Dtlls Learner Profile
LEL Task 1 – Learner Profile
LEARNER IDENTIFICATION:
Information about Faisa was gathered through a recorded interview, informal conversations in class, class assessments and a learning styles test (VAX).
INTRODUCTION
Faisa is a 21-year-old Somali woman. She moved to the UK in 2006 as a refugee. She lives in a council flat with her brother, his wife and her baby nephew. She worked in a mobile-phone shop for five months in 2008, but has been unemployed for the past eighteen months and claims benefits. Faisa attended classes at Enfield College before joining my ESOL Entry 3 class, and has a full ESOL Entry 2 certificate. She joined my class because she was put on the Job Centre’s ‘New Deal Program’, which offers job seekers the opportunity to improve their English gain a certificate, and get employability training and job search assistance.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Faisa was educated in Somalia, joining Koran school at five and then moving to High School when she was 12. She attended school until she was 14 when personal tragedy forced her to leave Somalia. Faisa started learning English in Somalia, but she says that it was nothing like the English in England and was no help to her when she got here. On settling in the UK she was put into an ESOL class, but she says that she learns more from talking to native speakers.
LEARNING STYLE
Faisa works well on her own. She is confident in her own ability to solve problems, and is not afraid to ask questions or for help. From observation, however, I find she produces better work in pairs or groups. The social constructivist theory (Vygotsky, 1962, 1978 and Wertsch, 1985, 1991) that learning is primarily a social process seems clear when she works with other learners as she discusses the work, her choices, the other learners choices and with them achieves better results. Her enjoyment of collaboration also seems to suggest that she is a Communicative learner as described by Willing (1988): someone
LEARNER IDENTIFICATION:
Information about Faisa was gathered through a recorded interview, informal conversations in class, class assessments and a learning styles test (VAX).
INTRODUCTION
Faisa is a 21-year-old Somali woman. She moved to the UK in 2006 as a refugee. She lives in a council flat with her brother, his wife and her baby nephew. She worked in a mobile-phone shop for five months in 2008, but has been unemployed for the past eighteen months and claims benefits. Faisa attended classes at Enfield College before joining my ESOL Entry 3 class, and has a full ESOL Entry 2 certificate. She joined my class because she was put on the Job Centre’s ‘New Deal Program’, which offers job seekers the opportunity to improve their English gain a certificate, and get employability training and job search assistance.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Faisa was educated in Somalia, joining Koran school at five and then moving to High School when she was 12. She attended school until she was 14 when personal tragedy forced her to leave Somalia. Faisa started learning English in Somalia, but she says that it was nothing like the English in England and was no help to her when she got here. On settling in the UK she was put into an ESOL class, but she says that she learns more from talking to native speakers.
LEARNING STYLE
Faisa works well on her own. She is confident in her own ability to solve problems, and is not afraid to ask questions or for help. From observation, however, I find she produces better work in pairs or groups. The social constructivist theory (Vygotsky, 1962, 1978 and Wertsch, 1985, 1991) that learning is primarily a social process seems clear when she works with other learners as she discusses the work, her choices, the other learners choices and with them achieves better results. Her enjoyment of collaboration also seems to suggest that she is a Communicative learner as described by Willing (1988): someone