education for kids with esl

Dear crescent,

I am currently teaching a Year 5 class at The British School of Bucharest, but in August my wife and I will be moving to Qatar.

During my two years in Bucharest, I have had quite a few children in my class with little or no English. Yes, it is not easy, but usually it takes a new child about a term to settle in and to come to the stage where he or she is taking an active part in what the class is doing. If your child starts at the beginning of the school year, together with other children whose English is limited, then that is the best thing. Starting half way through or towards the end of the school year can be rather more difficult, in my experience.

We have many different nationalities at the BSB: German, French, Romanian, Italians and even a few Brits! Therefore it is a natural thing for them all to want to communicate in one common language: English. Of course, when a child is in a school where all of the other children are speaking English, then there is a bigger incentive for him or her to learn the language. When I was teaching just outside Cairo, most of my students spoke Arabic and therefore it was harder for new children to acquire a real proficiency in English, both spoken and written.

Of course, parents can do quite a lot to help their children to settle into a new school and it goes without saying that the school should also try to arrange at least some ESL lessons. Many of my students here in Bucharest have a better command of the English language, both spoken and written, than children of the same age in England. Yes, there are going to be some initial difficulties, but in the long run this has to be a positive experience for your child.