Teaching crochet to ppl who don't speak english well

[Feliciter]

I'm an ESL teacher and just for fun wanted to teach one of my students how to crochet (she saw me do it as I was waiting for some students to arrive).

 

I tried to day and it went dismally! First of all she is left handed so I tried crocheting left handed too so she could just copy and that went ok but it was a struggle! She's my first crochet student.

 

I was going to just teach how to start off a blanket (chain then treble stitch) but I read on Crochetville about starting students off with something like a coaster by crocheting in the round.

 

That did not work!!

 

Can anyone help me with some teaching tips or even better yet help me find some instructions in Vietnamese????

[CrochetKitten]

How about starting her off with a scarf? It's long enough to give her plenty of practice with one or two specific stitches, yet short enough to keep her from getting frustrated before the end. And she can stop anytime she wants to since she would be controlling the length.

 

Or you can start her off with a square coaster, which would be simpler than trying to explain crocheting in the round right off the bat. Hope that helps!

[Aggie May]

Try to teach her right handed because it is a big enough challenge teaching someone who does not know the language without trying to do it backwards.

If you teach her right handed, you will always be able to help her sort out problems.

The lefties in our family have all become very good at Knitting, Crocheting and in my daughters case, cutting hair right handed.

Knitting and crochet involve using both hands in an almost equal way and lefties adapt so that they still use their left hand in the dominant action, even though the hook is in the right hand.

If you just sit beside your pupil and crochet very slowly you will be surprised how quickly she will work out what you are doing.

My mum has a Russian caregiver, at the Resthome where she lives.

Anistasia saw me crocheting a few weeks ago and asked mum to teach her in her break. It took her about 5 minutes to get the hang of doing the Chain, then she progressed to working an SC edge on her knitting. This girl was talking today about how mum taught her to crochet which is amazing because, Mum is almost 91 years old and totally disabled but apparently, she was able to convey to this girl, what she needed to do to crochet.

You will not have a problem, just dont expect it to happen in 5 minutes.

Start with lots of Chain before you go on to anything else. This will help her to become familiar with the hook and the yarn because after all, the Chain is tha basis of all crochet stitches.

You will be able to teach her words such as hook, yarn, chain, relax, practice, good work, well done etc.....

You will also learn a lot as you go along.

Happy teaching.

Have fun.

Colleen.

[Addey]

I'm a lefty, I'm very comfortable as a lefty. If you crochet right handed and face her, she'll see the mirror image and move the way you do, but as a lefty (think about arobics class and how the instructor facing you does everything backwards so youdon't...)

Also, take it slow. A scarf is a good place to start.

[JCB]

I'm a lefty, I'm very comfortable as a lefty. If you crochet right handed and face her, she'll see the mirror image and move the way you do, but as a lefty (think about arobics class and how the instructor facing you does everything backwards so youdon't...)

Also, take it slow. A scarf is a good place to start.

 

I agree... have her face you and do what you do as a mirror image. Do NOT try to make her do it right handed. If she is anything like me, the lack of coordination in the right hand will surely lead to frustration.

 

Start with a project that can use a relatively large hook. That makes it easier for her to see, and copy, exactly what you are doing, and where you put the hook for each stitch. If you work along side her, doing the same project, she can learn by imitation and the language barrier will be minimized.

 

Good luck!

 

Joan

[Tampa Doll]

I'm a lefty, I'm very comfortable as a lefty. If you crochet right handed and face her, she'll see the mirror image and move the way you do, but as a lefty (think about arobics class and how the instructor facing you does everything backwards so youdon't...)

Also, take it slow. A scarf is a good place to start.

 

This is the way I taught a left hander to knit. Just sit them facing you. Should work.

[Empress Busy Bee]

I'm a lefty, I'm very comfortable as a lefty. If you crochet right handed and face her, she'll see the mirror image and move the way you do, but as a lefty

I agree. My son is left handed and I would upset if anyone tried to teach him different from what he is.

[ankey]

I know lots of lefties say to teach her how to crochet left-handed but I'm a lefty (I do everything left-handed!) and I just could not learn how to crochet left-handed, even from looking at left-handed tutorials online and being taught by a left-hander. When I finally learned to crochet right-handed though, it felt just right for some crazy reason!

 

Also, I'd personally start her off with a swatch of something simple, like chain 20, and then double crochet a few rows back and forth. I have 2 Vietnamese friends that crochet and if all else fails, I can ask them for a simple pattern in Vietnamese...

[Kiirs]

I'm a lefty also and wish I'd known the mirror-image thing when my right-handed friend tried to teach me. We managed to figure a few things out but what saved me was buying a booklet with left-handed instructions in it.

 

I agree with everyone who says do tons of chaining first, then teach one simple stitch like sc and have her do that for a long time until she's comfortable with that before you move on to something else. I personally wouldn't teach anyone hdc, dc, crochet in the round or anything harder until chaining and sc was even in size and tension, comfortable, and the learner was ready to move on.

 

I spent days just chaining and doing sc when I was teaching myself from the book. It helped so much with memorization and tension/size. Good luck!

[Feliciter]

Thanks so much ladies for all your advice!! I really appreciate it!

[Happy_Hooker]

It is not impossible...

 

I actually learned to knit and crochet from family overseas who didn't speak English... and I didn't speak their language either... SO... I am not sure if that makes me a better student or them better teachers.

 

I would do more hands on examples than anything else... Everyone learns in a different way, but most of the time just doing over and over is enough.