Scenario Response 2

The scenario says the student "seems distant," so my first thought is the content the kid is encountering is not engaging them for whatever hypothetical reason. I would think that a lack of engagement would be the bane of metacognition, so I would try one of two things, prioritizing whichever one would be based on the chemistry of the the entire class of students:

1. I would pair the kid up with another student for guided reading segments. I actually do this by default (my seating chart is based on teams of two) and I have students read aloud to one another (alternate each day whether odd or even seat numbers read first). I would prioritize this particular method if there was appropriate students who I knew would be a good match with the struggling ELL student. Don't want to pair up with a student who just speed reads or withdraws as well.
2. Directly read with the student myself to help monitor the student and model for the student. I could guide reflecting questions and try to make connections to things they already know. This could also be a good opportunity to utilize humor as suggested on the first page of the model, which is something I like to employ to help build relationships with my students. I hate to say "I'll read with the kid!" as another answer to a discussion, but it is such a great thing to employ after all. I would use this method if I thought there wouldn't be a good match up with students (maybe there are no other ELL's with the same background), or if there were more details observed that made me question if there was actually some other struggle other then engagement that I needed to identify was being struggled with.