ELL Case Studies Discuss these case scenarios with your mentor teacher. What instructional strategies can be implemented to support these specific students and why? Case Scenario 1: Foundational Reading Skills Student: Soe Win Soe Win is a Burmese refugee who spent much of his life in a refugee camp in Thailand. He and his family recently arrived in the United States. Although he is literate in the Karen language, he had limited formal schooling and did not have much access to books and technology. While in the refugee camp, Soe Win received some English instruction in the months prior to coming to the U.S. He tested at an emergent reading level in English and needs support in the foundational reading skills of concepts of print, phonological awareness, phonics, and fluency. Due to his reading level, he is struggling to access grade level content. Case Scenario 2: Vocabulary Development Student: Haniya Haniya came to the United States from Pakistan and has maintained her oral language skills in her native language, Urdu. Her family values bilingualism and strongly encourages her to use Urdu in the home and English at school. She is close to exiting the ELL program but according to assessment data and the teachers that have recently worked with her, she is reluctant to use content specific and general academic vocabulary in both oral and written language. Being on the shy side, she tends not to participate in whole class discussion but prefers small group or partner work. Haniya would benefit from increased opportunities to practice vocabulary across all content areas. Case Scenario 3: Elements of Language Student: Antonio Antonio was born in Guatemala and attended school there from kindergarten to the middle of third grade when his town suffered a terrible earthquake that destroyed his school. The town was unable to reopen the school, so Antonio was not able to attend school until he moved to the United States with his parents earlier this year. He has been attending class consistently this year but has made little progress in his acquisition of English in reading or writing, particularly with aspects of grammar. He struggles with structuring his sentences in speaking and writing. He has difficulty using the -ing and -ed suffixes and continues to find subject/verb agreement confusing. Case Scenario 4: RTI/MTSS Student: Li Jie  Li Jie's family moved to the United States when he was four years old. He did very well in kindergarten, learning his letter names and sounds. He learned to speak English very quickly. Li Jie's parents speak Mandarin at home, and they depend on Li Jie to translate outside of the home. Li Jie is outgoing, social, and likes school. His literacy foundational skills developed rapidly, but he began having difficulty decoding multisyllabic words causing spelling and reading comprehension difficulties. Li Jie's academic gap has been widening and he is falling behind in all his subjects because of his reading and w ...

1. ELL Case Studies
Discuss these case scenarios with your mentor teacher. What
instructional strategies can be implemented to support these
specific students and why?
Case Scenario 1: Foundational Reading Skills
Student: Soe Win
Soe Win is a Burmese refugee who spent much of his life in a
refugee camp in Thailand. He and his family recently arrived in
the United States. Although he is literate in the Karen language,
he had limited formal schooling and did not have much access
to books and technology. While in the refugee camp, Soe Win
received some English instruction in the months prior to coming
to the U.S. He tested at an emergent reading level in English
and needs support in the foundational reading skills of concepts
of print, phonological awareness, phonics, and fluency. Due to
his reading level, he is struggling to access grade level content.
Case Scenario 2: Vocabulary Development
Student: Haniya
Haniya came to the United States from Pakistan and has
maintained her oral language skills in her native language,

2. Urdu. Her family values bilingualism and strongly encourages
her to use Urdu in the home and English at school. She is close
to exiting the ELL program but according to assessment data
and the teachers that have recently worked with her, she is
reluctant to use content specific and general academic
vocabulary in both oral and written language. Being on the shy
side, she tends not to participate in whole class discussion but
prefers small group or partner work. Haniya would benefit from
increased opportunities to practice vocabulary across all content
areas.
Case Scenario 3: Elements of Language
Student: Antonio
Antonio was born in Guatemala and attended school there from
kindergarten to the middle of third grade when his town
suffered a terrible earthquake that destroyed his school. The
town was unable to reopen the school, so Antonio was not able
to attend school until he moved to the United States with his
parents earlier this year. He has been attending class
consistently this year but has made little progress in his
acquisition of English in reading or writing, particularly with
aspects of grammar. He struggles with structuring his sentences
in speaking and writing. He has difficulty using the -ing and -ed
suffixes and continues to find subject/verb agreement
confusing.
Case Scenario 4: RTI/MTSS
Student: Li Jie
Li Jie's family moved to the United States when he was four
years old. He did very well in kindergarten, learning his letter
names and sounds. He learned to speak English very quickly.
Li Jie's parents speak Mandarin at home, and they depend on
Li Jie to translate outside of the home. Li Jie is outgoing,
social, and likes school. His literacy foundational

3. skills developed rapidly, but he began having difficulty
decoding multisyllabic words causing spelling and reading
comprehension difficulties. Li Jie's academic gap has been
widening and he is falling behind in all his subjects because of
his reading and writing abilities. Although he is able to
articulate in English, his parents have expressed concern about
his low grades in all subject areas. They feel ill-equipped to
support him with reading in English. They believe that he is
very bright and see that he does his homework every night. Due
to their limited English, they are not able to check his
work. They see him working hard but coming home with poor
grades. They have asked what is typical and are wondering if Li
Jie may be having difficulty due to English being his second
language.
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Case Study 02
Should Tesla Keep its Partnership with Panasonic?
Tesla is a company that has made a name for itself. Led by the
famous CEO and co-founder
Elon Musk, who also designed the American aerospace
manufacturer SpaceX, Tesla has
received public attention for what the company’s future
endeavors are. But what does Tesla
actually specialize in? Tesla is a company that specializes in

4. electric car manufacturing.
In 2018, Tesla announced plans to build a $5 billion
manufacturing factory in Shanghai, China,
in order to build about 500,000 electric vehicles every year by
the 2022–2023 fiscal year. The
plans for this factory are grandiose, in fact, it will be built on
an 864,885 square-meter plot
that, according to Musk, will be the size of Tesla’s Fremont
factory and the current Reno,
Nevada, Gigafactory1 combined. Due to the massive
undertaking of this project and the
ongoing Sino-American Trade War tariffs, this plan had to be
discussed in great length with
the local government in Shanghai. But, nonetheless, the project
was approved.
Tesla and Panasonic
It is important to note that Tesla relies heavily on lithium
batteries to power their vehicles.
For all of their American cars, Tesla has partnered with the
consumer electronics company,
Panasonic, for the electric batteries in the cars. This
relationship, established in 2013, has seen
great strides in North America since both companies relocated
to the Nevada Gigafactory1.
This collaboration seemed to be symbiotic and well-received.
However, since entering China,
this collaboration has sailed into rough waters.
As a result, Tesla settled with the South Korean company, LG
Chem, to be their battery
supplier for the gigafactory in Shanghai. The South Korean
mega-corporation focuses on
technology and chemical production for the batteries. Since
entering the Chinese market in

5. 2017, LG Chem is a fairly new supplier of batteries in China
and partnering with Tesla is turning
out to be their Chinese cash cow.
The LG Chem battery-making factory for Tesla will be located
about 200 miles away from
Shanghai itself, which means there needs to be coordination
between LG Chem and Tesla to
get the correct auto parts to the right places.
To add more salt to the wound of the Tesla–Panasonic situation,
Tesla also announced that
they would partner with other localized entities in supplying
other parts for cars, excluding
Panasonic from these opportunities in China.
What are the reasons for this strained relationship that is
pushing Tesla away from Panasonic
and possibly seeking new collaborations in China? One reason
came from Musk himself, who
claimed that Panasonic has recently had a slow-down in
production, particularly on a certain
model of battery, the Model 3. Apparently, the battery cell
production rate had slowed
drastically, which in turn slowed the production of vehicles in
Tesla’s Nevada Gigafactory1.
Musk reported, in many interviews, that Panasonic had
promised a much faster production
rate, and this was a wrench in their relationship.
Another reason for Panasonic losing favor in the eyes of Tesla
is due to the inside reports that
Panasonic employees were ignoring crucial procedures while
manufacturing Tesla products in

6. the Nevada Gigafactory1. These actions normally went without
notice and, if they were, did
not attract punishment or negative repercussions.
Yet another reason is that the amount of waste material
Panasonic is generating is quite
alarming. According to reports, over half a million pieces of
shrapnel and scrappage are tossed
out each day. This waste is due to the procedures not being
followed (as mentioned above),
according to one employee. For a company that is collaborating
with an electric car company
whose overarching goal is to go green, Panasonic must
understand Tesla’s core values as a
company.
Due to these reasons, Tesla, in fact, halted future spending on
Gigafactory1 in Reno, Nevada,
where it actually saw stock prices go down. The investors and
stockholders knew that this was
not a positive outcome in regards to the strategic partnership of
Panasonic and Tesla.
Resolution: Is There One?
Is there a way to mend the strained relationship between the two
large companies? It is tough
to say, but as was already noted, Tesla seems to be looking in
another direction, since they
are looking to other sources for lithium batteries in China.
Apart from the reasons mentioned previously, Tesla might be
trying to curry favor with the
Chinese government and local suppliers to boost name
recognition and brand awareness in
China. This new direction is largely due to the fact that the
electric vehicle industry is booming

7. right now, and China has a growing middle class, which in turn
has a growing need for vehicles.
Case Discussion Questions
Ask yourself this: If you were Elon Musk, would you abandon
Panasonic and look for other
collaborative opportunities or find ways to work past
differences?
What is the best way to structure these relationships with
outside partners?
Assessment Description
Since ELLs are tasked with not only developing content
knowledge but also acquiring
proficiency in English, teachers must implement effective
instructional strategies to address all
the learning needs of an ELL.
Allocate at least 5 hours in the field to support this field
experience.
Part 1: Supporting ELL Students
Use students from your field experience classroom and the
"ELL Case Studies " to discuss ELL
instructional strategies with your mentor teacher. When you are
discussing the case studies,
assume each student is joining your mentor teacher’s classroom.
You may consult other
teachers at your field experience site to gather additional

8. information or work with multiple
teachers if needed. Include the following in your discussion:
What are some strategies you use to teach foundational reading
skills (concepts of print,
phonological awareness, phonics, and fluency) to ELLs?
What strategies do you use for vocabulary development and
student practice?
What are some strategies you use to teach the elements of
language (phonetics, phonology,
morphology, lexicon, semantics, syntax, and pragmatics) to
ELLs?
How do you use Response to Intervention (RTI) or Multitiered
Systems of Support (MTSS) in
ELL instruction?
At least two additional questions to discuss with the teacher.
Observe at least one classroom in a K-8 or 9-12 school setting
with ELLs. Work with an
individual student or small group of students identified with
your mentor teacher during Clinical
Field Experience A. If possible, focus on instructional or
support activities related to the
discussion with your mentor. Examples of activities include
conducting a reading mini-lesson
targeting a foundational reading skill; providing vocabulary
instruction and practice within a
content area; creating a targeted lesson based on student data to
address a discrete element of
language; and administering an assessment as a part of progress
monitoring.
Use any remaining field experience hours to assist the mentor
teacher in providing instruction
and support to the class.
Part 2: Plan and Reflect

9. Following the observation, discuss with your mentor teacher the
progress made and next steps
for working with the student or group of students. Plan how you
will continue to support the
students during the next field experience. Collaborate on how
you can respect and promote the
linguistic and cultural differences of the individual learners you
are working with.
Write a 250-500 word reflection summarizing your observations
and discussion. Include a
reflection of how you supported the language acquisition needs
of the students you worked with.
Address how what you have learned will affect your future
professional practice. Include how
you will support the student or group of students in additional
field experiences.