Today at my tutoring I did the usually working on blending with the kindergartners, and ending sounds with the first graders. Then during my observing of the kindergartners, the teacher had me go around the room and help students with their stories on what they can see in a bakery. While working with student he seemed a to be having a lot of trouble coming up with a third thing that he could see in a bakery. He already had that he could see cookies and cakes, so to help him out I listed a bunch of food and had him decide if that would be in a bakery of not. Then he said "pan" would be found in a bakery, an I said that he was right pans would be found in a bakery and then one of the others kids at the table who spoke Spanish said "pan" is Spanish for bread.
Having a language barrier between you and your students can cause many problems even on the simplest activities.
Or it can create a new web for students and teacher(s) to share?
ReplyDeleteI think the way you reacted to the student who was struggling was a great way of helping him. Its not really giving him the answer, but its putting the answer in front of him so that he can choose the right one. When it comes to the student who spoke Spanish, its good to just be patient and understand that it isn't easy for either of you. While coaching my little league team, I deal with many parents who speak poor English and it makes everything much more difficult. I just try to be patient and explain things as clearly as possible.
ReplyDeleteI agree, I think that sometimes a student may not understand an instruction and it helps to redirect them with an alternate instruction. As for the language barrier, I know it can be really difficult to communicate with some students because I work with a student outside of school who cannot speak fluently. She is disabled and can only use one or two words at a time. It can sometimes be extremely difficult to understand her so I usually have her sign it to me, write it down or attempt to draw a picture of what she is talking about for better understanding!
ReplyDeleteThe language barrier that exists between some students may actually be useful in the long run. By that one student saying pan and then the spanish speaking student to say it means bread in spanish, they are interacting and learning new things. The english speaking child now knows something they did not before, that even though one work means one thing, it may mean something else in another language.
ReplyDeleteI like that you were able to find a way not to give him the answers, but you were able to let him decide and then that let him ultimately come up with his own idea. Little kids need a push sometimes, and just that little encouragement can be useful in aiding them along the way.