PDA

View Full Version : advice on non-english speaker



migimoo
10-11-2012, 09:51 AM
After some tips and advice pretty please?:blush:

A 2yr old polish LO started with me this week,she literally knows NO english-even 'yes' and 'no' .

I asked mum for some helpful polish phrases such as 'thank u,good girl,please,what is that?wee wee,juice'etc but her parent's main reason for sending her to me is so that she picks up english before she starts school nursery in Sept so i've been saying the polish then repeating in english.

She is very lively and a real chatterbox and talks CONSTANTLY...so much so i have to hold her hands and crouch down to make her register at all when i DO speak.

Any ideas for activities?I never have her 1 to 1,she comes on 2x 4 hour sessions at present,during which we go to toddler group or rhymetime but wanting to increase hours after xmas

manjay
10-11-2012, 10:37 AM
Research shows that immersion into the new language is what works best.

What we do here when an english speaking child attends the Welsh speaking school is constant repetition. So we say it first in welsh then again in english and then again in welsh. Slightly different as obviously as if the child's home language is english then that is understood by most of the staff, Simple things for that age group are obviously doing actions to go with the words. This is easy for things such as yes or no but maybe not so easy when you want to act out wee wee:D. What can be really hard for the children is when they really want to let you know something but they cant and so get frustrated. Maybe make some laminated picture cards that she can choose if she wants to let you know something and just constantly repeat what the card means so she picks up the language to go with it.

Good luck:thumbsup:

Lilylulu
10-11-2012, 10:39 AM
Hello, we have had lots of children with EAL as we are near a hospital so we have a lot of doctors children attending. Are parents using any english at home as 8 hours per week is not a lot of time to learn english. When we have had parents who have used english at home some of the time the children have very quickly learned, of course they wont want the child to lose their home language but its helpful if they introduce it as a second language for the phrases that are used commonly and that they child is familiar with already in polish. Good communication with the parents is vital, the majority of children we have had with two languages have coped fantastically well and their vocabulary rises very quickly. One of our lovely asian mums commented yesterday on how much her son is learning with us - even tho they speak both english and hindi at home, she says she knows all the words he has picked up here as he says them without his indian accent that they have at home,...we are quite broad yorkshire :o

manjay
10-11-2012, 10:48 AM
Do be aware though that some parents really do not want to speak to their child in a language that is not their home language. I have found that some parents are very adamant that they only speak their home language with family members as it is not natural to do anything else. I have families who only speak their own language with their children even on my home which I found quite rude at first but now I understand I work round it.

You say she is only 8 hours at the moment but due to increase after Christmas. i would say she will have a really good knowledge of the language by the time she starts nursery in September.

migimoo
10-11-2012, 11:27 PM
Thanks to you all-I will definitely be having the chat about speaking english at home-I doubt very much mum will as her english isn't great and she talks to dad in polish when in my house but hopefully dad will be more receptive.

it was a bit scary on Thursday though-she got out of her car seat whilst driving and once home she went running round the back of the car to the road and I was shouting "stop" "no!" whilst desperately racking my brains for the polish words....she's a very strong willed LO aswell so we really need some understanding asap.

Think i'll ring my development worker Monday to see if there's any help/resources she can recommend too.

Boris
11-11-2012, 02:57 PM
Thanks to you all-I will definitely be having the chat about speaking english at home-I doubt very much mum will as her english isn't great and she talks to dad in polish when in my house but hopefully dad will be more receptive.

it was a bit scary on Thursday though-she got out of her car seat whilst driving and once home she went running round the back of the car to the road and I was shouting "stop" "no!" whilst desperately racking my brains for the polish words....she's a very strong willed LO aswell so we really need some understanding asap.

Think i'll ring my development worker Monday to see if there's any help/resources she can recommend too.

Hi Migimoo,
I have a computer programme that translates anything into any language, if you PM me some words or sentences I will try to translate for you. I don't know where abouts you are but I have a dual language story book you can borrow too if you like x

sarah707
11-11-2012, 03:32 PM
The Eyfs requirements for EAL have changed in the revised framework.

Whatever parents wishes we now have to engage children in their home language as well as English - which is tricky if you do not have any knowledge of the child's home language of course!

I would suggest - as well as all the excellent advice you have already been given - that you make a communication book with the child featuring pictures, home and English words together for things she needs to know immediately.

You will find lots of good clear pictures here - Communication4All (http://www.communication4all.co.uk).

If she's running away you need reins! :eek:

Hope this helps

migimoo
11-11-2012, 07:25 PM
Hi Migimoo,
I have a computer programme that translates anything into any language, if you PM me some words or sentences I will try to translate for you. I don't know where abouts you are but I have a dual language story book you can borrow too if you like x

Thank you so much,I already have a dual language polish book but as she's only 2 and is a bit hyper atm she's not really interested in it. Dad has already been great with the translating-I have 2 sheets of words/phrases I need with the polish written phonetically for me from him,it's just that by the time i've referred to the sheet she's either moved away to another activity or has forgotten what we were on about!

The idea about the photo book is fab-I will definitely be doing this with pics of places we go/lunchtime/car etc.:thumbsup:

loocyloo
11-11-2012, 08:50 PM
sorry to jump onto this thread .... but i have a LO starting shortly - dad is english, mum is polish. dad doesn't speak any polish, they have no polish friends, no polish people locally, mum usually speaks english to LO. she doesn't want me to use any polish, as he won't understand it.

i am planning on ordering an english/polish music cd i found on amazon and i already have a couple of polish word/picture books, but if polish is NOT the childs home language, do i have to use polish with LO?!

ChocolateChip
12-11-2012, 01:07 PM
sorry to jump onto this thread .... but i have a LO starting shortly - dad is english, mum is polish. dad doesn't speak any polish, they have no polish friends, no polish people locally, mum usually speaks english to LO. she doesn't want me to use any polish, as he won't understand it.

i am planning on ordering an english/polish music cd i found on amazon and i already have a couple of polish word/picture books, but if polish is NOT the childs home language, do i have to use polish with LO?!

I could be wrong but I would say in those circumstances his home language is English- they live here, speak to him in English and converse with English friends and family, therefore they are bringing him up as English speaking rather than bi-lingual. So I wouldn't see a need to provide dual language resources. But of course the EYFS might see it differently :rolleyes: