Elementary school in a small town.
Most of the kids are amazing, English level is a bit lower than when I was in Tokyo, but they're good kids and game for just about anything. I like to think I make my lessons fun and interesting, based on the general reception.
There's this one kid who is just… I'm worried about him. He apparently lived abroad until this year, he's 6th grader tall and lanky, with (if I'm being honest) poor hygiene and low academic ability. At breaks and lunch, he never does anything with his class, but always goes out and plays with the younger kids. I don't sense that anyone is bullying him, if anything they're just ignoring each other. Some of the nicer kids occasionally approach him for pairs work but he just ignores them and they've stopped trying.
Any time the class is given group work or practice speaking time, he just "comically" hides his head in his book until myself or another teacher comes over and tries to coax him to participate, which is like pulling teeth.
I'm really worried his social and academic isolation is just going to snowball and it's going to be a LOT harder for him to adjust in JHS and beyond. What would you do in this situation? Like, he's not a bad kid, I just do not have the time to focus solely on him and spend 10 minutes every class convincing him to participate.
by HotAndColdSand