Teacher Discussion Forums

[steinmetz]

I am having trouble finding resources our Somali students can relate to. Does anyone know of any books, dictionaries, websites, etc that might be of help? Also, anything on the culture.
Sheila

[Sally Olsen]

You are so lucky. I thorougly enjoyed my classes with my Somali sisters and brothers. I am sure by now you have found material but if someone else is in the same situation, could you tell us what you dd?

I was amazed at how much information there was on Somalia starting from BBC news backgrounders, to Wickepedia. I found dictionaries in the university libraries and the Somali community itself has published English/Somali and Somali/English dictionaires and sell them at a low price. There are many Somali organizations now and they have newspapers and brochures in Somali for their community members.

I found that they are an extremely proud people and are proud of their heritage and culture. However, because of recent events it is painful to think about what is going on and forced them to come to another country so they don't want to dwell on that every day in class. They will talk to you privately about it after class though.

They do enjoy talking about every day differences such as bus rides. It seems that in Somalia, a bus ride is a joyous, noisy affair with people exchanging news. They find our bus system cold and unfriendly as we sit silently or listening to our iPods, etc. Small social practices like that are useful to talk about. How they get married, how they prepare certain foods and where to buy ingrediants, Somali tea,the benefits of camel milk, the beaches of Mogadishu, the flowers, their stories of old Somalia and the six original brothers and so on.

They also like stories about successful Somali's such as the model, Imam or any of their current entertainers who have become successful abroad.

Be careful of gestures. It is offensive to them to use the gesture to "come somewhere" that we do naturally - turn the right hand palm up and curl the index finger inwards. They only use that guesture for dogs. Body language is always fun to talk about. Having dogs in the house as pets or even treated as family members as some of us do in North Amercia was an interesting one as well.

Having them write out their stories is helpful in the healing process and gives you useful materials for future students.

I read a lot on grief and its stages to help me see where the students were and to try to help them through it. The best thing you can do is listen, listen and listen.

Make sure you have good support for what you are going to hear and take care of yourself so you can help them.

We talked a bit about this at:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=1481&highlight=somali

http://forums.eslcafe.com/teacher/viewtopic.php?t=1605&highlight=somali

[hereinchina]

can't they relate to regular materials?

[Sally Olsen]

Did you read the two links?
When you are teaching, I believe that you have to use what the students are interested in and know about to really get results. This is true for the child who is into anime or cartoons or the adult refugee who is in shock.
If the regular materials have been developed sensitively for the group you are using it for then by all means use them.

[creativemark]

When teaching someone, I think you need to consider the wole person. Because you learn best when you are motivated to learn. So, I think when people feel they are being listened to, they are probably more responsive to instruction.

I think that it is good to teach material that has the Culture and content of the country they are now in, but they also need to be able to express themselves.

My name is, I come from..., I left my home country because..., I love my home country because.....

If they make friends in their new country that speak English, they will need to be able to express themselves in that language.

But I think it is good to hear about different cultures because it helps us know better the good and the bad about our own cultures.