We've been seeing some new faces
around our school lately! That's because we have a few new children who have
joined our Beijing Group Educational Foster Care Program, and they have, in
turn, joined our school. Being the new kid in class can be difficult for
anyone, but the Little Flower teachers have been working hard to make sure that
these newcomers feel comfortable in their surroundings. The other students have
helped out as well!
The first "new kid" is
Li, a five-year-old girl with Down's Syndrome from GH #3. She arrived at Little
Flower recently, and joined our school after just 1 week here. She's a bright,
outgoing girl who loves to talk.
She does have some delays with
her speech, and it can sometimes be difficult for our teachers to understand
her, but that doesn't stop her from chatting with classmates and teachers
alike! This is a skill that our teachers will work on with her in the coming
months.
She has great concentration and
is extremely curious, with a desire to explore everything around her.
Naturally, this can sometimes lead her to mischief. Our teachers have reported
that she tries to eat a lot of things that probably shouldn't be eaten... This,
of course, led to a more thorough round of child-proofing in the classroom,
where some of the smaller toys had to be put away. Li can also be
rambunctious around the other students, taking off her shoes in the middle of
class, or nicking food from her neighbor's lunch bowl! But no matter, the other
kids have been helping to guide her in the right direction, especially the
older ones.
Because we employ individualized
education methods, and have kids of different ages in the same class (many of
whom are foster siblings themselves!), we see a lot of big-brother/big-sister
relationships at our school, with older kids helping out the younger ones.
The other new kid is Zhen, who
just arrived at GH #4. He had spina bifida, and two successful surgeries in
2009. He's the most pleasant, laid-back kid you'll ever meet. He's extremely
easy-going and warms up to everyone right away.
We also have a few other kids
joining the school this week: two older girls and one boy. The two girls, Ling
and Jia, are between 11-12 years old and recently arrived from their orphanage,
where they had a small classroom but never really attended school. Because they
aren't familiar with a real school environment, we decided to bring them into
our Early Education Center as a sort of trial run. This will give them a chance
to adjust to the daily rhythms and activities of an academic environment before
transitioning to public school.
Similarly, we have Gui, a
12-year-old boy, currently living in GH#2, who started at our school on
Tuesday. He's extremely shy and a little bit timid. He doesn't like big crowds
or noise, and has been largely staying at home. Little by little, however, we've
been trying to bring him out of his shell. The next step, of course, was to get
him into school.
Because we suspect that he's had
some kind of emotional trauma in his past, as well as experiences with bullying
in his orphanage school, we want to create a safe, relaxing environment as he
transitions back into a school environment. A few days ago, Maria, one of our
teachers, visited him at home to talk about how he felt about going back to
school.
She reports that he acted very
much like an average teen, with some outward indifference to the situation, but
that he did give her a shy smile! She told him that they would be able to start
slow, with a choice between half days or full days during his first week.
"When a child has experienced some kind of trauma, it's very important to
let them take charge--to see that they have the power to decide what they want
for themselves," Maria explains. Hopefully, Gui will be able to
interact with our other two new older students, and they will be able to help
each other adjust to the new environment.
Maria and the other teachers will
be able to closely observe these kids, whether it's to see how they interact
with other students in an academic environment, or to see what might trigger
any anxiety. When asked whether or not she found it a challenge to deal
with so many kids with different needs, Maria replied, "Not really. Our
school focuses on individual education. Everyone has their own interests,
skills, and potential. So everyone's different anyway!"
Let's hope that all of our new
kids get into the swing of things very soon!
