about? Where are you from?
S:Iran
I: Iran, okay were you born in Iran?
S: yes
I: Okay, what city were you born in?
S: mm, in Tehran
I: Tehran, that's a big city isn't it?
S: (she nods her head, yes)
I: Yeah. Yeah, okay, urn what kinds of things do you like to do?
S: hi Iran?
I: Iran or here
S: A hum, I like to go to art class or painting class. I like to find some friends in anywhere I am.
I: Do you have any friends here?
S: I have only one friend in here.
I: Okay, girl or boy?
S: girl
I: Is she in your class?
S: (nods yes)
I: Okay, so you get to spend some tune with her?
S:yeah
I: That's good. Is she also from Iraq, Iran?
S: No, she...she's from Puerto Rico.
I: Okay. So, you met her when you got here.
S: mmhum
I: What kinds of, can you tell me about the things you like to eat?
S: mmm I like to eat spaghetti and I like to eat.. .orange juice or apple juice.
I: Okay, are these foods different from what you had hi your country or?

SOLOM

Fish and Not Fish

Happy Easter, Dear Dragon

Miscue Analysis