English as a Second Language

[grandmoon]

I am trying to help the parents of a refugee family with their English.  The little boy is learning at a great rate while the father is trying hard but the mother is having great difficult.

I am needing help with the names of books that will help them.

Does anyone have any ideas please.

[**meep**]

The father has finished his allotted hour of free lessons and the mother is in the middle of hers.  The father is prepared to speak English while the mother is more reluctant because she feels that  her English isn't understandable.

I  can relate to that.   That was how I felt so I am  speaking from experience, it is important that she get encouraged to speak as much as possible.  She will get confident with time.

My mum speaks very basic English, unfortunately she never wanted to learn but she can talk for hours in her broken English :^O  Keep encouraging and reassuring her. 

Internet makes it so much easier.  Have you tried Youtube?

[grandmoon]

The little boys is only 4 and has started Preschool this year and mum is concerned that when he speaks English she is unable to understand him.

I have made arrangements to meet them at the library to see what books are available there. 

[azureline**]

Sorry, I misread... and thought you wanted books for her to read.

My suggestion is, just talk to her, introduce her to someone her age with a 4 yo child, common interests? or just spend time with her talking about things, cooking, cleaning, naming items, does she have a skill? maybe introduce a craft?

[kopenhagen5]

Hi grandmoon, don't know if anyone has suggested it already, but I have taught many and any childrens picture books are terrific. Simple sentences with pictures.

This is a dog.   I am Bill.   How many oranges.

That sort of thing. I would go to local op shops and find great learning books for 20c or 50c.

Or local libraries have book sales. 😉

[cherry*135]

Her 4yo should have a pretty good grasp of their first language? She should still be able to communicate with him using that, until she gets a better grasp of English.

[esseco46]

You could try getting the family to read those talking childrens books - the ones with the picture story and the tapes, my children used to love them.

Another thing you could do is to make flash cards: This is a (or) the fridge, toilet, bathroom, laundry, table, chair, etc etc and so on.

Another way to get them to speak English is to buy the language dictionaries - English and their language.

A great way to help them also is to read a simple but practical book with them - each holding the same books.

You could also get them to make a scrap picture book - sounds silly but it works with little kids learning to read and write.

Hope it works out for them.

Di

[katydidthat]

A few other things I thought about.  

One is a book.  It's probably more for two year olds, but it's awesome for starting conversation.  It's by David Legge and called Bamboozled.  It's got a very simple, but funny story, but the value is in the illustrations.   I had heaps of fun reading that with my son.  

http://www.laterallearning.com/authors/legge.html

Two is videos ... so she can hear Australian voices.  She may be also able to watch subtitles in her own language.  

With dictionaries, you can get them online for free 🙂

Suggest she has a radio on for part of the day ... 

[freakiness]

TV and radio in English are helpful too.

Just to help hear and get the flow of how we speak.