Many of my students enter our schools, even if they are native born, having experienced/learned things from a different culture. Yet, when they enroll in American schools there seems to be an assumption that they know "famous people, places, wars, events" that we refer to in classes. Often times, these things are unfamiliar and students must conduct research on their own or just nod along in classes to figure out what/who peers/teachers are referring to. It makes them outsiders to what many of us consider general information. It also makes what is considered "new" information even more difficult to learn because of the lack of knowing the old and the new. With over 20% of our district's population being language learners, there are 32 different primary languages from 26 different countries represented in our students. And this number changes every year and is consistently increasing! Although I try to keep up with resources that can assist in reaching my diverse students, it can be stressful at times to continually dig for resources, explore libraries, purchase my own books, etc.
I would love to be able to do a project where students choose a topic of interest to research further and then create a presentation where they must use all four language domains (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing) to continue building their language proficiency. These two book series would be excellent for this unit on famous people and places throughout U.S. and World history so that kids can not only feel a part of the conversation, but also learn at a lexile that is appropriate/somewhat challenging and fun for them! Lastly, by owning these books, they could be dual-functioning to support kids in their other classes when certain topics/standards are being taught throughout the year.
About my class
Many of my students enter our schools, even if they are native born, having experienced/learned things from a different culture. Yet, when they enroll in American schools there seems to be an assumption that they know "famous people, places, wars, events" that we refer to in classes. Often times, these things are unfamiliar and students must conduct research on their own or just nod along in classes to figure out what/who peers/teachers are referring to. It makes them outsiders to what many of us consider general information. It also makes what is considered "new" information even more difficult to learn because of the lack of knowing the old and the new. With over 20% of our district's population being language learners, there are 32 different primary languages from 26 different countries represented in our students. And this number changes every year and is consistently increasing! Although I try to keep up with resources that can assist in reaching my diverse students, it can be stressful at times to continually dig for resources, explore libraries, purchase my own books, etc.
I would love to be able to do a project where students choose a topic of interest to research further and then create a presentation where they must use all four language domains (i.e., listening, speaking, reading, and writing) to continue building their language proficiency. These two book series would be excellent for this unit on famous people and places throughout U.S. and World history so that kids can not only feel a part of the conversation, but also learn at a lexile that is appropriate/somewhat challenging and fun for them! Lastly, by owning these books, they could be dual-functioning to support kids in their other classes when certain topics/standards are being taught throughout the year.
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