English is a language that many people struggle with in the U.S. It can be a daunting task that many Americans face. Especially because of all the domains that make up the English language (reading, writing, speaking and listening). There are many factors that can lead to failure to learn the English language. One component is that English is a secondary language that is not handled well. Although there are many reasons that lead to English language learners' lack of proficiency (e.g. Mr. O'Malley's classroom), strong instructional input, scaffolding, theory, research, the ELD standard, and a intervention will not be one of them. . O'Malley is empathetic by nature, but the strategies he uses are not as effective as they could be due to his misconceptions. One feels that because he is unable to speak the native language, he is unable to help. This sets him up for failure. If you think you are incapable of doing something you won't be able to. He is setting himself and his students up for failure based solely on his negativity. Second, his strategies are the same for all of his students. English language learners (ESL) and the rest of mainstream classmates need different techniques for learning the English language. The same is also true for the ELL group. Every child is unique and this is no exception for ELLs. Mr. O'Malley mistakenly believes that all ELL students who are proficient in one area are also proficient in another. That is, if Mikhail is good at speaking he should also be good at writing. The other mistake he makes is comparing one student to another. He needs to know each level of acquisition and that each child will reach them in a different order... in the middle of the paper... reading Mikahi's interactive journals. It is important to make sure that the words and topics are suitable for the child's acquisition level. (Syrja,2011) In conclusion, many things can lead to a lack of competence, such as misconceptions; however, visual scaffolding is not one of them. Not even instructional input compares to sheltered instruction. Sheltered instruction is a type of instruction that makes the things we read, write, and listen to more comprehensible and correlates well with comprehensible input theory and the total response approach. Theories, instruction, scaffolding, and research are used to help achieve the goals set by the English Language Development Standards. They are also helpful in meeting the academic achievement needed to meet the Common Core Standards. If these fail to help children, other standards-based interventions/activities will help.