[manatus]

Can anyone recommend a good polish/english dictionary for kids to take to school? At home we use the Langenscheidt Polish Dictionary: Polish - English English - Polish but that is pretty big. We also use a couple of small ones ( berlitz and lonely planet guides) but they don't have enough words for school use.

Thanks.

[lastpaige]

The one my husband uses is isbn: 0-679-10082-2 published by David McKay Company, Inc.

If you haven't filled this need by the time we travel (latest rumour says we have dates by next week) let me know and we'll keep our eyes open for something appropriate for the girls.

[momraine]

One thing I did for the teachers, was I made a list of important phrases, written out phoenetically for them. Things like yes, no, I don't know, come here, Hurt, sit down, bathroom, etc. Most of them I got from the list Kasia made for me, or from my translator in Poland. It was very helpful for the teachers, but they only needed it for about a week. I also had a dictionary I loaned his main teacher. (the sheet, she made copies of for the principal and the art, PE and other teachers that would work with him)

[LisArno]

Before our ten year old started school, we frequently practiced the words/phrases she would need to use (bathroom, sick, drink, help, I do not understand) and understand (stand up, recess, paper, pencil, get in line). We also made sure she knew to watch the other students for cues as to what to do.

My daughter kept two English picture dictionaries (ordered by category, not alphabetical) in her backpack. This is a quick way to find words on a topic, such as animal names, school words, body parts. I don't think my daughter used the dictionaries other than with her ESL teacher to learn more words. Kids learn fast!!!

You may want to speak to the girls ESL/ELL teacher to find out what he/she recommends. Some may say that a Polish/English dictionary is not needed/beneficial, whereas others may say it is okay.

In Warsaw, I had found a basic Polish/British English dictionary that gives the meaning and then a sentence in both languages so you really know that's the right use of the word. We only used that at home for difficult to explain words (lying vs. telling the truth). I'm on vacation now, so I can't tell you it's name.

[momraine]

We did not have to use the phrase sheets for long. One problem we had with our son, was that he would lie and say he understood when he didn't. He did understand the word understand, and sometimes I would ask him in Polish and he would always say yes, whether he understood or not. It took us a long time to get him to understand that we considered that lying. So now, I will ask him if he understands and he will pause, and then say no. He has a hard time admitting that. He also has just started to ask what words mean, he would never ask before, just pretend he knew. However, he still will only ask when we are alone. So I don't know if he admits to his teachers when he doesnt' understand something.

[manatus]

We also have probably 4 different kids picture dictionaries - I guess I didn't consider those because I find them hard to use (but the kids do look at them). I was also going to make a list of basic words/phrases for their teachers and will be meeting with each before school starts. The girls know quite a few basic words and we have been working with them daily on vocabulary and are working on more school related words now.

The girls went to a big water park here two days ago and LOVED it. They rode everything they could (the only ones the didn't go on were because of height restrictions on some rides). We could only keep them in the "kids area" for about 5 minutes then they wanted to go on the other rides. They wore their float suits. But in the two days since two of the three can now swim underwater and no longer need the float suits. I can't believe they went from swimming like a rock and freaking out if a drop of water got on their face to swimming like fish in two weeks!

I hope adapting to their new school comes as easily to them.

Great news lastpaige - I'll keep my fingers crossed you get your dates soon!!!

[LisArno]

When does school start for your three girls?

[Kama]

Hello from Montana! (we are on the road)

As far as I know our son did not really need to use any dictonaries at school and it was preferrable for him not to use one. He did take his picture Polish-English dictionary to school at first (when he still believed he can teach OTHERS Polish instead of learning English). He was the only Polish speaker in his ESL. For the first weeks-a couple of months he would take Polish books to school and was allowed to read those during the classes that he could not understand and that relied on the language (unlike math and art, for example). This became a problem of sorts because it gave him too much freedom to do things that were different from his peers which he saw as privilege. It is difficult to explain, but our son tests boundaries all the time and tries to set things in a way that suits him - maybe he is not unlike other kids of his age? Nonetheless, we think it is better for him to be treated in the same way as others, that structure seems to be very important in his case. It took him a while (6 months) to become functional in English, but this is I think mainly because he speaks Polish at home.

[manatus]

Mine start school August 22. They are nervous about what it will be like and ask how many days until school several times a day. We started workng with them today in stations - working on math skills, some early language stuff on the computer and flash cards for vocabulary. We are also working with the oldest on her handwriting (YIKES!). We gave them the test to move into their new grades (in Polish) and were able it identify what was problems for them. The oldest (as was reported by her teachers in Poland and we have seen the same here) is not careful with her work and doesn't check her work. When we ask her to go over it again (like in a math problem) she will say "that is how we do math in Poland". (yeah - well its a nice try but she still has to redo the work). I know part is challenging our authority/control issues and she definitely requires the most follow up. The middle one is very neat with ther writing and generally a very good student. She needed some help with stacked math problems (apparently she had only done linear math problems) but only had to be shown once how to do it and understood. The youngest is right on track and knows her numbers and colors in english and other vocabulary words. We make a game of vocabulary after each meal - the girls love it and compete to see who gets the most the quickest. I have a bunch of things labeled around the house too.

I feel better hearing others kids didn't have to rely on the dictionaries and we have several picture dictionaries they can take.

[momraine]

The dictionary I sent to school was for the teacher not my son. His main teacher was esl certified so he got esl all day. The dictionary was just to help her in case she wanted to explain something to him. The phrase sheet was also for the teachers, I had also worked with him on phrases he needed.

[PolishMom]

One of my favorites stories is when my son started 1st grade in 2001. He called his teacher "Pani", a respectful way for Polish children to address their teachers. Well, she thought he had to go "potty" and kept sending him to the bathroom. He couldn't figure out why she wouldn't respond to his questions....and she thought he might have juvenille diabetes because he was going to the bathroom so much :-) !! So many little things to think about.