New student who only speaks Tigrinya
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Anonymous
| The student will pick up English quickly. My experience with Eritrean and Ethiopian families is that they take education very seriously. Use the same resources you would with a Spanish speaker (not Spanish language, obviously). In my school, we have a history of getting a diverse group of newcomers on their first stop in the US school system. Teaching-wise, having a student with no language peers is really not that different from any other newcomer student. The real challenge is likely the emotional piece of being in an environment with a completely different culture where nothing is familiar. |
Anonymous
| OP! You are making my heart sing. Bless you for going the extra mile. Your students are very fortunate to be taught by you. If only we could clone you.?. |
Anonymous
| You’re lucky you’re getting her as a first grader. She will pick up English quickly. I teach high school and we get kids at 14-17 who don’t speak English AND had very disrupted or minimal education in their home countries. Many are likely special needs as well but we can’t put them in sped classes without evaluations etc so they sit in gen ed classes, completely lost, while we try to teach them and oh yeah they have to pass SOLs to qualify for a diploma but they can’t read or speak English at all and have a 1st grade education. Feels hopeless sometimes. |
Anonymous
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OP, you sound kind and caring. This student is lucky to get you, poor kid. Please come back at some point and let us know how the student is doing. Before she arrives in your class, maybe do a quick lesson on Eritrea so the other kids have a sense of her home country?
Snarky poster, I feel sorry for you. You seem bitter. (General question: What’s the refugee situation re: Eritrea? Is it religious persecution or something else?) |
Anonymous
I don’t think this is snarky ... almost everywhere else in the world teachers will not have kids to translate. The ESL teachers don’t normally speak to kids in their language. |
Or are you a classroom teachers who only took the test to get their ESL certification?
Anonymous
Op is ESL certified . |
Anonymous
“Ummmm...”, eyeroll, and “how do you not know this?” are all snarky. The PP was being a jerk. |
Anonymous
I sometimes wish I had half the education of the posters on this board. Alas, I never received any training in ESP. |
Anonymous
Israel? Do they have refugee camps?? Last I heard refugee camps do offer schooling. I am curious as to no conditions in Israel |
Anonymous
Dictatorial regime, human rights violations, conscription, poverty https://www.wsj.com/articles/eritreans-flee-conscription-and-poverty-adding-to-the-migrant-crisis-in-europe-1445391364 |
Anonymous
This focuses on tasked based learning. https://www.coursera.org/learn/esl-reading |
Anonymous
Most ESL teachers don’t have the benefit of translators so it’s odd to rely on translators. The problem is most parents expect 1st grade learning in K. |
Anonymous
| Does she speak any Hebrew? Depending on where you are, that might make it easier to find someone who can help with at least the basics. |
Anonymous
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Thanks for reaching out and being so caring, OP. I wanted to 2nd the recommendation to reach out to the SpEd teachers who will have a lot of resources to help.
One of my bio kids has a language/communication disorder and was LEP until about 3rd grade. He wasn't proficient in any language and we used a lot of visuals/alternate communication methods with him. They work. |
Anonymous
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If you live in Fairfax county, you could email VMSHelp@fairfaxcounty.gov
They can contact volunteers who know Tigrinya in the county to help you. The Fairfax county has website www.Volunteer.FairfaxCounty.gov and lots of volunteers across the county register. |