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Hi, My group is doing a project. Um, we'll here's the problem(question) and we have to try to solve it.
A teenage boy(13 years old) from China has moved to another country.He has been studying for 3 months alr.He doesnt have any friends and is very lonely. What are the possible reasons(e.g. behavior,...) that people are not mixing around with him? and what can we do to help him get along with his classmates/schoolmates?
There's two ways to look at this... one point of view is to look at it as the subject's problem (I.e. what the chinese boy is doing wrong), another point of view is to look at it through the environmental perspective, and what is not helpful in the environment that is stopping him from making friends. Informer, if I may borrow from your examples...
Subject: he is shy and not speaking to others Environment: the kids and teachers are not encouraging him to speak, and his mistakes are made fun off, therefore discouraging him to speak, which makes it hard to make friends
Subject: he has psychological problems Environment: his behaviors are the norm within his culture, for example he is taught not to be outspoken or dominant in his culture, however, those are misinterpreted by the teachers and students and he is seen as weak or not friendly, and so he has a hard time making friends...
One is an internal problem, the other is an external problem. The solution would depend on where the problem stems from... Most likely it is both places, and the ideal thing would be to teach the class to be more culturally sensitive, teach them about other cultures, customs, explain differences between the two cultures, and then also to teach him what the norm is in the country he is in, and how best to adapt to the differences... Remember that it is not always the majority that is in the right, people have to learn how to accomodate for other's differences...
why he doesnt have any friends : 1. he might not speak the language properly and thus be very shy 2. since he is an outsider people wont like to be around him without knowing him 3. psychological problems may be present eg. he might have a huge ego, be too proud etc.
what he can do: try to get into a conversation himself instead of waiting for the others get into group activities more ask to lend a hand on anything the others are doing that he might do better, ofcourse eliminating boasting about it
these are just some things...
maybe ask him to join in with friends