Oral Language | Reading | Writing

Meet Brittany

Brittany is 6 years old, and is in the first grade at an elementary school in a medium sized Midwest town.  Born in Argentina, Brittany and her mother moved to the Midwest when she was 6 years old.  Her mother moved to the states to explore more career opportunities.

Brittany’s mother speaks English, but prefers to speak Spanish in their household.  Her mother is a Spanish translator for a local church.  Brittany enjoys her current school, but she really misses her friends and former school.  On top of that, she also misses not having school during December to March.  However, she does like the smaller classes that she has.  Her favorite subject is science.

Brittany receives daily ESL instruction through a pull-out program taught by a certified ESL teacher. She receives this instruction in a small group with 8 students at the intermediate to advanced levels of English proficiency.  Her school has a one-to-one technology program and provides each student with an iPad for use at school and at home.  Her regular classroom teacher has not yet received specific training on how to work with ELLs.  Brittany’s official English Language Proficiency level is 2.8 (WIDA).

When Brittany is not studying, she really enjoys growing flowers. Her mother gave her a flower pot with intricate designs. She mainly likes to plant sunflowers because it reminds Brittany of her family’s garden in Argentina.

Reading sample: I gotta draw