School Question

My son went to school after he was home only a few weeks, becaue he begged to go. He loves school. We have a program called ESL in our schools (English as a second Language) we live in an area with many immigrants, mostly from Mexico. So they have lots of kids who start school speaking no English. My son only spent one year in the program becuase we were speaking only English at home so he learned very fast. Children are amazing with how fast they learn. He still has the ESL teachers checking on him, because his vocabulary is not as large as a child who was hearing English from birth. When he was in the program he was in a regular class (I did give his teacher a phrase sheet with Polish phrases on it and an English/Polish dictionary) But he was pulled out for help each day. He did very well in math because that was the same, numbers look the same in English or Polish. During his few weeks at home and also during our bonding time we had flash cards that we used each day. They had various foods, clothing, animals, colors and every day objects. We made a game of it, us teaching him the English words and him teaching us the Polish words and then we would test each other. I had purchased several sets of cards they had the words on the back in several languages including English and Polish. We would hold up the cards and the ones he got right he got to take, if he didn't know it we would tell him the word in English and he would repeat it and then he would tell us the word in Polish and we would repeat it, and then it went to the back of the deck. We started with just a few cards and added more every day. When he had named every card in the deck he would take them and test our Polish. Of course we would also say the words in English before we said them in Polish if we remembered them. If we got them wrong he would correct us and we would say the correct word in Polish and English. So by the time he started school he had quite a vocabulary. We had also worked with him on several phrases he might need. Like bathroom (I think we used toilet becuase it was closer to the Polish word) hungry, thirsty, need help, cold, hot, afraid, don't like, don't understand and I understand. He loved school. Being around a group of children was what he was used to. The bonding time of being the only kid with two adults was very odd to him and then once we got home and my other children were all in school and he was alone with me, was also very different to him. He was much happier when he could go to school. He is now in second grade and doing very well in school. If you are in NYC as your name suggests, I am sure they have a very good ESL program as New york has many immigrants and so probably it's not unusual to have children starting school who don't speak English.

[FONT=Candara]Our bio daughters have never been institutionalized for their education, so it wasn't even a consideration for us to send the boys to schoolђ (be it government, private, charter, whatever) when they were coming home.[/FONT][FONT=Candara] [/FONT][FONT=Candara]While we were going to talk to their teachers in Poland, once we walked into the classroom (they were repeating the 1st grade) it was painfully clear that there was no point. It was as more of a zoo than the orphanage, where they were already learning well enough how to behave like their peers.[/FONT][FONT=Candara] [/FONT][FONT=Candara]Our family came home in November of 2007 and we simply had the boys home, learning what a family is, how a house is run, what it is to have a Mommy and Tata who love them, all the basic things that one is usually taught between birth and 5 that they had never learned.[/FONT][FONT=Candara] [/FONT][FONT=Candara]We are so glad that we took this time. It allowed the girls and I to learn more Polish, and allowed the boys to have access to Tata via cel phone on speaker any time we needed an interpreter. The boys have been home more than a year, have lost no Polish, and have a really good working knowledge of English, both expressive and comprehensive.[/FONT][FONT=Candara] [/FONT][FONT=Candara]Through this time it did become evident that they lacked a lot of basic logic skills. I headed to the BG Center and took an online class to assist them with their Cumulative Cognitive Deficit. That, combined with several years of home educating was all we needed to get readyӔ.[/FONT][FONT=Candara] [/FONT][FONT=Candara]January of this year (we start our academic year in January) the boys started formal studies and are flourishing like we never expected.[/FONT][FONT=Candara] [/FONT][FONT=Candara]My husband remembers coming to the states and being put into junior high with zero English. He wrote everything down phonetically, and his uncle would help him decipher it at home. He said that he did well in math but then again ֖ one doesnt need much English for math, and his dad was a math teacher in Poland. He hated to read until he married me many years later, and said that he made it through college by the grace of Cliff notes.[/FONT][FONT=Candara] [/FONT][FONT=Candara]Whatever you decide to do for your childrenҒs education, there is certainly enough time to research your options during the waiting period. If using an institution for education is your first choice, take advantage of this spring semester and go talk to the officials and see what they have to offer. In picking their brains, you may be able to gather a lot of information to peruse over the summer when they arent going to be available.[/FONT][FONT=Candara][/FONT] [FONT=Candara]How fabulous for your children that you are looking out for them already![/FONT]

I am speaking as a parent (now 12, 6, 5) and educator (I teach in a resource room for students with learning disabilities, ADHD, and autism) ... My oldest daughter, then 10, was the only one who was school age at the time of the adoption. We kept her home for 4 weeks to work on family life rather than school work. Retrospectively, that was too long, and I would shorten the time to 3 weeks. Her classroom teacher had also adopted children (though they were <1 year old at the time), so she prepared her students and set up a buddy for the first day. The lack of English wasn't really an issue since my daugter was real eager to use the English she had already learn and to learn more. My daughter continues to receive limited ESL help within her usual 6th grade social studies classroom. My two younger kids stayed home for 6 weeks before starting German kindergarten for 3-6 year olds. My son wasn't thrilled his first few days, but then the situation improved as he started playing with the kids and learning some German. My daughter was quiet, but never had any problems. She is now in first grade and is within average for her class. I declined ESL services this year in lieu of extra reading support which also helped her language skills. She has become a prolific writer. All three of my kids love books - they want to read and be read to. Every day in Poland, I read 1-2 books to them. This was "quiet, together time" as well as time to learn the language. So that is one big recommendation - read, read, read! If you have any choice on which school your child attends, you could start visiting them now to get a feel for their learning and social environment. If not, I would wait until after you accept a referral to visit your local school. That way, you can speak to the school principal, counselor/psychologist, and ESL teacher with your questions. It would be helpful if you could speak to parents of students that will be in the same grade as your child. They could give you their opinions on the teachers. Some schools grant requests for specific teachers, whereas others do not. But you certainly want a supportive, caring teacher who will modify work and lessons for your child. I would hope that the school principal and counselor would place your child with an appropriate teacher, rather than just looking at numbers (some schools just place newly arriving students in classrooms based on whose turn it is to get a new student).

Thanks for all your advice. I went to local public school today and talk to a person in charge of registering students. She informed me that my children would attend ESL class and they will be placed according to their age. There is no placement exam. If their fail the class they will stay behind. This is something I am worry about because I know kids in Poland start school one year later than here in USA. It has to be a big jump between first grade and third grade especially for children who have some problems in school in Poland. My second fear is the size of the class. I forgot to ask how many students are currently in ESL first grade. My nieces class has 38 students and 2 teachers. I will try to go to next Parents-Teacher Conference and talk to ESL teacher.

Can I please implore you to NOT automatically have your children placed according to age? First, it is the law that the school district must test your children in their native language (if you request it). This testing will give you an excellent baseline to see any deficiencies or gifts in specific areas. Schools will push hard to place children based on age because they don't want to see 19 or 20 year old Seniors on their high school campuses. Second, some (but not all) of our children that have lived in orphanages or foster homes are somewhat intellectually delayed in their own right. So, even if they were in first grade in Poland, they may not even be working at first grade level. This could be an environmental delay and could be overcome or it could be a permanent delay. To push them into a third grade American curriculum would be asking them to do the impossible, even with ESL support. Third, beyond school delays, many of our children are delayed in social and behavioral skills. Even if they are not delayed in Poland, I can almost guarantee that they are when compared to their American counterparts. This is not a slam on either cultures, although I wish the American children would not grow up so fast. Fourth and most importantly, keeping your children in the real appropriate grade for them keeps them in your home longer. The school doesn't care about this but you will. These kids need their forever families as long as they can before they have to venture out into the work world or college on their own. In the long run, they will benefit from being more attached to you and their new family by being in the home a year or two more. All of my adopted children will graduate from high school when they are 19. My son will only be 1 month away from being 20, whereas the girls will have turned 19 during their senior year. I fought, fought, and fought hard to get them all placed in the correct grades (correct for their intellectual abilities and their behavioral and social abilities). My son is now finishing up middle school and will move onto high school in the fall. Except for his paper age, not one of his classmates thinks he is any different than them. Because his social and behavioral skills are delayed by about 1-2 years, he fits in perfectly with his current classmates. Now is the time to become your children's greatest advocate. You need to learn to fight hard to get them the resources that are due to them. Heather

Amen and amen.

Yes, I did not place my son by age. He was six and half and I put him in K. That extra time helped him learn English. He is very smart though and is now getting straight A's. A lot will depend on the age and maturity of your child. You don't want to put a ten year old in first grade, as that will be traumatic later. My son knows he is older than most of the kids in his class, however he is also smaller and there are one or two who are close to his age because they either repeated K or their parents waited to put them in K. Some school districts are easier to work with than others. Also in some schools they have entire classes that are just ESL and those are usually small classes and the students are each working at thier own pace. I had a friend whose Russian adopted kids went into such a program. There were fewer than a dozen kids. They all worked on Learning English together, but worked on math and such seperately. They had like four classes, one was for younger kids age 7 and under I think and then one for the kids 8-10, then 11-14 and then 15-18. (yes they had immigrants come in and start school at 17) My town is too small for such a program, but my friend was very happy with it. When her children were ready to leave ESL, they were placed by ability rather than age.