Reading Literacy
3.2 Activities for children with migrant backgrounds – for learners of all ages from primary to lower secondary school level
by Jana Špilar Dodič , teacher of Slovenian at the lower secondary school level , Slovenia
Introduction : The number of pupils with migrant backgrounds is increasing fast in our society . At Osnovna šola Pivka , approximately 30 percent of our students are of migrant backgrounds . These include children who were born in Slovenia , but whose grandparents moved to Slovenia during the war in Yugoslavia . For most of them Slovenian is not their first language , and many of them still have difficulty expressing themselves in Slovenian . Then there are those children who have moved to Slovenia recently with their families , and have serious difficulties in communication . Every year , approximately three children , usually from the former Yugoslav countries of Bosnia , Serbia and Macedonia , come to our school . In the past , our school also hosted children from China and Russia . In Slovenia , some arrangements have already been made at the national level for these children . Every migrant child receives a special status after moving to Slovenia , which means that for the first two years they can be exempt from being graded , because it is important that they first assimilate into our society . They usually get an extra hour of Slovenian per week , which , unfortunately , is not a lot . For this reason , our school organizes special workshops for migrant children who have difficulties communicating in Slovenian . The purpose of these workshops is for the teachers to talk Slovenian as much as possible with these children , and use fun activities through which they can learn the new language more quickly , as well as learn about Slovenia , our habits and customs . All of our workshops usually start with a game , which serves as an ice breaker and helps the migrant children introduce themselves .
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