These past two weeks I was able to
meet with a family resource worker, a site supervisor, health and wellness
coordinator, and the special needs coordinator for our Head Start program. I
observe these people on a daily basis in the field and we meet as a team once a
month to discuss family situations, student needs, and other issues. They all
have struggles working with our ELL families that are similar to those we see in
the classroom environment. One common thread we see is cultural barriers. Head
Start is unique in its social service piece and in the program we work to see
that all children have physicals, dental exams, dental treatment as needed, and
if there are nutritional concerns or health issues we work closely with the
families to see that services are provided. I have
one child in my class that failed her vision screening and we have referred the
family to a clinic for further testing. However, dad refuses to take her
because he does not want his daughter wearing glasses. He also informed us that
he is on a strike from doctors. In the team meeting, one of the administrators
said “They are in America now. They chose to come here. They need to change.”
And there you have it… this is where the struggle comes to a head. Two opposing
views, neither side wanting to give in, and a huge communication gap that none
of us are equipped to fill. Heavy sigh.
Assessment
materials that accommodate diverse learners can make a huge difference, even in
the case of vision screening. Our screening is done with English alphabet
symbols, by English speaking screeners, that the children are unfamiliar with.
This child is Arabic speaking. The symbols were unfamiliar to her and her
vision may be fine, it could very well be the setting and use of unfamiliar
materials to screen. When I try to present the point of lack of background
knowledge I am met with a lack of background knowledge by the adults. Each
encounter I have with these situations just proves to me that there really is a
need for advocacy in so many areas for our ELL’s.
A
little additional experience I have had the past two weeks has been
volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. One of my African families has qualified
for a Habitat home and I am volunteering to help them reach their 300 hours.
They don’t have family here and a select number of community members that are
able to help. I have been working four hour shifts the past two Saturdays. The parents
have been working both weekends also and they have brought two or three male
friends with them each time. The crew in
charge of the home will dictate to volunteers what needs to be done and then we
just do it. Well, the crew is obviously unaware and unprepared for the language
barrier. They will ask one of the men to get a ladder or bring them plywood and
a dialogue of hand gestures, body language, and pointing follows until they get
it right. After a few of these encounters, the crew just starts avoiding the volunteers
because it is hard, they are on a time schedule, and they don’t understand. When
I am there I serve as a go between, demonstrating, or guiding, the men so they
can follow the directions. The father wants so badly to work on his home that
he spent half of last Saturday sweeping the cement foundation. And anytime they
see me (I have had children from all of the families in my class over the past three
years) going to move or lift something they all come to tell me no and do the
work. Last week I spoke to the two
leaders while I was out there. I told them which of the men spoke the most
English and explained that even when they say “yes” or nod, they may still not
understand. If they could show them once, then the men would be able to do it
as needed. I pointed out how the home owner
was doing anything to stay busy and work on his home. I know this doesn’t directly
relate to my thesis about assessment with ELL’s, but it all relates because the
lack of understanding permeates the schools as well, even to the highest levels
of administrators. And it is heartbreaking. Advocacy is the answer, patience will be
needed, it will take time, but the effort is worthwhile.
Wow! Sounds like you are so busy. I understand the issue with diversity very well being that at my school we are VERY multicultural. It is challenging to have families understand that their child may need an assessment, even if this just means a vision screening. I too struggled with a family and the issue with glasses. They are from India and the boy had an extreme lazy eye. We offer vision and hearing screening at my school and the family allowed this to occur, however, the vision test came back and they contacted the family saying he needed glasses immediately to help correct the lazy eye. This was last Spring. I am glad to say that April 1st of this year this boy finally got his glasses. He is now reading and not complaining of headaches. Diversity is such a touchy subject and even sometimes the strongest partnerships cannot overcome these barriers. I feel as though I have a strong partnership with this family, and they just were not ready to understand the fact that their child needed help with his sight. Your post was so passionate and I hope your advocacy research paper helps you in the future.
ReplyDeleteTabitha,
ReplyDeleteIt seems that ELL is something that you are very passionate about. I come from a family that only speaks Greek. I understand the frustration when it comes to trying to communicate ANYTHING! Like one of your co-workers said, "They are in America." I think sometimes advocating for ELL is a great thing people need to learn the language and be able to communicate with others. But on the other hand I'm in a sense confused because we have allowed America to be run by every other culture and language! Yes, we do live in America so I am sorry to say that people need to learn the language. The schools that provide instruction in Spanish or other languages are not helping out society, they are hindering it.
I think many of these families from cultures where schools do not dictate medical care, or how they treat their children, when they are in U.S. it is a big cultural difference. I somewhat agree with the one teacher in that they are in U.S. and we are required to make sure kids have glasses, medical care and are not abused by their parents. I had a similar situation where it is very normal to beat your daughter/wife in 'their' culture however it is not appropriate here in the U.S. We had to call Dept. of Children and Family Services and Dad had to leave the home.
ReplyDelete