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ESL forum >
Ask for help > Ill student
Ill student
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cristinasuma
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Ill student
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Hello everybody,First of all, I would have preferred not to have to write this post.
In one of my classes there is a boy who is seriously ill and won �t be able to attend classes for a long long time. I was wondering if I could ask his classmates to make something special for him to put on the walls of his hospital room, something like a giant card or a poster but I don �t know what to ask them to draw. Any idea? They are 13-year-olds.
Has anyone had a similar experience? I am also worried about the class because they still think the boy will come in two weeks and I don �t want to tell them anything. I �m trying to cheer them up but I am afraid they suspect something.
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7 Nov 2014
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florimago
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wow, it�s terrible !!! I wouldn�t like to be in your shoes !!! what would I do ? well it�s not easy when you �ve never been in such a situation . In my opinion, what�s wrong with doing a big poster , writing letters/postcards to cheer him/her up ? Students are so creative ... let them to decide ... let them to express themselves ... They �ll surely know what to say ... even better than us . Take part of it , contribute with your ideas , just for a moment , you aren�t the teacher ... you are somebody else .... Hope it helps !!!
Flori |
7 Nov 2014
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korova-daisy
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Your students can make a poster where the characters from different cartoons are represented with your kids smiling faces replacing the characters � faces. And each cartoon character can write his wish to cheer up their classmate and put his/her name/signature. Julia
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7 Nov 2014
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aiztelu
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If I were you I would first ask his classmates. Sooner or later they gonna find out anyway. I�m sure they know him better, they know what his tastes are, who is an icon for him, a hero, etc...Give them glue, colours, scissors and access to the internet (songs, poems, sayings....)and I guess they would surely come up with something. Best of luck |
7 Nov 2014
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ELOJOLIE274
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you should tell your pupils what �s going on. if you don �t, they might imagine things and spread rumors... but first check with the headmaster of your school and the parents of the pupil who �s ill, because if his classmates have questions you know what to tell them (some information might be confidential)
then I would ask my pupils to make get-well cards/messages (use a camera to record their messages, they can sing a song, create a poem, etc...)
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7 Nov 2014
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MarionG
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I �m with elojolie. I think it is important to tell students the truth. I had a student who was diagnosed with a brain tumor a few years ago. The moment it was clear what was going on, the homeroom teachers talked about it with all the kids in the class. It relieved a lot of tension. Of course it is very scary for kids to see that something like that can actually happen to someone their age but wondering and fantasizing about it makes it much scarier. The kids knew they could talk about it and that they could always turn to staff members with questions etc. I personally visited him often in the hospital and also drove his mother on several occasions since she didn �t have a car. The kids all wrote notes and made drawings for him which were collected in a little booklet that the boy got. Most of the organizing was done by the homeroom teachers together with the school psychologist, but we were also told what and how much we could tell, which was pretty much everything.
It isn �t easy to have to cope with this kind of thing and it definitely puts all other things in proportion. I wish you, and even more so your student, all the best. |
7 Nov 2014
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manonski (f)
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I am not sure it is up to us to let the students know the truth. I certainly would not do it without parents consent.
Last month, my nephew �s mom passed away. She was not someone who was spreading her life on Facebook and few people knew how near the end she was. Students in my nephew �s class were not told why he was absent. The teachers did. The class did find out eventually but it was the family �s decision to not "advertise" what was happening and as teachers, we have to respect that.
Upon his return to school, my nephew received a card from his peers. It was appreciated. |
7 Nov 2014
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cristinasuma
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I like all your ideas, thank you so much.
As for telling the kids, I �m not sure about it. The news haven �t spread yet and I have heard some of the mothers prefer not to tell their children about it. I don �t agree with their possition but I have to accept it. Also, being myself the headmistress of the school I have more information from the parents than the rest of the teachers and I �d rather not hurry saying something I regret.
I have visited the child and he �s alright for the moment. I will ask them to make funny posters and cheer up cards because I think in a few days he will need something to make him feel better.
Thank you all anyway.
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8 Nov 2014
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