This is just a question - I do not mean this in an offensive way, I am just repeating facts.

My son has a new girl in his class that doesn't speak English. None. Nada. Not a word. She speaks Korean. The teacher does not speak Korean, nor does anyone else in the class.

There are many people in our area that speak Spanish, but while I have encountered several parents that don't speak English, all of the children speak English.

What is the purpose of the little girl going to school? I went to school in a foreign country for a semester, so I do understand how quickly you can catch on, but I had also had 4 semesters of that language (from a bilingual professor) to give me a headstart.

Seriously - no one at our school speaks Korean and I am a little baffled how the child was even registered. It's exactly the same as if I moved to Korea and just dropped my child off at a school. Isn't that bizarre?

When I was younger we had a Vietnamese girl move to town. She came to school and eventually learned the language through being in school and watching and listening and an aunt who was American and taught her at home. She still understood what was going on and it also helped her to learn what it was like in school at that age rather than waiting until she had mastered the English language. Sounds like a similar situation.

My father was born here, but only spoke arabic until he went to school. That was common with all the immigrants in the early 1900's - the kids learned the english by going to school.

I used to volunteer at a local grade school - 1st grade. In that classroom, the teacher had english, spanish, chinese and hmong. The kids will learn it.

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ok... so you don't know anything about this girl, she may have been adopted, her family could be refugees of some kind, whatever- it doesn't really matter, but- if she were to just sit at home, she would never learn anything. or at best she would learn her language skills from watching all of the awfull shows on tv at night, or the soaps on during the day. and i beleive that by just being at school she is learning by example, how to behave and is learning a little bit at a time. also, it could be that she already understands a lot of english, but is having a hard time actually getting the words out of her own mouth. but, since she doesn't know english and you don't seem to think she will get anything out of being in school, what do you think she should be doing instead? And what age group is this?

After the tsunami a few years ago there was a family that moved here from sri Lanka, the little boy spoke no English at all, and we didn't have anyone who spoke his language at our school, except for a few other families. So, we took one of the kids near his age and had her translate for us. Within a month the little boy was speaking English...of course not all that great, but he could understand it and was doing so much netter. She will catch on, she just needs encouragment and maybe the school needs to contact district and see if there is a possibility of a translator of some kind.

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~~Shawn~~ Wife to John 7/6/95~~Mommy to Sydney, Jordan and Brooklyn~~

Does your school have an ESL (English as a Second Language) program? I think it is tough to be "different" in anyway for kids and I would assume staff are working with her in many different ways. That said I do agree that sending her to school is a good thing, she will miss much information that is presented but her environment will be saturated with the English language and I would be she speaks very well by the holidays.

I don't think it's strange at all... she is in school so she Was registered so obviously her parents/guardians communicated with the school on some level. I agree, she might be adopted or a refugee...who knows? I don't think it's likely she just showed up one day without her parents/guardians speaking to someone and coming to an agreement that her going to the school was the best thing for her. I hope she does well!

My SIL is Vietnamese and speaks English very well but She doesn't think she does. So she listens a lot and does not speak English a lot. But believe me, she totally knows what is going on more than a lot of English speaking people I know.

I would assume that your school is actively looking for someone that can help translate. Not a position I would want my child in but they do catch on pretty quickly.

I agree, not strange at all. Happens all the time around here. It's easier when they arrive before age 8 as their language acquisition skills are at their best and they will learn quickly with no trace of an accent. From 8-12, learning a little slower but they can still become absolutely fluent within a few years. After 12, it gets harder, but again in an immersion setting (school) they will learn quickly.

Studies also show that kids who learn more than one language before 12, have much higher IQs from processing thought in two languages. So in the end, she may do better academically than all the other kids.

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I skimmed the replies, so don't know if this was mentioned or not...but I believe that is part of the No Child Left Behind Act. Every child is accepted in the public school system. I am sure there are teacher's that are working with her on some level. Also, sometimes students will have an electonic translator with them. In any event, it is totally normal not bizarre at all

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I've grown certain that the root of all fear is that we've been forced to deny who we are. ~ Frances Moore Lappe