Page 76 - PSPS: A Training guide

For Parents/carers, preschool teachers and NGO workers:

As our research in the participating countries has shown, two main concerns
parents/carers of migrant/refugee children have are: Will my child understand
what’s going on in the school, and will my child make friends and not be on his/her
own isolated?

In order to assist a migrant child in transitioning to primary school, there are strategies
for helping:

Teaching a child to ask for help.
It is important that a child knows and wants to ask for help.
Phrases like ‘Could you repeat that?’, or ‘I need help’, or even
acknowledging that something is not understood will signal
to the teacher thata child has a problem which needs to be
resolved.

Teaching a child some basic school-related words.

Even if a child has mastered the language of tuition to some extent, there are words
that (s)he may not know or understand what they indicate in a school environment.
Words like bell, break, playground and cafeteria may not be familiar to a child and what
they mean in a school environment may be confusing. So, a list of such words can be
compiled and explained through play.

Approaching another child
Finding and making new friends is an essential part of every child’s
smooth start at primary school. Even more so for children who may
only know other children from a refugee camp before their first day
at school. Through play, approaching new children can be practised,
using some useful opening sentences a child can learn. When children
become confident enough to start a conversation with other children
using some practised opening phrases like ‘What’s your name?’ or ‘Do you play games?
Which ones do you like?’ they will find it much easier to start making new friendships.
All of these things can be learned through play, pretending to be at school, using dolls
or favourite toys and role playing.

Teaching a child some popular children’s songs and rhymes in the host country
A very effective way of learning a new language is through songs and rhymes. Showing
and pointing to various parts of the body, or using actions for the words in a rhyme
whilst singing or reciting help children connect actions and names for different things
with the actions and nouns. This tool can also be used for learning what school related
words mean and indicate.