New student who only speaks Tigrinya

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is his proficiency in it? Can he read or write it?

She is a first grader and has been in a refugee camp in Israel for at least a year so I doubt she is literate.

Israel?
Do they have refugee camps??


Last I heard refugee camps do offer schooling.
I am curious as to no conditions in Israel

I know a teen who worked with African refugee preschoolers in Israel for a gap year. It was not a good situation. Since free day care was provided, I assume the older kids went to school but I am not certain. I am happy to hear that a family was able to make it to the US from there.

[Anonymous]

OP, this website has tons and tons and tons of pictures for using as visual aids for students. Our special ed team uses it for pre-verbal and pre-reading preschool students, but I've found it very useful for ESOL students as well . You can make almost any kind of document--picture cards, schedule, reward chart, etc--and it automatically populates. You can also recolor the pictures to show your student's skin tone, and change the text to match whatever you want. It does require a subscription, but it's been an invaluable resource for our school, and the best part is that the pictures are already THERE. You don't have to spend time scouring clipart or google images to find just the right thing. I would consider asking your administration to purchase a school subscription.

http://www.lessonpix.com

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone! DCUMs is amazing (most of the time). I'll let you all know how she does. I'll be working on a communication board this weekend. I'll keep you updated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks everyone! DCUMs is amazing (most of the time). I'll let you all know how she does. I'll be working on a communication board this weekend. I'll keep you updated.

Not to be a kill joy and I am sure people would be interested in an update, but you should be careful about what you provide in terms of a student’s progress/performance.

Given your student’s fairly unique circumstances it wouldn’t be hard for him/her to be ID’d. Even if you are outside of DC (and with the parents very unlikely to read this board), it probably isn’t worth getting in trouble over a FERPA violation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Definitely Google translate. You can scan the text, and it will read it in any language.

In 1st grade, lots of visuals. Boardmaker or just clipart with pictures of necessities like bathroom, media center, cafeteria, playground etc so you can make visual schedules and help them learn the vocabulary.

I agree with you completely. My son and I take free clipart https://creazilla.com/sections/4-clipart and use it to create images. This is convenient for us, since he often needs to bring various images to his school, with which they then work in the lesson.

[Anonymous]

One of my son's classmates was adopted from Eritrea. We don't live in the DC area anymore so no worries about ID here. He was nine when he came to the States and had not gone to school and didn't speak English. He's 14 now.

I think he just learned by immersion, which must have been an insane experience for him, but he's so great now. He didn't know how to read or write at 9 bc lack of schooling at his orphanage. Good for you for taking the time to make things a little more welcoming for your new student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my son's classmates was adopted from Eritrea. We don't live in the DC area anymore so no worries about ID here. He was nine when he came to the States and had not gone to school and didn't speak English. He's 14 now.

I think he just learned by immersion, which must have been an insane experience for him, but he's so great now. He didn't know how to read or write at 9 bc lack of schooling at his orphanage. Good for you for taking the time to make things a little more welcoming for your new student.

I had just turned 10 when my family immigrated to an English speaking country
I was ahead of my classmates in math, could read and write fluently my own language.
Kids overcome language challenges quickly, even though it does take a lot of effort.
I was warmly welcomed and didn't experience bullying. It was a culture shock for me.
The biggest challenge became when we moved back and I had to switch language again and was too foreign to fit in.

[Anonymous]

The student needs to learn Spanish. We shouldn't be making exceptions like this.