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justbeachy
So close....
Member since 7/07 2900 total posts
Name:
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How do I teach math to my 3 students who ONLY speak Arabic?!?
One of them is 12 and has NEVER gone to school.... He barely knows how to ask to go to the bathroom.
I feel helpless.
(I teach 6th grade math)
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Posted 9/20/09 5:27 PM  |
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kgs11
LIF Adult
Member since 2/07 1424 total posts
Name:
Kim
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Re: How do I teach math to my 3 students who ONLY speak Arabic?!?
oh wow> thats sad. does he even know numbers? last year i had an arabic student who had the test translated. (i teach 4th) he always reversed numbers and difficlty tracking from left to right. i would start there.
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| Posted 9/20/09 5:50 PM |
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mathteach
Roll Tide!
Member since 8/08 3169 total posts
Name:
Christine
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Re: How do I teach math to my 3 students who ONLY speak Arabic?!?
I had one very similar last year. I would sit with him when the other kids were doing classwork and have him write formulas for each problem. (like if we were doing pythag or trig functions) He was very bright and could do computation like a champ but because he couldn't understand me he didn't know what to do with formulas. Once he was able to do one, he was able to get them all.
Def (if they are in the same class) put the 3 of them together. Although all of the current bs goes against grouping them this way it will work better because if at least one of them gets it, they can help the other two.
Good luck, I'm sorry to say, but you're going to need it.
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| Posted 9/20/09 7:28 PM |
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justbeachy
So close....
Member since 7/07 2900 total posts
Name:
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Re: How do I teach math to my 3 students who ONLY speak Arabic?!?
Posted by mathteach
I had one very similar last year. I would sit with him when the other kids were doing classwork and have him write formulas for each problem. (like if we were doing pythag or trig functions) He was very bright and could do computation like a champ but because he couldn't understand me he didn't know what to do with formulas. Once he was able to do one, he was able to get them all.
Def (if they are in the same class) put the 3 of them together. Although all of the current bs goes against grouping them this way it will work better because if at least one of them gets it, they can help the other two.
Good luck, I'm sorry to say, but you're going to need it.
Thanks dear.
He doesn't know how to even exist in school let alone look at numbers.
Honestly I dont think he knows what a number is. And as the pp said, he tracks from right to left.
To date I now have 8 students in one class who don't speak a word of English.
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| Posted 9/21/09 9:23 PM |
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MrsRivera
2 under 2...whew!!
Member since 2/07 9876 total posts
Name:
Beth
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Re: How do I teach math to my 3 students who ONLY speak Arabic?!?
Best of luck to you I have a student who speaks only Korean. If I were in NY, this might not be a huge problem, but I am just outside of Charlotte, and we have a riduculously small population of Koreans here.
It's so hard. But we get along as best we can. 
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| Posted 9/21/09 9:55 PM |
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TheDivineMrsM
2 girls 4 me!
Member since 8/08 7878 total posts
Name:
Mama mama mama....
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Re: How do I teach math to my 3 students who ONLY speak Arabic?!?
Posted by mathteach
I had one very similar last year. I would sit with him when the other kids were doing classwork and have him write formulas for each problem. (like if we were doing pythag or trig functions) He was very bright and could do computation like a champ but because he couldn't understand me he didn't know what to do with formulas. Once he was able to do one, he was able to get them all.
Def (if they are in the same class) put the 3 of them together. Although all of the current bs goes against grouping them this way it will work better because if at least one of them gets it, they can help the other two.
Christine, can you teach in my school?
We had a student that spoke strictly Haitian Creole. My staff is really diverse, and the AP actually wound up assigning a bilingual school aide to the student during one or two of her classes, and I know she found it helpful.
Message edited 9/22/2009 8:48:39 AM.
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| Posted 9/22/09 8:48 AM |
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mathteach
Roll Tide!
Member since 8/08 3169 total posts
Name:
Christine
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Re: How do I teach math to my 3 students who ONLY speak Arabic?!?
Try googling some sites. Depending on where they are from, their number system is base ten - same as ours. And their numerals are often the same as ours. Don't forget: arabs invented algebra. I'm not kidding.
This is not a problem that will solve itself (no pun intended) this week or even this month. It will take work, but knowing how dedicated you are to your students, I have no doubt that you will find a way. In the end, I recommended that Sumeet NOT take the Algebra regents but I was able to get him ready for whoever has him this year. I know that we always look at the "test" as the end all/be all for our students, but we have to be able to understand that our job is not to get every student to pass some arbitrary test, but to get every student to succeed. And for some students "success" is measured by growth.
And BTW Rachel: 2 years ago I yelled "Ferme le bouche" out in class. One kid almost fell to the floor and then started speaking rapid-fire French. He was Haitian Creole. Finally those 4 years of French paid off!
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| Posted 9/22/09 10:23 PM |
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