I couldn't think of a better way to wrap up the school year with my newcomer students than by creating a podcast!
I am ending the school year with 16 newcomers. This is my students' first year in the US and their first course to learn English as an additional language, acculturate, and begin their immersion in the US school system.

Throughout the school year, we engaged in many lessons where students had the opportunity to grow emotionally, academically, linguistically, and socially. Stories after stories and activities after activities, my students had the space and time to process their experiences and continue developing their identity as learners while making connections and creating interactions. 
The core of everything we do in my newcomers' course is HUMANITY. Growing and developing our humanity FIRST is more important than anything else.  
​
I hope you enjoy listening to their learning experiences. 

• Give students a few minutes (or as long as they need to look through their notebook(s) and choose 3 favorite lessons for the school year (or semester). 
• Provide sentence starters or sentence frames for what you expect them to say. Keep it simple and challenge your higher-level proficiency students to add complex sentences. 

My name is ___________. I am from ________. I go to ____________ School. I am in ________ grade.
This is my ________ school year in the US.  I am in _________ class.

My first favorite lesson this school year (semester) was _____________, because ___________.
My second favorite lesson this school year (semester) was __________, because ____________.
My third favorite lesson this school year (semester) was __________, because _____________.

My least favorite lesson this school year (semester) was __________, because ______________.
This was (a great) OR (not great) class because  __________________.

• Allow your newcomers to complete these sentence frames in their home language THEN translate it to English. Once is translated, a one-on-one conference can help with teaching students to see the errors in their sentences and the correct translation.
• Once corrected, have students re-write the text OR type the message onto a blank document. 
• Have the students practice hearing the text. This can be done by pairing the student with another student who can model reading the text OR you can use a read-aloud feature so students are hearing the text out loud. 
• Have them read it to YOU (the teacher) before recording their text so you can approve their pronunciation of all the words. They can record at home or school ONCE you have approved it. There are several free tools online to have students record. We are using our Canvas recording feature - nothing fancy!
• Create a teacher account on Podcasters.spotify.com and open your class podcast. 
• Upload your students' voice messages and add as much as you'd like explaining what the student is sharing. I will be adding a 1-on-1 interview with some students.

If you choose to do this, let me know! I'd love to hear your class's episodes. 

Thank you for reading!

This post is wrapping up the writing lessons I've shared in three previous posts. My newcomers are finishing up their first semester in the US and I wanted to demonstrate how capable and successful they can be with writing and demonstrating their understanding. 

As I stated in my previous post, my newcomers are at all different levels for writing. Some can write in English on their own, others just need a little support from peers, while others need teacher support to guide their writing.

Because all students are at different levels, I incorporated an activity for all students to complete while we were finishing up our final essay draft.

The editing process for newcomers DOES NOT need to be complicated. Do NOT make it too much that they can't handle because is too overwhelming. My editing process was simple and doable. The goal was to have peer and teacher reviews. This allows newcomers to feel empowered because they edit a peer's work.

Objective: I can make my summary better by having my peers and my teacher edit my writing. 
This objective was comprehensible and doable by all students. We discussed that "edit" is simply reading and fixing what you think needs to be fixed. I modeled it with a paragraph adding periods, fixing capital letters, adding commas, fixing misspelled words, etc. Minor edits!

Students changed papers with a peer and they all received a PEN. I instructed them to NOT erase anything but to write over the written work that needed to be edited. Some students used Google Translate to verify some spellings and that was OK!

This is POST #2 of three different posts​​
Read post #1 (It's not Magic)  AND  #3 (Editing Writing Process with Newcomer)

~ "Reading is like breathing in; Writing in like Breathing out" ~ These were the words that helped me understand that the language lessons I provide to my students go hand-in-hand with the language I require them to produce. I understand that my job as an educator is to make my students fall in love with language, words, stories, and imagination. I must maintain classroom walls dripping with language produced by them as a resource as they develop their language domains. I encourage you to read Ms. Allyn's article HERE. 
So, with this in mind, here's the next part of the process that led to my newcomers producing the amazing writing I mentioned in Part I. 

First, I want to state that this was an improvised lesson and planned overnight.
I was in my English II inclusion class when I looked over our Vietnamese newcomer's shoulder who was looking up on Google "What is a summary?" to complete his assignment.
I realized that even if he translated the word "summarize" into his home language, he still didn't know the skill. I did not doubt that I had to cover this skill in my newcomers' class. 
I started the day with our newcomers by having students write their "I can statement" which stated that we were writing a summary.
​
I didn't want to intimidate or discourage students from having to write. I wanted them to feel successful from the beginning. I explained that a summary is just "telling the story in your own words". No grammar complications. Some might say that I need to offer more structure or a more grammatical approach. However, I advise NOT to complicate the process for beginner students. They are in the entering stages of producing language, so we don't want to make them feel that there are too many hurdles to jump through to share our thoughts on writing. In the next lesson, you'll see how editing processes allow room for grammar and more to better their writing.

I read the story out loud again, but this time it was the entire story. I had students follow along with me on the screen or in their paper magazines. Once in a while, I'd stop and they would have to say the word I left out. Again, as I'm reading, there's interaction with simple Q&A, hand gestures, body language, sounds, laughter, and excitement. 
Next, I posted a blank piece of chart paper and told them that to be able to summarize the story, we needed to pull the most important words from the story since we were NOT using the article to summarize it. The list of words we were pulling from the article was about to become the foundation of the events of the story we want to tell in our own words.
To keep them engaged and accountable, I had them also write the words on a black piece of paper so they would have them with them.
I told them that I was going to read again and STOP at the end of a paragraph to make a list of ONLY the most important words needed to retell important events. I'd circle the paragraph and say, "Tell me what is an important word that can help us make a sentence." - Students would blur out words (some good - some not so good) but I'd validate the words that would go with the events that were essential/important in the story. As a teacher, you must know that there are parts in the text that are not essential to the story. If you take that part out of the story and it doesn't affect/change the meaning/plot of the story, then it's not important. Otherwise, you'd end up with way too many words for students to follow.
As students were telling me words, I'd write them on the chart paper until I ran out of room and we got to the end of the story. I tried using a different color marker for each paragraph so they'd remember that it was a different event or paragraph in the story.   
I pointed to each word and I read them out loud. Then, I had them read them with me. 

I introduced the cause-and-effect topic to my students by co-creating an anchor chart. I say co-created because we created it all together. It was not super fancy, but it was multilingual!!!

I wrote the following sentence on the chart and had them read it with me.
"Something happens BECAUSE something makes it happen." 
I had students translate the sentence and had volunteers write the translated sentence below the English version. We had the sentence written in 4 different languages.  I explained that the CAUSE is the why (reason) and that EFFECT is the what (result).
To practice understanding this concept before applying it to text, I had this Jamboard presentation with four sentences to identify the cause (why) and the effect (what). These were simple sentences wit images that helped with comprehension. I gave students sticky notes to place on the anchor chart which part of the sentence is the cause and which is the effect. We did a couple together to model after I read each sentence aloud, chorally reading, and students read alone. I went around and checked their answers before they placed them on the chart. As I went around, I had students read the sentence to me. I was able to assess who was understanding the concept and who needed more support.

​I have to be transparent and share that poetry is not one of my favorite genres to read or to choose as a mentor text to teach my students. Of course, once in a while, I come across some amazing poems that shake me to my core - like "My Name is Jorge: on Both Sides of the River" by Jane Medina

I LOVE using this book towards the end of April to celebrate Poetry month but also to begin introducing our last unit of the school year - Moving Stories. I cannot remember how I came across this book, but what I do remember is turning every page and finding myself reflected in every word. I'd say that this is one of the first books I came across in my first year of teaching and it impacted so much in the material and resources I began using to teach my multilingual students.

What fascinates me about Jorge's story is that each poem is a window for the reader to learn about an event and experience in Jorge's life. Each poem is at a kid-friendly level that children can understand and learn from Jorge and his family. 

Unfortunately, I only own two copies of this book so I had to get creative to have students read the book.
I started by analyzing the book first and deciding which poems are the core of Jorge's story. Even though all the poems are fantastic, I knew that reading the whole book would've been overwhelming for my newcomers since there are 27 poems.  

The poems I chose are: 
My Name is Jorge
Invisible
Why Am I Dumb?
The Busy Street
Dirty Words 
Mexican Dummy Tine
The King of the United States
Ants-On-A-Log 
My Paper
Suspended
Men Don't Cry
The Test
Packing 
​
Once I had selected the poems I wanted to have students analyze, I made a list of themes I noticed were highlighted by each poem.
The themes I came up with were Language, Food, Representation, School, Immigration, Name, Family Divided, Unfairness, and Back to Mexico. 

I made a copy of the poems I selected (along with the Spanish translation) and I placed them all around our classroom. The idea was to have students get up and go around the room reading the poems. The assignment was to read each poem and think about what the poem was mostly about. Each student was given a sticky notepad to share how each poem is related to one of the themes listed by the teacher. I had placed the themes on chart paper on the board so students knew what each theme was. Many of the themes were topics we had discussed during previous lessons. I also left a chart paper with a question mark for students who wanted to brainstorm their theme.

After students created a cover for their story about Jorge, they were instructed to retell Jorge's story using the sentences they created from each poem and for each theme. 

We talked about how a story must have a beginning, a middle, and an end - so as they picked the order of their sentences, they were to consider what might've happened when and in what order.
For example, the poem about Jorge's name is. a great poem to introduce Jorge. Next, poems that share about this childhood, migration, school, family, etc. 
All books were different since everyone had a different perspective of the poems and added their perspective.
Each student's book about Jorge had at least 10 pages and was in chronological order. 

Once the story drafts were ready, students took turns to meet with me to make sure the book was in the correct order. We also discussed ways to make the book interesting and with our perspective and connections added to it to make it interesting. 

I
Do
Not
Like
Tests/Exams.

Students do not like tests/exams either.
They are, for the most part, created and administered with a "gotcha" in mind. For the most part, tests are to reflect what the student learned and can demonstrate. They cause so much anxiety in students and they're not accurate of the actual learning students acquired. 

As I created my newcomers' final exam for our ESL for Beginners course, I created it intending to reflect on my teaching abilities and my skills to help students understand and ability to re-tell what they've learned. Their scores will evaluate ME.
​
I also wanted our final exam to serve as an opportunity for my newcomers to show what they've learned over the past few weeks. 

After having my newcomers in class for roughly 14 weeks, I've decided to create an assignment where each student would work independently to demonstrate literacy skills in English.
​I showed students all the books in the "Welcome Newcomers - Fundamental" kit published by Saddleback Publishing (FREE sample in link), and had each student choose a book of choice. 

I told students that they were going to read the book "in English" and provide a book report. They were not too intimidated to do the work since we had been working with Saddleback books during small groups. They knew to use the following strategies to help them understand the book:

• Answer prediction questions using the book cover and using background knowledge.
• Intentionally look for cognates.
• Read the basic words they were familiar with within each page.
• Use the images to make inferences about what's happening.
• Use Google translate when needed.
• Ask peers for help.
• Ask the teacher for help.

I wholeheartedly agree with the quote above. Investing in our students' identities is so important, and it pays off.
To invest in our students' identities and create lessons around students' cultural interests, we must invest time to know our students.

I have a student who loves cooking. Every once in a while he'd send me videos and messages about what he is cooking. He loves telling me about the ingredients and the cooking processes. He knew it didn't bother me since I was always asking questions about his cooking.

This student was the influence for this lesson - Our first ESL Class' Recipe Book --

Lessons that don't work for me or my students are my rocks! I don't know about you, but every now and then there is a lesson that must be abandoned...whether is because of planning or because students are just not into it. 
But, just like the quote says - We can use these rocks in our way as stumbling rocks OR stepping stones to better our craft and better out students' learning. 

The last days of October, my lesson plans were around using Scholastic articles and having students present in groups. Well, this lesson went down the drain when school started that week and I noticed  my students were not into doing work --They looks very unmotivated since the first quarter was ending. I knew immediately that I needed to switch my plans and engage student in a fun activity. 

This is when the elementary teacher in me began planning a craft activity. Of course, because I'm teaching English as a second language and LOVE using content to develop language...I decided to use NEWSELA as a resource for our lessons. We were in the week of Halloween (spooky time) so I thought it would be appropriate to read about our skeleton!

You heard it say...and I'll say it again - Teachers, work smarter NOT harder!!!

After my newcomers finished creating sentences based on their sketches of the story "Emmanuel’s Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah", (SEE LESSON HERE), I wanted my students to do something with their hard work. 

THIS lesson here gave me a GREAT idea for our next lessons!

This lesson extension lead us to  discuss "Big Ideas" found in the story, analyze visible and invisible traits, and compare and contrast ourselves to Emmanuel. 

The "Big Ideas" were not a difficult process to explain since I presented them through a Jamboard, so my students quickly translated the ideas and were able to understand them. We sure practiced reading them in English and found sentences we had created to match each "Big Idea". 
The list of "Big Ideas is in the lessons shared above on page #4.  The handout is to compare and contrast, but I only had them complete the "Emmanuel" part. 
The matching details supporting each idea had to come from the sentences students had already created; so, there wasn't any extra work to do besides analyzing the sentences and placing them on the corresponding "Big Idea". 

One of my favorite and most impactful picture books I enjoy using to teach my newcomers is - "Emmanuel's Dream: The True Story of Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah" by Laurie Ann Thompson

Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah's inspiring true story and the fantastic illustrations in the book are a great tool to not only teach English as a second language but also encourage our students to embrace who they are and believe in their abilities and potential. 

The first thing I did was check with my public library to see how many books were available to check them out and use in our class. Eventually, I'll buy my own class set!!!

I LOVE highlighting and posting on Twitter and Instagram my students' work. Just like they are proud of their work, I'm proud of it too.  So, last week, right after posting about my newcomers' fantastic writing, I received a question from a follower. She asked: "How are you able to get newcomers to produce that much written language? I am super curious!" 
This question surprised me because I've worked with newcomers for years, and I don't have a problem getting my newcomers to produce written work - unless, the student is a SLIFE (students with limited formal education). -- But even like that, I've figured out ways for newcomers to produce written work that demonstrates their learning...see this lesson here.

Anyway, I thought I'd share here how my newcomers' written work was scaffolded so they demonstrate their full potential.

In my opinion, picture books are the best text we could use with newcomers that will provide the understanding and the language they need to be able to retell the story. 

I started by sharing with my newcomers a list of guiding questions we were to use to help us understand and retell the story. 

How much do you appreciate literacy? How do you encourage literacy in your family or with students? How do you demonstrate your love and passion for literacy?

These are questions that I would have not been able to answer during the first 15 years of my life. I attended school while living in Guatemala but I didn't appreciate how much the literacy I was learning in my home country was going to be the core and foundation to everything I have accomplished here in the USA. Read more about my journey here!

From the year I started working as a teacher assistant in 2004 to today -- Literacy has been something I've learned to embrace and enjoy. The foundations of the English language I learned sitting in a first-grade classroom as a teacher's assistance helped me understand how language works to make sense of words and use them to comprehend text and to write our own story. 

As a friend, parent, teacher, sister, and aunt, I'm always looking for ways to encourage young children to read and write. One way I do this is by celebrating literacy on days that are nationally or internationally recognized - For example, there is National Multicultural Books Day (1/29), World Read Aloud (2/3), Library Lovers Day (2/14), National Write Your Story Day (3/14), Childre's Book Day (4/2), Día de los libros (4/30), National Book Lovers Day (8/9), National Read a Book Day (9/6), International Literacy Day (9/9), I Love to Write Day (11/15), etc!! 

That's why tomorrow, September 8th, 2021 we are celebrating literacy in our English as a Second language classroom. 

I had two class meeting days left with our newcomers, and I wanted to do something productive. As an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, when I think of rich lessons, I think of activities that will make my students think critically, move around, use all language domains (speaking, listening, reading, and writing), and learn!

At first, I thought about showing movie clips about mystery or suspense movies. I could have had them identify story elements like characters, settings, problems, solutions, and describing the plot - which is what we did using text. But, I didn't want my newcomers to get the idea that I wanted them to watch movies as we end our school year. I also didn't want my colleges to see my newcomers watching movies instead of doing productive work. 

So, what better than End-of-School Year reflection questions?!? Most of my students were face-to-face, but I had four student who were learning virtually. Hybrid teaching is challenging when you are trying to have an interactive and engaging lesson. But, technology comes to the rescue in times like this! I've taught my newcomers how to use google slides, Jamboard, and how to navigate our course Canvas page. 

For the most part, I agree when people say - "don't reinvent the wheel..." - Not reinventing the wheel has saved me so much time. I've learned a lot from other educators. However, when it comes to working with newcomers, you can't just use the wheels you find -- somehow, you must reinvent it to make it fit with the group of students you're teaching. You know - personalizing your lesson for a better outcome.
​So, if I wanted my students to answers great end-of-year reflection questions, I quickly began searching for what other educators have created.
These were the two web pages I found useful to do what I needed.

1. 50 Questions To Ask Middle and High School Students To Check in and Get To Know Them Better (Free Download!)
2. 10 Self-Reflection Questions for the End of the School Year

When looking at all of these questions, I carefully selected and tweaked them a little bit to fit the outcome I wanted to hear from my newcomers. I thought ten questions would be doable. My goal was for them to consider the quality of work versus quantity. 
I created a google slides presentation so it'd look presentable and colorful. Each slide had a question in big font to emphasize its importance.  You can access the slides below!

Two reasons why google slides are useful with this activity:

1. It allows newcomers to copy and paste the questions from the slide onto google translate.
2. Each slide can be downloaded as an image and add to a Jamboard for students' responses.

The slides were made available to all students. If your students have not learned how to take information from slides onto google translate, you want to teach that to them. It's a skill they can use in any class they go to - It's empowerment!
​
My face-to-face students received colorful sticky-note pads to answer each question.They placed their answers on a chart paper that had all the questions. 
My virtual students received a link to a Jamboard where they answered on a sticky note for each question.
​Here is the Jamboard if you'd like to make a copy and use it with your students. 

Students were all engaged. Not only were the questions open-ended so they could share their thoughts openly, but it created a stress-free time for students to share their voices. 

Several of their answers will serve to make some adjustments as the support they need for the next school year. A great educator should ALWAYS make room for improvements - especially when students are giving feedback.
I also learned a few new things about each student - especially the two newcomers who had only been with us for a week or two. The activity outcome made me happy. I almost cried when I saw a few of them mentioning me in their answers.

Needless to say, we wrapped our last day with a group picture and selfies. See pictures HERE.

Thank you for reading! 

As our newcomers' course comes to an end, I began thinking of ways to make time and space for students to demonstrate their full potential. One way students, regardless of their English proficiency, can be by creating something to demonstrate their ability to put together all the skills and elements we've learned for several weeks. 
When I think about students creating something, the first resource & platform that comes to mind is WriteReader. 
I've used WriteReader for years. I've used it with elementary students and now with high school students. It's a student-friendly platform and easy to use for teachers. Once you create your teacher account, you add students to your class list. 
So, as a culminating course project, my newcomers were to write their own mystery/suspense story after reading a couple of  stories from Saddleback - To read about the lessons that lead to this final project. You can read blog post #1 HERE and blog post #2 HERE. 

Students were encouraged to use an electronic translator or write in their home language. As I read each story, I provided feedback edit ideas.  All students published their work in English. I even had a couple of students whose stories were so long - They shared with me how excited they were about publishing their own stories and that once they started writing, they couldn't stop.

It was amazing to see how into writing they all were. Even my virtual students were super engaged!

I appreciate platforms like WriteReader that allow students to discover their love for reading and writing.
I also love having books like Saddleback books that not only helped developed my students' reading skills.

Have you used any of these resources? If so, share with me how you've used it. I'd love to add tools to my toolbox.

I cannot wait to show these books to my students next school year. I'm so proud of their hard work.


Thank you for reading!

This activity gave me a good idea of their text comprehension. By providing text evidence and placing them in the correct box, I can tell that comprehension took place therefore language acquisition happened too!

Be sure to check our next lesson when we create our own stories using the elements we learned in these two stories we read. 
If you have a different way to teach compare and contrast, please, share it in the comments. I'd love to learn from you and add tools to my toolbox.

​Click HERE to read Part 3

​Thank you for reading!

I cannot believe I am sharing our end-of-course lessons and project! This year, though like no other, went by so fast. So, here we are admiring how far our newcomers had come. 

This school year, I had a couple of ESL student teachers so I didn't plan as many lessons for our newcomers as I usually do.
Though there were so many challenges this school year - teaching with masks, social distancing, balancing hybrid teaching and learning, and so much more; I'm glad we made it through successfully. 
                                                                              ~~~~~~~~~~
I started taking over my newcomers class in mid-April and I was so excited to do so. Since one of my student teachers was still teaching my class, I'd one day teach students on campus and another day I'd teach students online.
Of course, my first go-to resource as I began planning was Saddleback books! We read two books that lead to our end-of-year project.

One way to help our students become strong readers and writers is by providing them with books to read. We cannot expect our students to embrace reading and grow academically and linguistically if they do not have the resources to do it.

This is why I am always trying out different ways to get books in my students' hands! Through Donor's Choose, Amazon wish list, and asking for donations, I've obtained books for students to read. And not just books, but compelling books, authentic books, and text that my newcomers CAN access, especially when they are attending school in a hybrid model (synchronous and Asynchronous). 
So, when Saddleback Education Publishing reached out to me and invited me to try out their new digital books platform with my students, I was super excited. Not only because it's material I am familiar with, but because these are books my students are familiar with too. We've used these books pre-COVID, and they knew how helpful this resource can be.
​I knew they were going to be as excited as I was.

Once I was familiar with their easy-to-navigate platform, I began creating our first lessons for my newcomers. I couldn't wait to introduce the Saddleback Digital platform to them as a new resource to read and learn. To get my students comfortable with the platform, before sharing our lesson, I gave them the link to the digital platform and provided them with a class login and code I had created.
Students logged in and clicked around looking at all the books available to read. As students clicked around, I was able to help students who needed a little more guidance getting into the platform. It is not complicated to get in, but if students attend school virtually, this might be a little more challenging to see if they are entering the correct information. Once students were all logged in, we played a game. The game consisted of a scavenger hunt. This was just to get students used to navigating the platform without any issues. 

Our first lesson was all about school language since we had students who had never been to a USA school and or not familiar with a specific USA school structure. 

Since we had students who were new to a USA school and were unfamiliar with our USA school's structure, our first lesson was about school language.

Slide one: To explain the difference between one and the other, I had one slide where I explained how some books are stories made up by the author and how some books are research teaching us about a topic. Using images of books, I had students access the slides and sorted the book covers based on the category we thought they should be placed. 

We used sentences like:
I think the book ___________ is fiction because _______________. 
I think the book ___________ is nonfiction because _____________. 
After modeling one or two books, students were all able to take turns and share a sentence. 

Slide two: I introduced the two books we were focusing on for the following days and had them find each book on their own and scanned the book to get an idea about the content. 

Slide three: I took this idea straight from the teacher's manual but because students were not on campus, I couldn't use the worksheet (and I don't like worksheets). As we read the text, we completed our informational web with all the details from the text. I'd read the text aloud first, then I'd have students read after me a couple of sentences at a time. 
The slides were completed by students with my guidance while sharing my screen and supporting them in finding the information. It was a great way for me to see who was paying attention and who was understanding what the text was teaching us. ​​

This post is featured on the Re-Imagening Migration website. Find article here: 

I was 15 years old when I was asked to pack-up a backpack with a couple of outfits and whatever else I could fit in and carry with me on a journey from Guatemala to the USA.
I remember looking around the room and packing a few photographs and recuerditos (keepsakes) I didn't want to leave behind.

I do not doubt that many immigrants experience this moment when they have to decide what to pack and bring along their migration journey. Besides packing the essentials, many of us pack something that will remind us of the world we are leaving behind, representing our country, homeland, and believes.
​
Just like we pack-up objects, we also pack-up our identity within us and hold on to it as tight as possible because we know it is what makes us who we are. The things we pack-up within us are experiences, thoughts, feelings, beliefs, family, foods, music, culture, heritage, and more. All this builds our individuality. 
​
Yuyi Morales narrates this personal experience perfectly in this image. We see how her backpack includes a jatana, a pencil, nature items, and Señor Calavera. If you follow Yuyi's Instagram account, you'd see how these objects represent her identity.  Objects that she carried with her as she crossed over the Mexican border to come to the USA. And just like we see in her book, the objects that represented her identity were kept safe and packed up because they were being protected or perhaps they stayed packed up because she didn't feel like her individuality would fit in the new culture.
In Dreamers, we see the characters trying to blend in and function in a new country and culture but with a substantial struggle to be who they are. 

I experienced this as well, and so do many immigrant students and individuals who come to the United States. While many of us love our home culture, our language, and everything about our heritage, society tells us that to function successfully, we must keep our background packed up and blend in the American culture and master the English language to be successful.
For many of us, it'll be years and years till we realize that our culture, language, and heritage are valuable and core to who we are. 
For others, this realization will never happen - and heritage, language, and culture will be lost. To me, this is a sad reality that will hinder many generations. 

The Bilingual/ESL Department at Region 10  ESC in North TX holds an annual symposium for their 500+ educators. This year, due to the COVID pandemic, the event was help virtually.

I was honored and humbled to be invited as their 2020 Symposium 'Power Of Unity' keynote speaker. I was so excited to connect and meet so many passionate educators who are working hard to provide their very best for all students. 

The keynote presentation was on June 23rd and it was a way to kick-off the symposium - teachers had a long day of sessions to attend right after the keynote. 
My presentation title was 'Shifting from Statistics to Stories'

The presentation was streamed LIVE so you can find the recorded version on my YouTube channel below. 

In Stories That Sparkle Powerful Conversations blog post, I shared a lesson I started with our SIFE (Students with Interrupted Formal Educations) ELs. This lesson led to another wonderful week where students created a wonderful presentation to show the rest of the class. 
All our newcomer ELs are expected to present their learning in our ESL class, of course, the bar remains high for SIFEs.  Just like Kanako Suwa says,
"Simplifying is GIVING UP, Scaffolding is BELIEVING. 
Simplifying is dumbing down/lowering expectations.
Scaffold = same expectations and content + supports put in place to help Ss meet the expectations."

Here's Abril's book: DREAMERS 

This post is a follow up to "Stories that Sparkle Powerful Conversations" - If you have not read it, I encourage you to read it since it provides the background you may need for this post. 

My advanced newcomer English learners were assigned the picture book 'Refugees and Migrants' by Ceri Roberts. This book covers migration from its causes to what we can do to aid refugees. It covers life in refugee camps, about the application process for asylum.

You can see their presentation below. They did an excellent job providing important details, their thoughts, and visuals. 
What you can't see in their presentation was the result of their presentation. As they were sharing their thoughts on the videos and the immigration topic, students began to cry all around the room.
You see, I have several students (including me) who immigrated to the USA just like the book and their videos showed. 
Their presentation stirred up in us so many feelings we keep inside. Our immigrant experiences, regardless of what you experienced, mark our lives forever. Some feelings are happy, some are painful feelings, and some you can't even talk about. 

When overwhelmed with emotions...tears help!

There was not a dry eye in the room. We all cried. We all hugged. We all shared. I even had a student share with me a video of him and his mother crossing the river to make it to the USA. THIS was when I lost it! I started thinking about how hard this particular student works EVERYDAY and how his teachers are only concern about his grades...when in his mind and heart THIS is what's going on. 
Students hugged me and said, "Mrs. Francis, don't cry". But how can you NOT cry when you know your students are dealing with so much in their personal life. 
 
We heard stories of concentration centers, stories of reasons why we left our home country. Stories of hope. Stories of resilience and strength.