Lesson 3 – Teachers Helping Children Make Friends

Teachers can play an important role in helping children make friends in nursery or kindergarten. Unfortunately, some teachers are of the belief that the development of social skills of children under their care is best left to parents. Teachers should focus on teaching the academic skills such as reading, writing and mathematics which is already very demanding. However, research suggest that children who are struggling to make friends may be unhappy kids, and unhappy kids may also  struggle coping with academic tasks. So, helping children make friends may indirectly may help them emotionally which in turn may help them with their academic work. The following are several suggestions how teachers can help children in the classroom make friends:

Teacher and the  Isolated Child

Teacher must demonstrate that she likes, accepts and enjoys the child who is isolated and rejected by the class. However, the teacher should not give the impression that the isolated child is the teacher’s pet.

  • Teacher laughs and chats with the child in front of others. Hopefully, it will change children’s opinion about the child.

  • Teacher could give the isolated child tasks such as handing out worksheet to children in the class (Geri Coleman Tucker, 2019).

Buddy System

Teacher can foster friendships by creating a ‘buddy system’ whereby children with share similar interests are paired together rather than pairing kids by academic skills (Geri Coleman Tucker, 2019)

Knowing Each Other’s Names

Teacher can play games to help children know each other’s name. For example, children could clap each syllable of a child’s name such as ‘She-lah’ . It is surprising that many children do not know the names of children in the class, especially early in the school year. They may say “That boy… or That girl …” (Patricia Bentham, 2019) 

REFERENCES:

 

Geri Coleman Tucker (2019). 7 Ways the Teacher Can Help Your Child Make Friends. Understood for Learning and Attention Issues. https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/partnering-with-childs-school/working-with-childs-teacher/7-ways-the-teacher-can-help-your-child-make-friends?view=slideview

 

Patricia Bentham (2019). 6 Ways to help Children make Friends. Kindergarten-Lessons.com.  https://www.kindergarten-lessons.com/help-children-make-friends/

 

Janelle Cox (2019). Classroom Activities to Help Students Make Friends. TeachHUB.com 

https://www.teachhub.com/classroom-activities-help-students-make-friends

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