ESL adopted daughter curriculum suggestions for 9th grade???

[Carin' For Seven]

I was wondering what everyone would recommend for High School for a child that is behind. She was adopted two years ago from Ukraine and is still struggling with reading comprehension and can't spell at all. We have started with Math-U-See this year and plan on moving as quickly through the books. She is almost done with Gamma and should be able to finish Delta and at least start Epsilon this year. I was mostly looking for language arts suggestions and a vote of confidence that keeping her home for High School is the right choice. I would love to provide enough to help her catch up and possibly attend a community college but I am feeling like we just don't have enough years left.

[cillakat]

because of her age, I wouldn't waste any time with 'regular' reading/spelling programs. I'd go straight to intervention programs.

 

Is she struggling with comprehension b/c English is new to her and she just doesn't have vocab period? Or is it b/c she's struggling so much with the reading that she can't concentrate on both at the same time (ie reading and understanding)

 

Can she read single syllable words with blends and digraphs (sl, kn, qu, ch etc etc) like chimp, fang, smog, slugs and nonsens words like quent, misk, thruff, shrag?

 

If not, I'd use an intervention like Wilson or Barton that will work on both decoding (reading) and encoding (spelling). I'm not sure how Barton is on encoding, but Wilson is great. I've become my girls primary reading tutor (1hr per day, 5 days/wk) and in the last two weeks the improvement has been *amazing*.....v outsourcing the tutoring 2x week (very little benefit and out $3000)

 

If she can reliably decode single syllable words with any blend/digraph/diphthong, can she reliably decode multisyllabic words? If no, then REWARDS Intermediate (sopris west) is a good program to go to....but only if she gets all of the sounds and can do single syllable no problem.

 

Megawords would be a good addition to REWARDS to work on vocab/spelling/phonics as well.

 

The comprehension peice has a couple of different parts:

 

1)if they're trying too hard on the words, they can't focus on the meaning....how is her auditory comprehension with audiobooks or when you read to her?

 

2)fluency.....if reading fluency isn't there, comprehension often isn't. there is a high correlation.

 

3)other processing problems.....

 

4)just needs direct instruction in comprehension strategies....using short passages, helping her visualize line by line what's going on....have her create a movie of it in her head. Wilson and many other intervention programs work on this....even something like SWB's Writing With Ease is very very good for guiding them through this process.

 

 

All the best,

Katherine

[Laurie4b]

Does she have any special needs in addition to ESL?

[jeri]

Hi, Karen! Long time, no see! Did you hear that we adopted again? We know have two Ethiopian-American kids in addition to our Ukie child. Can't believe your dd is entering 9th! How time flies!

 

Anyway, with our dd (home almost 3 years) I find many of the same issues. I have found some things that work pretty well. Last year she went to parochial school and with Iowa tests, she was right at the 49%. Not bad to be exactly middle of the pack and only here 2.5 years! So something we've been doing must have been working!

 

I have a love/hate relationship with SWR. However, I have found it to be very good for all our kids, and especially our ESL kids. Actually hearing the sound of the letters and words, then spelling from them, has made her a great speller (when she wants to be). And even if she doesn't spell a word correctly, she at least is in the ballpark (think using an ea for an ee). In fact, even if she doesn't know what the word is, most of the time she can pronounce it due to the phonetics of SWR.

 

For reading, I do assign her 45 min of reading each day. I pick the book, and most of them are at a 3rd/4th grade level (she is 11 and in 5th). I find that her reading, although painfully slow, is really necessary since it is the practice that helps. She also reads to her younger sibs quite willingly, which gives her extra practice. I have her doing Reading Detective (grades 3/4), Wordly Wise (grade 3), and Junior Analytical Grammar. Also, I'm using the 3rd grade level of WWE. For comprehension, she listens to lots of books on tape. I think that this helps to expand vocabulary, take meanings in context, etc.

 

I think that if there are no other issues with development we just need to start them wwwaaaayyyy back in level. Sometimes she'll ask me the meaning of a word I just assumed she knew, or she'll not have the context for something that I thought she understood. Also, keep is short and simple for the most part. Inundate them with language and see what sticks. Can you hire a private tutor who can work with her one on one? I have one locally that I may use in the future.

 

Sorry I can't be more help. I know how difficult it can be sometimes! Blessings to you and your family.

 

jeri

wife to Drew, 21 years

mom to six: 3 bios (11, 8 and 6), one Ukrainian-American (11, home 3 years), and two Ethiopian-Americans (8 and 7, home 6 mths!)

[Carin' For Seven]

Does she have any special needs in addition to ESL?

 

Just ESL.

[Carin' For Seven]

I'm going to look into these. I'm not familiar with any of these programs. She can't spell at all but reads pretty well. But her comprehension is horrible. Thanks for the info.

[Carin' For Seven]

Can't believe you adopted again. Would love to see a photo of your beautiful family. If you would like please send me one at khermann@optonline.net. Glad all is well with you. Our younger adopted daughter is doing great academically but our older one seems to struggle. Hope to hear from you again soon.