Educator Challenge: Click here to go to the Amihan's STEM Challenge. 
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Understanding Amihan: 

Freshly cooked Filipino food platter called Boodle Fight

​Amihan Villanueva represents a unique story of cultural identity, academic aspirations, and language learning that deserves careful consideration from educators.
Born in San Diego, California, Amihan's educational journey reflects her family's commitment to preserving their Filipino heritage while navigating the challenges of the American education system.
Cultural Background and Early Education
Amihan's parents made a conscious decision to enroll her in a Filipino school during her early years, a choice deeply influenced by their experience with her older brother. They had witnessed how their son had grown disconnected from his Filipino heritage, actively rejecting it in favor of American culture. This experience prompted them to take a different approach with Amihan, prioritizing her cultural education and identity formation.
From birth until age 12, Amihan attended a Filipino school in San Diego where she received comprehensive instruction in Filipino culture, history, and the Tagalog language. This educational foundation has shaped her into an outgoing teenager who takes pride in her Filipino heritage. However, this cultural immersion came with a significant trade-off: when Amihan transferred to an American school at age 12, she faced the considerable challenge of not being able to read, write, or speak English.
Academic Interests and Strengths
Despite the language barrier, Amihan demonstrates remarkable academic potential and specific interests that educators can leverage:

• She shows a strong inclination toward STEM subjects
• She enjoys conducting scientific experiments using household items
• She is an avid reader, suggesting strong literacy skills in her native language
• She has an interest in Legos, indicating aptitude for spatial reasoning and engineering concepts
• She has already identified engineering as a career goal

Language Proficiency: ​Amihan's WIDA scores:

• Reading: 1.7 (Entering to Emerging)
• Writing: 1.1 (Entering)
• Speaking: 1.4 (Entering)
• Listening: 1.7 (Entering to Emerging)

These scores indicate that Amihan is in the early stages of English language development across all domains, with slightly stronger skills in receptive domains (reading and listening) compared to productive domains (writing and speaking).

Educational Considerations for Teachers: When working with Amihan, educators should consider:

1. Language Development Needs
   • While she is new to English, she is not new to academic concepts
   • She has strong literacy skills in Tagalog that can be leveraged for English acquisition
   • She will need substantial support in all four language domains, with particular emphasis on writing (1.1) and speaking (1.4)
   • Her slightly higher scores in reading and listening (1.7) can be leveraged to support development in productive language skills
   • Use of visual aids, manipulatives, and hands-on activities will be crucial given her WIDA levels
2. Cultural Integration
   • Unlike her brother, Amihan has a strong sense of cultural pride
   • She can be an asset in creating a multicultural classroom environment
   • Her bilingual potential can be celebrated and utilized in the learning environment
3. Academic Support Strategies
   • Connect science vocabulary to her existing knowledge and experiments
   • Use her interest in Legos for hands-on learning activities
   • Provide visual and hands-on learning opportunities that bypass language barriers
   • Create opportunities for her to demonstrate her knowledge through non-linguistic means
4. Social-Emotional Considerations
   • Support her transition from a culturally specific environment to a multicultural one
   • Help maintain her confidence as she develops English proficiency
   • Create opportunities for her to share her cultural knowledge and experiences

Strengths to Build Upon: Amihan brings several strengths to the classroom:

• Strong cultural identity and pride
• Clear career aspirations
• Natural curiosity and experimental mindset
• Self-directed learning tendencies
• Engagement with complex thinking (as evidenced by her science experiments)
• Previous academic success in her native language

Areas for Support: Key areas where Amihan may need additional support:

• English language acquisition across all domains
• Academic vocabulary, particularly in STEM subjects
• Translation of existing knowledge into English
• Maintaining academic progress while acquiring English
• Social integration with English-speaking peers

Goals for Growth
​Short-term objectives should focus on:

• Building basic interpersonal communication skills
• Developing academic vocabulary in science and math
• Increasing confidence in English usage
• Maintaining engagement in content areas while developing language

Long-term objectives include:

• Progressive development of academic language
• Successful integration of cultural identity
• Achievement of engineering-related academic goals
• Continued development of bilingual abilities

Recommendations for Success

1. Academic Support Strategies
   • Provide content in multiple modalities (visual, auditory, kinesthetic)
   • Use scientific demonstrations and hands-on experiments to build vocabulary
   • Incorporate Lego-based engineering challenges to develop technical language
   • Create bilingual word walls for STEM vocabulary
   • Allow use of Tagalog for initial concept understanding
   • Provide graphic organizers and visual aids
   • Use sentence frames for scientific writing and explanations
   • Give extended time for assignment completion
2. Cultural Integration Strategies
   • Create opportunities for Amihan to share Filipino cultural perspectives
   • Connect STEM concepts to cultural practices when possible
   • Encourage bilingual presentations
   • Include diverse scientists and engineers as role models
   • Partner with Filipino community members for mentorship
   • Validate and celebrate her cultural identity
3. Language Development Support
   • Focus on academic language development in STEM subjects
   • Provide preview-review of content in Tagalog when possible
   • Use comprehensible input strategies
   • Create structured opportunities for peer interaction
   • Implement think-pair-share with bilingual partners
   • Use strategic grouping with peers of varied language levels
4. Assessment Accommodations
   • Allow alternative forms of demonstration of knowledge
   • Provide word banks and reference sheets
   • Give extra time for processing and response
   • Accept responses in combination of English and Tagalog
   • Use performance-based assessments
   • Implement portfolio assessment to show growth over time
5. Social-Emotional Support
   • Connect her with other Filipino students when possible
   • Create safe spaces for cultural expression
   • Celebrate her engineering aspirations
   • Foster peer relationships through collaborative projects
   • Acknowledge the challenge of language transition
   • Build on her existing confidence and cultural pride

By understanding Amihan's unique background and leveraging her strengths while supporting her areas of need, educators can help her maintain her cultural identity while developing the English language skills necessary for academic success in the American education system.

If you want to learn more about the other students, go to www.brainbasedscience.com/studentscenarios
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