‘Student in earthquake’ is a disastrous expression
Working on Children’s Adaptation to School at Ankara University Guidance and Psychological Counseling Department, Faculty of Pedagogical Sciences, Assoc. Dr. Selen Demirtaş Zorbaz warned about the adaptation process of 99 thousand 853 students who were transferred from the earthquake zone to 71 cities. associate Dr Zorbaz said one of the biggest question marks is whether or not we should bring up the earthquake issue with children and said: “Basically kids tell us what they need. It’s not right to start lessons as if nothing is there happened, because we have been through, children know what we know. They know. The first thing we will do is focus on the needs of children. Each child’s needs can be unique, their stories are different. There are people who have lost their families, there are those who have lost their homes, there are those who have not experienced anything, but have changed cities, so they must first learn their stories, learn what they need, and it is important to get in touch come with the family,” he said.
‘SPACES MUST BE CREATED AT SCHOOL WHERE YOU FEEL SAFE’
Assoc. states that educators should focus on how the children coming from the earthquake zone can reveal their potential after such a traumatic event. Dr Zorbaz said: “We need to focus on children’s strengths. We need to approach professionally, not just with human feelings such as ‘traumatized’, ‘unhappy’ or ‘earthquake’. When they come to school, the child may want to do not enter a closed space, this must be respected.The child should choose the place where he will sit in the classroom, glass may want to sit close to the door.As a result, there was an earthquake and the child’s self-confidence was shaken “. It is very important to create spaces where he or she feels safe at school. Teachers should be a little more understanding. We don’t know what will trigger the kids at this point. Sometimes a smell, sometimes a friend’s side “The child needs to know where to go when traumatic memories and images come to mind; the best thing to do is to go to the attendant’s room. Peer support is also an important point . The teacher can take a look at the characters of the children in the class and match them with the children,” he said.
‘EARTHQUAKE TALKS MUST NOT BE CONTINUOUS’
Ensuring that new students can try to build a life in the cities they go to, Assoc. Dr. Drawing attention to the phrases used to describe these students, Zorbaz said: “We do not recommend using the term ‘guest student’ in terms of their sense of belonging. ‘Student in earthquake’ is an even more disastrous expression; they are our students”. There is no need to make such distinctions. Earthquake and disaster speeches are also. It should not be done in the presence of children all the time. Teachers can talk among themselves, but no talking is allowed if children are present in the hallway. ” next to the teacher’s lounge. Children can be disturbed by such things. We don’t know who is triggered by what. Some students may experience well-intentioned help as ‘too bad’. “Maybe they are richer than all of us, but only for students who need support for now to have. Some help at school, such as ‘you don’t have any food’, can do more harm than good without being asked,’ he said.