394: Inclusion

     These past few weeks, another student has been joining the level 1 ESL class for about 15 minutes a day.  His name is Israel and he is from Mexico.  His English is extremely limited.  He is in Special Ed. classes and has an aid, who doesn't speak Spanish, who has been with him since jr. high school at Kingsley.  Israel gets grand mal seizures, which affect his brain and development, therefore he cannot take in information for long periods of time.  This explains why he is in special ed. classes.  However, only recently he has been put in an ESL class as part of his daily schedule, but for only 15 minutes and then he returns to his other class. 
     I'm sort of confused as to why he is only in ESL for a short amount of time everyday, when the class has only 2 other students and he would receive individualized attention, learning more ways of communication.  Many times, ESL students are placed in special ed. classes because of their limited English.  However, that is not the case for Israel.  It's the opposite.  He needs to be in ESL and isn't.  What perplexes me even more is how he does his homework, actively listens in class, asks questions when he doesn't understand, etc.  I doubt that any of these are happening due to his very limited English, which means that he sort of just goes through the motions of a school day.  Students at my placement in ESL also have a study hall, called "Resource" where they go to their ESL classroom with their teacher who helps them with their homework, can reword tests and assignments, etc.  Israel desperately needs this! 
     It got me thinking about how he in included into the regular curriculum in terms of language, but not up to his needs.  He goes to classes where the focus isn't for ESL needs.  They do accommodate for his needs that are to do with his seizures that affect his development.  However, I wonder how far he could come with proper language teaching to help the rest of his education.  Why is our system so difficult!?
     Over the next few weeks, we will see his development (how much might be very slight, because he's only with us for 15 min!), so I'll update again.