Devin Vidas

ED 290
M 8 CAP Writing Assignment
When reading Ch.4 it is obvious how important teaching ELL students is to Igoa. As she

states, “I use a method called dialogic intervention which addresses the feelings of the child

through the development of a close relationship and continuous dialogue between the child and

teacher with this process I could respond to individual students cultural, academic and

psychological needs and concerns” (p 117). An example given in the text of dialogic intervention

is below

Child: “I can’t spell.”

Teacher: “You can spell your name.”
Child: “I can’t read”
Teacher: “You just read that sentence.”

Igoa’s use of dialogic intervention led to the interdisciplinary three folded approach of

cultural/academic and psychological (CAP) which is represented as a circle. As stated in the

Ch.4, “The circle represents the whole child. When the child feels in balance with these, there

aspects of herself or himself, the child in school is fully alive.” By talking to the student and

encouraging him or her, the student can start to feel confident as if a little flame is starting to

grow inside them. Once the student starts to see things differently, he/she will feel that they can

achieve and be successful in school. Igoa said something I found very powerful which was

“When an entire class begins to be aware of the positive aspects of situations, then there is a lot

of good energy in the room because transformations begin to take place. It is not enough to say,

“don’t think that way”; instead, see, feel, and rethink.” After reading this quote from Igoa, it has

really made me see teaching in a whole new way. By using CAP as a tool in the classroom,

students can feel that no obstacle is too much for them to handle.
 As an educator, I feel that I can use CAP as a tool with ELL students. I especially like the six

questions Igoa provides when thinking about the ELL student.

1. How does the child feel about his/her country?

2. How does he/she feel about leaving the homeland?
3. What can be done to maintain his or her language?
4. How does the child feel about school?
5. Does the child have friends?
6. What is the child’s academic background?

Why I feel that using CAP is useful for ELL students because it takes into consideration not

only the academic and psychological but also the cultural. The following practices given by lgoa

I would find helpful and necessary to use in the classroom : students developing a home library,

validating the child’s culture, developing a home school connection, parental involvement in

healing the cultural split, making a desk at home, creating classrooms that embrace

multiculturalism, acknowledging grief as part of acculturation, acknowledging religion as part of

culture, homework notebook, encouraging peer bonding, creating study groups, developing a

buddy system.

The ELL students often feel frustrated since they are still trying to learn the English language.

Because of this, they are likely to feel like giving up at times and believing that they will never

become successful. Another quote that I thought was very meaningful from Ioga is “When you

first arrive, you get discouraged from your mistakes because kids compare, and you feel bad

inside. Many children do not express what they feel verbally and so they would be upset or be

real quiet and you can tell that something is bothering them. Try getting it out of them.” Why

this quote means a lot to me is that if I want to understand the ELL student’s problems, I’m

going to have to come up with some way for the ELL student to feel comfortable to open to me.
By using CAP, I can help the ELL student by letting them know that they do have what it takes

to be successful in United States.