Classroom Activities
Waiting for Papa
Learning Objective: Students will understand immigration and describe the pros and cons of immigrating to a new country.
We will read Waiting for Papa by René Colato Lainez. In this book, a boy named Beto moves to the United States with his mom, but his father stays behind in El Salvador because of the civil war. After Beto shares a letter he wrote to his father for Father’s Day on the radio, an immigration lawyer is moved to help Beto’s father reunite with his family in the U.S.
As we read the text, students will answer questions such as: “Why did Beto and his mom come to the U.S?” “What is an immigrant?” and “From what countries do immigrants originate?” Lastly, students will discuss whether they think immigrants would prefer to remain in their country of origin or move to another country.
Celebrating Trabajadores
Learning Objective: Students will identify and describe what immigrant workers contribute to our communities.
Guest speakers, including Senor Cruz, Bancroft’s janitor, and students’ parents, will deliver presentations on their roles in the school, neighborhood, or city. There will be a Q&A session at the end of the presentation, where students will get the opportunity to ask questions.
By the end of the week, or after all guest speakers have visited our classrooms, we will create a class poem that describes and appreciates the contributions of trabajadores. Because these lessons will occur during the first two weeks of school, and students are still mastering how to write a complete sentence, I will provide bilingual sentence starters such as: “Trabajadores are special because…” and “Workers are important because…”. Lastly, Students will read these poems to our guest speakers.
Traveling from Centroamerica to D.C.
Learning Objective: Students will use cardinal directions to move from one point to another on a map.
Students will name which cardinal direction—north, south, east, or west— they used to answer the question: If you were traveling from El Salvador to Bancroft Elementary in Washington, D.C., how would you get there? What type of transportation would you use? Why? Students will draw their routes on a world map and write a sentence explaining the type of transportation they use and why.
¿Por qué somos bilingües? Let’s Write!
Learning Objective: Students will explain why they and their schoolmates are bilingual.
As an end-of-unit activity, students will demonstrate their understanding of why Bancroft is a bilingual school. They will draw and write to answer the question, “Why are we bilingual?” Before students go off to their desks, we will have a class discussion about why, ultimately, students at Bancroft are bilingual. Because at Bancroft students start learning English in first grade and have previously only been asked to speak and write in Spanish at school, I will provide sentence starters such as: “We learn Spanish and English because…” and “Students at Bancroft are bilingual because…”. Students will turn and talk and tell their classmates why they know students at Bancroft are bilingual. Then, they will go to their seats to complete their drawings and sentences. Lastly, students will share their responses with their classmates.
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