How to help a migrant student that does not know Italian
During the 2022-23 school year, our Fellow Margherita took on the role of a support teacher in a primary school in Bra, in the province of Cuneo. She shared the story of one of her students, Y.
The experiences of children who have undergone the migration journey are a sea of overwhelming emotions that, if not properly supported, can become oppressive and overwhelming. Y., a child who has traversed this challenging path, is familiar with the frustration and despondency that can arise when one feels powerless in the face of a difficult task. Nevertheless, Y. is a courageous, reliable, and affectionate child who has chosen to embark on the adventurous but sometimes exhausting path of literacy.
The language barrier has posed many difficulties for Y., leading him to face failures and frustrations. Therefore, it was necessary to create a personalized learning path, based on play and creative activities, far from the rigid and traditional school experiences he had encountered until now. Through the use of colorful materials, digital resources, and a lot of ingenuity, Y. rediscovered the joy of learning. Games such as Letter Hunt, Letter Memory, Find the Syllable, and Let's Compose and Read Words allowed Y. to learn to associate sounds with letters, memorize and recognize letter shapes, and compose and read words. Thanks to these games, Y. learned to read and write in Italian, even writing a letter to Santa Claus in Italian for Christmas.
Margherita shares: "I worked to introduce my students to the world of emotions. I used a short film to help children understand the meaning of sadness and asked them to identify with their own feelings. Y., despite his uncertain Italian, told the class about his sadness when he couldn't socialize during recess. Thanks to this intervention, classmates understood the importance of paying attention to Y. and forming a group with him. This contributed to a significant change in Y., who started working better and learning more easily. Although the situation remains challenging, there is great hope of overcoming difficulties through this sharing, which has demonstrated the maturity of classmates and Y.'s courage."
Margherita Giordanengo
Teach For Italy Fellow of the 2022-2024 cohort
