Monica

Monica is 6 years old, and is in kindergarten at an elementary school in a medium sized Midwest town.  Born in Mexico, she and her family moved to the Midwest when she was three years old.  Monica is the second oldest among her four brothers and sisters.  

Her parents know some English, but only speak Spanish in their household.  Her father has his own lawn care business and her mother works at a local food pantry. Monica thoroughly enjoys school and she wants to be a teacher.  At home, Monica loves to play the role of a teacher with her brothers and sisters.  Her favorite subject is reading.  Monica’s official English language Proficiency level is 3.8 (WIDA). 

Monica 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 does not yet have received specific training on how to work with ELLs.

When Monica is not studying, she enjoys spending time with her family.  They often rent movies from RedBox every other Friday and order pizza.  This is Monica’s favorite time because her family is together laughing at movies.