What would it be like to be an ESL (English-as-a-Second-Language) Student? Grades 1 through 3

Grade Level: 1-3

Subject(s):

• Language Arts/Social Studies

Duration: 1 Session, 30-45 minutes in duration (Note: choose 1 of the activities listed below)

Description: What would it be like to enter a classroom and not understand the language or feel that everything that is being taught is new? Through various short activities, students are given the chance to feel what many ESL students feel when they enter classrooms for the first time in America.

Goals: To allow children to put themselves in the shoes of an ESL child through the reading and discussion generated from A Gift for Sadia and hands-on activities. These activities will help children gain empathy for a child who needs to learn through the use of ESL resources.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

1. Have a general understanding of the ESL experience in contemporary America based upon reading of A Gift for Sadia.
2. Be more able to relate to a child enrolled in ESL classes as a result of participating in one or more of the activities.

Materials: A copy of A Gift for Sadia, lined writing paper, and pencils (also white board/dry erase markers or chalk board/chalk for demonstrations), copy of Somali alphabet from front of book ( Note: Buttonweed Press grants permission for photocopies to be made of the front end sheets by teachers for student use for the purpose of this project.) For activity III, dress-up clothes, see below.

Procedure:

Activity I: What does it feel like to be an ESL STUDENT?

• Gather children into a small circle and begin by asking them to imagine that each of them is Sadia as you read the story. Ask them to begin to think to themselves about how they each would react to what happens to Sadia in the story as you read it.
• Share A Gift for Sadia out loud to the class; begin with showing them the Somali alphabet located on the end sheets at the front of the book. (15 minutes)
• After the story is finished ask them to comment on how they would each feel if they were Sadia. (5 minutes)
• Have the children return to their desks and pass out lined writing paper and pencils.
• Demonstrate copying some of the Somali letters for the children and then ask them to copy the Somali Alphabet onto their sheets of paper. (15-20 minutes)
• Questions to ask while they are performing this taskä
• Ask them if it is difficult to write these letters.
• Ask them to think about which letters would match letters in the English Alphabet (i.e. Which Somali letter would be the letter ≥A≤ or ≥F≤)?
• If they were to write the word ≥cat≤ in Somali, how would they think it would be spelled?
• End by teaching them to pronounce the word for ≥school≤ in Somali—≥iskuulka≤ (this is spelled phonetically using the English Alphabet, please listen to our audio aid for correct pronunciation located under ≥Teacher Resources≤ on our web site.)

Activity II: Experiencing a Foreign Language

• Introduce the book A Gift for Sadia in a small circle to the class.
• Ask them to pay close attention to how difficult it is for Sadia to learn the English Alphabet (note how different her cultureπs alphabet (Somali) looks on the front end sheets of the book before you begin reading.)
• Share the book. (15 minutes)
• Pre-arrange with a parent, volunteer, foreign language professional, or you yourself if you have foreign language experience to join you for the rest of the session. (Note: It does not matter which non-English speaking language is presented.)
• Following the completion of the story, ask the students to return to their desks and explain that to really understand Sadiaπs experience, they will now be learning the xxx alphabet and introduce your guest teacher (or the lesson you have planned.)
• As you teach this new alphabet, speak only in the foreign language as you or your guest teacher introduces the new letters. Try to convey that the students need to repeat the new letters out loud. (10 minutes)
• Upon completion, lead the class in discussion about how this exercise made them feel. Were they confused? Why? (5-15 minutes)

Activity III: Altered Visual Experience (clothing items of other cultures will be needed for this exercise)

• Before you begin, choose one or several cultures to present to your class.
• Collect dress up clothes to represent the values of the cultures you have selected (Note—if you canπt find many, you may select a culture and dress yourself as an example for the class.)
• Begin by gathering students in a small circle and introduce A Gift for Sadia. Ask your students to pay close attention to Sadiaπs clothes as you read the book out loud.
• Share the story with the children.
• Following the story, have some of the class, or you, yourself dress up as specific cultures.
• Begin a discussion about how each cultural dress makes the person wearing these items look different. How do the students feel who are dressed differently? Why do they feel this way? Do the other children feel differently about wanting to play with these children or think they look funny? Why? How does this make the kids dressed differently feel?
• Explain about the dress codes of the cultures you have selected—why people of this culture(s) dress the way they do.
• Talk about how it is important to accept other students no matter how they dress or look!

Assessment

In conclusion, record on the board how the activity you chose for your class made each student feel. Then ask how they might try to make an ESL childπs experience better at school and record these ideas. 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 and provide solutions to help ESL students around them through a deeper understanding of their experiences.