Creative Writing Unit for grades 4^th and 5th:

The ESL (English-as-a-Second-Language) Experience

Grade Level: 4-5

Subject(s):

• Language Arts/Social Studies

Duration: 5 hours (5 sessions) of contact/work time

Description: What would it be like to move to America from another country? As a group, children should use A Gift for Sadia as a jumping off point to discuss the ESL experience in America. Then, children will choose a culture to explore (i.e. Korean, Romanian, Mexican, etc.) and research about its particular customs and language in order to write their own stories. An example from A Gift for Sadia is that Sadia, in addition to her struggle with learning the English language, has a religious dress code requiring her to keep her hair covered in public (i.e. the hijab), what obstacles might each child (based upon his or her culture) have to overcome in adjusting to a new environment?

Goals: To allow children to explore a different culture through the creative writing process. It is hoped that through learning about this culture, each participating student will develop a sense of empathy for immigrant children coming to a new nation and having to overcome language and cultural barriers.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

1. Have an understanding of The ESL experience in contemporary America based upon reading and group discussion of A Gift for Sadia.
2. Research another culture likely to experience ESL as part of the process of immigration (i.e. Korea, Romania, Mexico, Vietnam, Hmong, African cultures). As part of this research, learn about national or religious customs linked to this culture; learn simple language phrases (i.e. ≥Hello≤), names, or about their alphabet; learn about recipes related to this culture.
3. Based upon the knowledge students gain from their research about their cultural choice, have students brainstorm what problems their character might face if they had to move to the United States (or another country) and start a new life learning a new language.
4. Using the research on the culture and the list of problems a character might face, develop a short story centered on this character and his or her culture and explore what this characterπs ESL experience might be like.

Materials: Note: All sessions will require paper and pencils/pens for students to write with.

Procedure:

Session I: What does it mean to be an ESL Student

• A Gift for Sadia to read aloud
• Ask questions of the kids to get them to think about what it must be like to be an ESL studentä
• Have they ever moved? Changed schools?
• What would the first day be like?
• How could you make friends?
• What would be most frightening?
• Ask other questions about the storyäwhy is Sadia scared to recite the alphabet—how long would it take for a person to adjust to a new school?
• Does Sadia forget any of the letters when she does say the alphabet? Why might she forget a letter? Does it matter?
• Use white board with dry erase marker or other writing surface for you to record the groupπs ideas
• Provide sample materials or books about different cultures to spark classroom interest for the writing project

Session II: Research Day

• Media Center—to gather materials on culture of choice (children may want to also use internet resources as well through the help of your media specialist or arrange to interview an older child currently enrolled in ESL programs in your school system that has developed English speaking skills)
• Spend the second half of the session having the children begin to read their resources and begin to take notes. Ask them to imagine being a part of this new culture they are studying—what customs would they like? What would be different? What problems might they have making friends and why?

Session III: Getting to know your culture of choice

• Reading/Note taking/Brainstorming or Webbing Exercises
• Students should continue to finish reading their resources, interviewing in the early part of the session and begin to work toward creating a character from this culture—give him or her a name that would be culturally accurate and develop a list of problems this character might face moving to another country and having to learn English. Ask students to think about what adjustments their character would need to make in moving to the United States. Would they miss relatives, friends? Did they come with both parents and all their siblings? (Note: Many times family members get left behind in their homeland for visa or war related reasons.)

Session IV: First Draft

• Begin this session with talking about what makes a good storyäMost stories catch the readerπs attention through good, creative beginnings—provide some examples of good beginnings from your favorite stories. (Try to steer kids away from beginning their story with ≥Once upon a timeä≤ let them know that while many great fairy tales begin this way, they are not writing a fairy tale todayä)
• Talk about elements of a good story—good stories usually have a problem for the main character to over comeäWhat was Sadiaπs problem? Ask them to look at their list for their character and chosen culture—what might their characterπs main problem be?
• Talk about voice—is a narrator going to share their story (3^rd person), who is going to tell the story? What additional characters might they have in their story- could one of them tell the story? Is the main character telling his or her own story (1^st person)?
• Have them begin to write a first draft of their story. (Note: If you do wish to set a writing limit for your students, most childrenπs stories range from 1000-1500 words which they can shoot for in their final draft.)

Session V: Final Draft

• Begin your last session by asking one or two of your students to share their beginning paragraphs out loud. Comment on strengths and offer creative ideas for how they might improve their introduction(s). Using this structure as an example for the class, break the class into pairs. Have them spend 10 minutes or so reading each others stories. Have them tell each other what they like as well as what they may not understand about each others works. Each student should jot down some notes from this exchange about things they could improve in their stories. Let them know that they donπt have to change their story exactly the way their partner may think, but just use this as a check point to see if things in their story are unclear.
• Once they return to their desk, have them look over the list of things they could make better (everyone should have a least one thing). Have them take out a sheet of paper and brainstorm how to solve the problems they are having with their first draft.
• Once they have a list of solutions have them choose the best solution and begin working this change(s) into their final draft.

Assessment:

Once students have completed a final draft of their stories (have them word process them on the computer or neatly write a final copy.) Have a special time each day where they can each share their stories out load to the class. You can read the stories or they can, but it is important for your students to learn as a group about each culture and how each of their classmates absorbed the issues an ESL student might face. We are all different and will imagine the circumstances in such unique and thoughtful ways it will add to each of their own understanding of ESL to hear how each of their peers might imagine the ESL experience.