Bit of a long shot. Re: non-English speaking children in school

[Desi's_lost]

My OH's sister is 7. She came over from Vietnam last winter and speaks very little English.
The school she's going to wants to just push her through classes even though she can't understand. She comes home with homework that my OH has to try to explain to her. Concepts like rounding in math that he doesn't know how to teach. His Vietnamese is fairly rough. His dads English is very rough. I've been trying to help come up with creative ways to explain it that he can do. But she's a little girl and its confusing for her.

Does any one have any experience or suggestions in what the world to do?

 

[aliss]

Aw poor hun I'm an ESL teacher and I've dealt with situations like this before. Is she attending ESL classes as well, or has she been pushed right into the regular stream?

It's a bit of a myth that kids can just absorb new languages (especially as they get older), it exists because they can develop the language without an accent which people mistake for 'perfect English'.

What I would recommend, and this is sort of "out there", is contacting via phone a 'language school' in Vietnam (her dad can phone), and they will be able to guide him or sell him some bilingual materials that will help her. I would, at this time, focus on helping her understand simple instructions (read this, follow that, add this). She is going to be behind for a while, and she may need some outside counseling to cope with this. 7 is a sensitive age

 

[Bex84]

I would speak to the school. When I was teaching I had several children around the ages of 6-7 who had no English when they started. I worked with the special needs coordinator to provide appropriate material as well as labels for things, I also had time out of my planning time I used to assess and help with language such as teaching names for things, I regularly spoke to parents and we made sure all material was appropriate. It took about a term for the child to become confident ,going over stuff separately and showed children examples. Children absorb language before they speak it meaning they will start to pick things up but may not use it in language. One of the most interesting things they did when I trained was to have a lesson in another language played to us and then asked us questions. To start with we worked a lot on language with children rather than worrying about homework, we also got materials, such as books with both languages in and also dictionaries. The school should have available them resources they can borrow with whatever language

 

[Bex84]

also as pp said they may be able to seem perfect at English but that does not mean they understand everything. At the school I worked we had a lot of outside sessions, it also makes a difference how much English is spoken at home, we helped parents find classes for them but I know in my county we had a lot of stuff we could borrow in appropriate language to help

 

[Desi's_lost]

The English at home thing..hah, her parents speak ZERO English in front of her. I've only ever heard her mom say "Wednesday, Thursday, Friday" in English. Apparently Nhi was teaching her that. Her dad speaks a little English but its very poor. I have a hard time understanding him sometimes. Even basic things, "where Sinh?" Instead of "where is Sinh?" And he's been here almost 40 years.

I'm not sure what ESL is but I can say for sure she takes no outside classes, she's just in normal school classes. It's very frequent that she comes home unsure how to do her homework and I honestly wonder how much her parents care. She was doing her homework at 9pm the other night because that's when they came home from wherever they went and she had needed Sinh's help.

I never hear her speak English either. Not even words mixed in with the vietnamese. I think she understands very basic things like days of the week but I'm pretty sure verbs and sentances are still around survival level.

I'll have Sinh ask his dad about calling for bilingual materials. Nhi is such a happy little girl but it makes me so sad watching her giggle that she doesn't understand and then zone out.

Thanks ladies for your help!

 

[Bex84]

Esl is english second language. The school should have something set up with her as its expected. We had plans set up before children started. It must be hard to see and i cant imagine how difficult it is to be at school and not understand everything

 

[nolansmom]

As a Caucasian westerner who took Vietnamese in school I can say that she is lucky in that Viet is comparable to English in it's alphabet so actually pretty easy to learn either way.

I think reaching out to the local viet community might help and you may be able to find an older student at the same school who can help/tutor etc.. ESL is a must and should be offered widely either free or for a fee. If the school isn't offering it you should be able to find a community organization that offers this..

Good luck - I think she'll be O.K. if you do those things.