Several of the kids who attend our school are the children of local university students, and quite a few of them are immigrants here on student visas. Two-thirds of my class are non-native English speakers. I have two Korean boys, a Chinese girl and Japanese girl (yes, I only have six kids, but that's up from last week, when I only had five enrolled!). I know a few basic Japanese words (greetings, numbers, and the like), but I don't know any Korean or Chinese. I think since my kids are younger (they'll all be two on the first day except my youngest, who will be two in November), it might be easier than i they were older, but I'm still a little overwhelmed trying to overcome the language barrier.
For those of you who have experience with ESL students, do you have any tips?
Speak slowly and clearly, since it's possible you are the most contact they'll have ever had in English. Ask the students to say their names, and call them how they want to be called--Koreans have three names, last name first, and they usually use all three names when speaking. Chinese and Japanese also put the last name first, but often just use the last name. Don't make the children choose "English" names unless they have to--you're showing respect to them that way. Label everything in your classroom (door, paper, light switch, window, etc) in English, Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. Ask the parents (they should be happy to help with this) or use Google Translate and print it out. Even something as simple as that shows the students and parents that you're open and accepting of the different cultures and languages. When you read stories, especially fables, ask parents if there is an equivalent story they might have told their children. Then the kids can connect, say, the three little pigs with a story they know. I'll be licensed in ESL in May, if you need anything :)
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteTheir parents indicated on their enrollment forms what they wanted their children to be called (and half of them have common American names, so that helps, though the Korean and Japanese names are easy to pronounce and remember). I had already planned on the labeling thing (though I haven't had time to do it in any language yet).