Okay, first day of school today and I have a student who speaks absolutely no English nor understands a word. He is totally lost and really scared. Any ideas?? I did print out a few phrases with translations for him for tomorrow. Btw..no help from ESL until the end of the month at the earliest. What do I go with this kid until then?!?!?
There have been other threads posted here on this subject. Here is one that I found. You might get some ideas from there. http://forums.atozteacherstuff.com/showthread.php?t=43580
Is there someone in your class who can communicate with him? If not perhaps someone in another class who can communicate with him might be able to work a period a day with him.The children in the class might try to make him more comportable by playing with him at recess or do an art project with him.Why is it taking so long to get him ESL help?
There is an older student in grade 7 who also speaks Japanese but she can only pop in now and again if there is an emergency as her teachers do not want her away from her class. I did have her talk to him at recess today and she did communicate with me that he indeed understands nothing I am saying to him and as well knows not one English word. As for ESL support, we have very little time allocated to our school. We have over 1000 students many who have ESL needs. It will take them a while to figure out the needs but even then there is only one teacher who has approximately 100 minutes a day to service the needs of the whole school. So....I am pretty much on my own. Today was the first day and we didnt do anything much but tomorrow we are doing some pencil and paper activities and I am not sure what I will have him do. I'm thinking having him look at some picture books, maybe an alphabet book and practise writing his name and the alphabet.
Your first concern should be teaching him the English alphabet and phonics. Use your 7th grade translator to find out if he uses Hiragana or Katakana characters when he writes in Japanese. Then, you need to find someone that can translate from that set of characters to the English alphabet. If you don't have any luck, go to a bookstore and find a basic Japanese book. They should have some charts showing the translation from characters into letters. He will need someone to help him with it because Japanese characters relate to the sound, not the letter. So, each character is a pairing of a consonant and a vowel when translated into English. Your local high school or college may have students that will be willing to help you. Many students are looking for community service hours and would be more than happy to help you. Also, many communities have Japanese schools. Check you phone book and see if there is one in your area. Their students or teachers may be willing to tutor him or give you some resources to use in the classroom. While you are teaching your whole class, be sure to use pictures or realia as much as possible. Try to find ways to give him access to the concept you're teaching. Computer programs or video clips can also be helpful.
