Past projects 8
Speaking English, Loud and Clear
Funded Aug 22, 2023Not a week goes by when my colleagues and I aren't using our headsets with our students. Staying at home during the pandemic really stalled the development of speaking skills for a lot of our students. Now, thanks to your generosity and support, we have been providing them weekly assignments and activities to speak and record their voices. We can see and HEAR the difference already; students take recording their voices seriously!
In another month, our department will take on its annual ACCESS testing. This test assesses all four language domains. In the past, the speaking domain has been the most challenging for our multilingual learners. But now, we have high hopes that the students who have been recording their voices all fall will be more eager and confident in this year's assessment.
Thank you very much again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Woo
Community Building Through Art
Funded Dec 4, 2023I am very happy to tell you that my Donors Choose project has just been fully funded today.
Thanks to your generous support, I'll have a classroom set of high-quality picture dictionaries and accompanying art supplies to share with students and colleagues. Once arrived, these materials will immediately be put to use by our multilingual students, many of whom are more familiar with paper-and-pen style of learning. Learning with technology is great, but so is creatively learning without it!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Woo
This classroom project was brought to life by A family that cares about Boston and 8 other donors.Supporting Students and Colleagues
Funded Jan 27, 2023The headsets that I have been able to purchase with your generous support has allowed my students to express themselves more freely and fully. How? These headsets give each student the privacy to speak English. Students can do as many retakes as they want before submitting their recording for a particular assignment.
Additionally, when having a classroom set of headsets allows me to provide pre-recorded dictation activities that give students more control over the pace and frequency of each dictated sentence. Instead of having to say, "Miss, please say that again" over and over, - while more proficient classmates start feeling impatient, - slower students can feel assured and confident that they are not slowing anyone down.
We have over 300 EL students to teach at my high school and I am very grateful that I have been able to purchase this set of headphones, because not only do I benefit from using them with my students -but I can share them with two EL colleagues who are very grateful to have access to them.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Woo
Creating Effective Anchor Charts
Funded Apr 22, 2022Dear Carlin,
It's been all thanks to you that I was able to order expensive chart paper, markers, and a moving easel on wheels, and STILL have funds left over. The photos that I've taken of these supplies and other materials for my classroom are not that exciting, but I wish you could come and see for yourself how much my students and I use them (with the exception of the easel on wheels that hasn't yet been assembled!)
This is going to be another challenging year: five of my nine colleagues left and we now have five very nice but very inexperienced teachers. I'm looking forward to applying your remaining generous donations to their wish-list of materials. On behalf of them all, THANK YOU!
love,
Amy”
With gratitude,
Ms. Woo
Engaging Wall Enhancements!
Funded Apr 24, 2022My drab white-walled classroom has come to life, thanks to my collection of posters, pocket charts, and home-made visuals. I refer to them in my daily lesson launch; students refer to them in their classwork; and they serve as an overall showcase to visitors of what kind of language learning is going on.
It would have been easy to buy cheaper materials to enhance my classroom, but at the end of the day, it wouldn't be worth it. Cheap pocket charts can't hold as many flashcards, commercial or homemade, as these big charts I bought. And , if bought cheaply, the beautiful posters featuring art and inspiration would be displayed in much smaller poster sizes - a squint-sized 8.5 x 11 would hardly interest anyone.
I think that I get as much satisfaction looking at my walls as my students do!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Woo
Simple Encouragement to Read and Write
Funded May 1, 2022My simple but sturdy cardboard bookshelves took no time to assemble. Easy-to-read books were displayed and quickly snatched up by curious students who like to judge my books by their covers. (Now I need to write a proposal for purchasing more such books!)
The little blue notebooks were equally easy to get into the hands of my students, who, while not always eager to write full sentences in English, at least could see how quickly their notebook pages filled up. Plus, I have extra notebooks for a future class.
THANK YOU very much again,
Amy”
With gratitude,
Ms. Woo
Essential Resources for Learning English
Funded Nov 19, 2019I am very happy to report that within a month's time of my posting a request for a classroom set of picture dictionaries and notebooks, the request was fully funded. - All thanks to you and your generosity! My students and I can now say goodbye to those dark and blurry handouts from the office copy machine and instead look forward to each having a top-notch English language reference in color to use. Thanks so much again!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Woo
Using a Camera to Express Yourself
Funded Sep 17, 2014"I can take MANY pictures? Not just one?" "REALLY? I [can] take [the] camera HOME[to use]?" These were typical responses from my 7th and 8th grade refugee students who used our new digital camera and accessories bought with your funds. As you can see from the attached photos, they took pictures of aspects of their new lives at home and at school to share with the rest of us. With each photo presentation (either in iPhoto, cast upon the whiteboard, or developed as hard copies at CVS), my students have learned - and will continue to learn - more about each other in ways more eloquent and descriptive than what their beginning levels of language skills can otherwise communicate. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!”
With gratitude,
Ms. Woo