The international student staying in my home this year is doing well. He stays in his room a lot, but lets be honest, if I didn't speak the language and it gave me a headache trying to figure out what people were saying every minute of every day, I would probably stay in my room as well.
We have had several language issue barriers which have created awkward moments (which are now humorous enough to share.)
The hair cutting incident.
He has been in our home for a month and his hair is getting kind of long so I asked him (through Google Translator). " do you want to get a haircut".
He said "ok" and so I set up the appointment.
I picked him up one afternoon to go get a haircut and as we were driving he had his translator app say "no scissors"
I said, "you don't want scissors"
"No"
"Do you want clippers" and I made the sound and ran an imaginary clippers across my head
"NO"
"What do you want?"
Back to the translator "No haircut"
What? I thought you said you wanted a haircut?
Translator app "You say I must get haircut"
"Must" as in YOU HAVE NO CHOICE! That is what the poor kid thought I said. Stinking Google Translator. Because he is a respectful boy, he was going to do it.
Well at this point we are almost at the haircutting place so I took him in and introduced him to my hair stylist and let him know that there had been a miscommunication so we were just coming to make introductions. My international student said that he would let me know when he needed a haircut.
We left and drove home in silence. Well that was awkward. I talked to him about the miscommunication and we agreed that the word Like was a better word for him to understand.
Would you like to get your hair cut?
Sunday, September 27, 2015
International Student starts school
It has been 2 full months of having a 15 year old International student in our home. The first month was filled with Google translator and sign language to communicate. He has done really well with learning how to communicate with us.
The second month began the start of school. Now luckily, we send our kids (and new international student) to a private school that focuses on International students. So he was not the only Chinese speaking boy in a school full of English kids. He had people he could communicate with. So how is school going for him? Not well.
While he has learned the routines of our household, even learned to predict what I will say so he can translate it in his head. He has not adjusted to school life very well. I saw him sitting with another Chinese boy on the first day and I asked him if he made a friend. He didn't know the boys name so I told him to introduce himself the next day and make a friend. (It has been 3 weeks and he still doesn't know that kids name.) Now onto classes.
He is shuffling around to the 7 periods he was assigned, He got that part down, which classroom to go to when the bell rings. But he doesn't bring home very much homework, I think because he doesn't understand what the teachers are saying so he misses big gaps. The only homework I have helped him on is Spelling. He brought home his first spelling list and it was words like. Immeasurable, Improbable, Impoverished. WHAT? Those are the kind of words that a 1st year English student is assigned? Well my son (who is in the same grade and same class) brought home the same list. It began to make sense. 10th grade Spelling words, no adjustment for non-English speakers. So I helped him learn how to spell them, he still failed the first quiz.
Week 2 spelling words (I before E except after C rules). Really? Although these words were easier to spell, they were almost more confusing. Receive and Receipt spelled with and EI while Grieve and Achieve are spelled IE. Then we got to the word Beige, this does not follow the rule so how will he learn to put it into a category? I couldn't even begin to explain to him the word Beige, I gave up and told him to just learn to spell it. As the Host Family for this student, I made him learn how to spell it rather than learn the meaning, if this 15 year old boy ever needs to describe that color, I give him full permission to just say TAN!
The second month began the start of school. Now luckily, we send our kids (and new international student) to a private school that focuses on International students. So he was not the only Chinese speaking boy in a school full of English kids. He had people he could communicate with. So how is school going for him? Not well.
While he has learned the routines of our household, even learned to predict what I will say so he can translate it in his head. He has not adjusted to school life very well. I saw him sitting with another Chinese boy on the first day and I asked him if he made a friend. He didn't know the boys name so I told him to introduce himself the next day and make a friend. (It has been 3 weeks and he still doesn't know that kids name.) Now onto classes.
He is shuffling around to the 7 periods he was assigned, He got that part down, which classroom to go to when the bell rings. But he doesn't bring home very much homework, I think because he doesn't understand what the teachers are saying so he misses big gaps. The only homework I have helped him on is Spelling. He brought home his first spelling list and it was words like. Immeasurable, Improbable, Impoverished. WHAT? Those are the kind of words that a 1st year English student is assigned? Well my son (who is in the same grade and same class) brought home the same list. It began to make sense. 10th grade Spelling words, no adjustment for non-English speakers. So I helped him learn how to spell them, he still failed the first quiz.
Week 2 spelling words (I before E except after C rules). Really? Although these words were easier to spell, they were almost more confusing. Receive and Receipt spelled with and EI while Grieve and Achieve are spelled IE. Then we got to the word Beige, this does not follow the rule so how will he learn to put it into a category? I couldn't even begin to explain to him the word Beige, I gave up and told him to just learn to spell it. As the Host Family for this student, I made him learn how to spell it rather than learn the meaning, if this 15 year old boy ever needs to describe that color, I give him full permission to just say TAN!
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