Kindergarten programs in Texas began with economically disadvantaged non-English speaking children.\u00a0 It was never my intent to teach kindergarten, but circumstances resulted my being there one day enrolling little boys and girls.\u00a0 The children who came to my door were the children of migrant farm workers.<\/p>\n
One little girl seemed angry.\u00a0 She did not cry to go home, but she definitely let her mother know she did not want to stay.\u00a0 She seemed frightened and anxious about the new situation.\u00a0 Furthermore, she had never been around an Anglo (non-Hispanic) woman before.\u00a0 This was yet another frightening unknown for her to deal with.\u00a0 She adopted a look of perpetual unhappiness.\u00a0 Some of the other children were her playmates in the neighborhood, but she ignored them inside the classroom.\u00a0 She refused to speak or make eye contact with anyone.<\/p>\n
After a few weeks, she relaxed outside at recess and began to talk to her friends and to play with them.\u00a0 She was still a selective mute inside the classroom, in the lunchroom, and around any adults.\u00a0 The only time she spoke was on the playground.<\/p>\n
I had no experience in how to deal with her.\u00a0 I acted on the assumption that I needed to do whatever I could to make her feel accepted and secure and to be patient with her.\u00a0 I was inexperienced in the field of kindergarten.\u00a0 I was frustrated with the experienced teacher in the next classroom who knew all of the answers and felt compelled to give me the benefit of her advice.\u00a0 (She was also frustrated because I did not often follow her advice.)\u00a0 She felt that I should \u201cmake\u201d the child talk.\u00a0 I never knew how she thought I should make her, but I knew that whatever I did along those lines would only make things worse.<\/p>\n
I was careful to include the girl in both group and individual work.\u00a0 I did not make a big deal out of things which she refused to do.\u00a0 I just let her know that she had the opportunity to participate.\u00a0 I went right on without comment when she chose not to participate.\u00a0 Example:\u00a0 We had small groups for learning English.\u00a0 The group would repeat an English word in unison several times.\u00a0 Then I had them repeat it one by one in turn around a small circle.\u00a0 I always called on her in turn, waited just a second or two, and then went on to the next child without comment.\u00a0 Most of the time, she would silently do group activities such as art or manipulatives.\u00a0 If she did not, she was allowed to sit near me or the aide.\u00a0 She gradually became more comfortable with me\u00a0and finally allowed me inside her body space.\u00a0 She would inch closer and closer to me when the children were singing, playing games or doing other physical activities.<\/p>\n
At Thanksgiving, we did a little play in the auditorium with the other classes.\u00a0 She seemed genuinely\u00a0frightened that she might have to participate.\u00a0 The size of the room was probably overwhelming.\u00a0 The other children were marching in a circle singing a song when the advice giver came over to me scowling and told me that I needed to make her \u201cget up there with the others.\u201d\u00a0 By this time the child was almost behind me and very close.\u00a0 I just shook my head and told my associate, \u201cShe is OK here beside me.\u201d\u00a0 The woman was not happy, but I felt that forcing the little girl to do this might possibly result in physical resistance on her part and\u00a0further traumatize her.\u00a0 I felt it would negate whatever comfort she had with me.<\/p>\n
The aide would often try to coax her in Spanish to participate, but she would just look down at the floor.\u00a0 The aide took her cues from me and did not push her to do anything.<\/p>\n
Her mother was concerned that this might be a permanent thing.\u00a0 I assured her that her daughter was learning by observation and could do nonverbal skills well.\u00a0 I had no clue where this was going, but I did not want to discourage the mother.\u00a0 Each week I gave her the English words we were working on so they could practice at home.\u00a0 Fortunately, the mother had a good understanding of English.<\/p>\n
About a month before the end of the school year we had a breakthrough.\u00a0 The child very quietly came up to me and whispered a request.\u00a0 I was stunned, but I did not show it and acted like it was an everyday thing, not something new.\u00a0 My instincts told me that if I called attention to it, she might go mute again.\u00a0 She gradually spoke more and more.\u00a0 I was unsure how to handle the reaction of the children.\u00a0 They watched me closely and I decided on an attitude of \u201cwe are really happy that (name) is talking in the room.\u201d\u00a0 Again, I did not make a big deal of it.\u00a0 She knew that we were all proud of her, but I did not want to embarrass her as she did not like attention.<\/p>\n
During the last week of school, my aide paid me the greatest compliment of the year.\u00a0 She said, \u201cI have been thinking.\u00a0 May I tell you something?\u00a0 I think that if (name) had been in the other room instead of in ours that she would never have talked.\u201d\u00a0 I thanked her and gave her credit for her help.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think that she realized how deeply I appreciated that comment.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kindergarten programs in Texas began with economically disadvantaged non-English speaking children. It was never my intent to teach kindergarten, but circumstances resulted my being there one day enrolling little boys and girls. The children who came to my door were the children of migrant farm workers. One little girl seemed angry. She did not cry […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-1955-to-1972"],"yoast_head":"\n