I'm happy to have another guest blogger today! Rachel Haltiwanger is an elementary ESL teacher in middle Tennessee, where she advocates for and works with English learners and refugees. She is passionate about helping English learners achieve their full potential. She blogs over at thecozylearningcottage.blogspot.com, where she shares tips and ideas for working with ESL students. You can also find her on twitter, pinterest, facebook, and teachers pay teachers. Rachel is sharing tips for supporting refugee students in your schools.
The refugee crisis has been in the news continually for months. As more and more people come fleeing violence, terror, and persecution, schools are encountering populations they have never worked with before. On my first day of teaching, fresh out of college, energetic, and starry-eyed, I walked into my room of second grade English learners only to discover that the majority of my students had relocated to the USA as refugees.
In some sense, refugee students are just like every other student in your school. They require high expectations, growth mindset, manageable goals, and quality and caring instruction but refugee students have some unique needs as well. School counselors are in a prime position to not only reach the needs of these children but to train and prepare their teachers and other staff at the school on how to work with these students effectively. Specifically, there are five areas in which refugee students may have different needs than their American-born peers:
In some sense, refugee students are just like every other student in your school. They require high expectations, growth mindset, manageable goals, and quality and caring instruction but refugee students have some unique needs as well. School counselors are in a prime position to not only reach the needs of these children but to train and prepare their teachers and other staff at the school on how to work with these students effectively. Specifically, there are five areas in which refugee students may have different needs than their American-born peers:
Invite Families to Participate
The amount that US parents are expected to be involved in their child’s schooling is uncommon in many other cultures. As a result it may be seem that refugee parents are uninvolved, simply because they are used to a different level of parental involvement in school. Reach out to families early on, ideally with the aid of a translator/family liaison who can introduce parents to school policies and procedures, explain basic communication between school and home, and demonstrate how school "works" in your building. Parents have every right to understand what is happening at school and be supported in helping their children succeed. With their involvement and support students have a significant leg up in achieving their goals.
Support Physical Needs
By nature of their refugee status, many refugees have very few possessions and may have come from a significantly different climate than where they are now living. Students need appropriate jackets and shoes in the winter and may even need blankets for their homes. Keep an eye out for students who are wearing the same clothes every day or clothes that don’t fit, or perhaps lack basic school supplies. Students who are cold, hungry, tired, and dirty won’t be able to focus on their studies until their basic needs are met, so work on a way to provide for physical needs of these students (and their families) as well.
Monitor Emotional Needs
Refugee children have known fear and heartbreak in ways that their American teachers and friends may never know, and they have emotional scars as a result. Some refugees develop post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, from the trauma they have witnessed and experienced. I have created a “red flag” cheat sheet to check for signs and symptoms of excessive anxiety in school aged children. All refugee children will likely need some time to adjust and feel comfortable in school, and that is normal. School counselors can support school staff to identify red flags that indicate the child may need some more significant emotional and psychological help to process what they have lived through. Keep an eye out for these red flags in refugee children and share this document with their classroom teachers and others who work closely with them to be looking for as well. You can download the cheat sheet here.
Teach Cultural Norms
In addition to being unfamiliar with school culture, refugee students may not be familiar with other unspoken cultural norms. For example, in some cultures it is customary to stand much closer to another person while talking than it is in the US, and this may make some other students (and teachers) uncomfortable. In many other cultures, it is customary to point at things with your middle finger rather than your pointer finger. Rather than making fun of or humiliating the student, let them know that their way of doing things is good, but that we also do it differently here. Get to know students and learn as much about their culture as you can before assuming rudeness or defiance in the way they are behaving. In the same way, we can increase our cultural sensitivity by learning more about the child's culture and background.
Celebrate Diversity
One of the best ways to welcome any new student into a class community is to let them share about things that are important to them and where they came from- the same is true for refugee students. Invite them to bring in any photos they might have or traditional clothing or toys. Let them teach the class how to say “Hello” in their language. Try some of the foods they may bring in for snack and lunch, and let the class ask them (appropriate, respectful) questions about where they came from and how things are different. Refugee children may being to consider their home culture and language as bad or “less than” American culture, which can pose problems in their homes and families as they grow. Celebrate the differences and diversity in your classroom and school.
At the end of the day, refugee students are still students. They need to learn how to relate well to their peers, grow in knowledge and understanding, become confident in themselves as learners and as humans, and develop into their best and healthiest selves. There may be a few areas where they need extra support because of their history, but they are not too difficult or beyond helping. With the right help and direction, you will be amazed by how quickly they become thriving members of your classroom community.
At the end of the day, refugee students are still students. They need to learn how to relate well to their peers, grow in knowledge and understanding, become confident in themselves as learners and as humans, and develop into their best and healthiest selves. There may be a few areas where they need extra support because of their history, but they are not too difficult or beyond helping. With the right help and direction, you will be amazed by how quickly they become thriving members of your classroom community.
Thanks so much Rachel! What a great reminder of the needs of refugee students as they enter our schools. If you haven't checked out Rachel's website The Cozy Learning Cottages, please do! You may have seen my pinterest feed lighting up with her many wonderful resources and I absolutely love the reason for her blog's name!
