H-ton Social Worker Designs Bilingual Board Game
Vilma Matos is no ordinary school social worker. She’s one of the best anywhere. The longtime Huntington School District faculty member has won awards. Now she has taken her passion one step further and created a unique educational game.
“Through my experience as a bilingual school social worker I designed what I believe to be the first of its kind bilingual board game to assist immigrant youth in acclimating to their new country,” Ms. Matos said.
“For years I witnessed this vulnerable population struggle with the difficulties of a new country, language, culture and school,” said Ms. Matos said about students that immigrated to America. “Many even had to adjust to different family situations: parents they haven’t seen for years; separated or divorced parents; new step-parents and siblings. Many came to live in cramped, unwelcoming environments which fell short of their previous open, rural community where everyone knew each other.”
Ms. Matos is a New York State licensed clinical bilingual social with over 30 years of psychiatric and school social work experience. In 1987, while working as a bilingual psychiatric social worker at Pilgrim Psychiatric Center in Brentwood, she advocated for and spearheaded the first Hispanic day treatment mental health program for the chronically mentally ill in the state.
A bilingual school social worker in the Huntington School District for the past 17 years, Ms. Matos has also developed and conducted support groups for immigrant students, Latina students as well as “banana splits” groups for students of separated and divorced families, in addition to her regular caseload.
“With their needs being so great, I initiated a weekly support group for English language learners/English as-a-second language students where I conduct activities to help them open up and share their experiences,” Ms. Matos said. “I piecemeal different games to find a fun solution to meet this growing need. Over time I began to search catalogs and the internet for games, activities and literature to use with this group. Unfortunately, I found very few resources.”
Ms. Matos reflected on the situation and spent some time thinking about it and what she could do. “The proverbial light bulb went off in my head and the idea to design the game myself was born,” she said. “After several design trials, assistance from Dr. Mary DiBenedetto, (a psychologist at J. Taylor Finley Middle School) and student feedback, I believe the game’s final version is entertaining while at the same time cathartic.”
Reactions to the game are overwhelmingly positive. “Students enjoy playing My Journey to the United States – Mis Pasos a los Estados Unidos Board Game© and are in awe as to how much they have in common and how they respect each other’s differences,” Ms. Matos said. “Teachers have commented that these students are more relaxed and look forward to attending the support group as well as participating in the activities offered.”
A website (www.ELLGames.com) is being created to market and sell the new game “so other professionals throughout the country can use it as a tool to assist their immigrant population,” Ms. Matos said.