Don't Speak English?

[SamanthaD]

I recently observed at an elementary school where two siblings (one in 4th and one in 5th grade) had just transferred from another school during the middle of the year. The time of year they transferred was not the issue; it was that the students could not speak English. They understood basic directions like "stand over here", but could not communicate effectively. At the school I observed at there was not a translator present during physical education class. I am concerned that I am going to have elementary students who do not speak or understand English. What is the best ways to handle a situation like this one? Are there resources I can use to obtain a translator?

[Gerryc]

The first thing to do is to establish either hand signals with basic directions or have one student to be a mentor and help that student by "mirroring ". I have done this when there was a situation when there was too much noise outside with traffic or windy conditions . (hand signals)
My next step should be to use an online translator so as to learn basic commands like run, walk , listen, watch or follow . When I was doing kindergarten screening(summer) there was a student who didn't understand English. I went to a Chinese translator program and used the words in the testing procedure like hop, throw, catch, skip and laydown-sit up . It took one week to learn those words plus he watched the other students first . Try http://www.freetranslation.com for more help

Gerry Cernicky(pingeyez2)
http://igreen.tripod.com/gerpe