LEEANE/LENORE: Communities Study

The YOUTH AMBASSADORS hard at work!

I am in the third week of classes with Leanne and Lenore's second graders studying urban, suburban, and rural communities and we are having a wonderful time. The students are Youth Ambassadors, helping refugee children from all around the world get settled here in the United States. Our first friend was named Sangoel, a refugee from Sudan who was moving to NYC with his mom and sister (based on a children's book called My Name is Sangoel).

The children wrote him letters telling him about the features of the city: transportation, school, deli's, apartment buildings, etc. Many of them told him they would like to be his friend and guide once he arrived. We took a walk through the neighborhood, making a video to teach him about New York City life. The students carefully planned the lines they would say at each of the 5 stops we made: a corner deli, the dog run at Tompkins Square Park, an apartment building, and the school, and a bus stop. Towards the end of the walk, however, the students were so excited to show Sangoel everything! They kept saying, "Let's show him this!" and I would use the flip cam to tape their quick explanation. They were especially excited when they saw the word "Urban" (one of our main vocab words) on the side of a Vet Hospital. They decided Sangeol needed to know about that since he has a dog named Moon.

Since that day, the students have been busy. We had a surprise welcome party for Sangoel, during which all the students presented him with gifts and advice. Sangoel shared with them a recording of Sudanese music and they had the chance to drum along.

One day the worked in the phone room of the International Rescue Committee Office "answering phones" and helping place families in urban, suburban or rural neighborhoods. We were working on the concept of where each of these kinds of communities are located in relation to each other. They placed apartment buildings or houses made of connecting blocks with the families names on them on huge maps of the United States, placing them near cities, just outside them, or in between them. Some of them had a harder time understanding the spatial relationships, but by the end, they all seemed to understand. They thoroughly enjoyed "answering phones" and I we could hear quiet voices saying "this is the Youth Ambassdors, how may I help you?" all over the room. Isaiah was especially excited and proud of his work, saying, "I'm doing really good! I'm ready to have a clipboard now to take notes!!" I had told them that once they got the hang of answering phones, they could have a clipboard to write down the names of cities or towns. At the end of the day, Samir said, "I really liked answerign phones and helping families. There is alot of homelessness in the world and I think it should end." Taine said, "I really liked answering phones and I would do it again."

We have now moved on to studying suburban communities. On Friday, the students found out that they recieved a grant to build a suburban community full of new houses for Marwa and her family from Afghanistan as well as other refugee families. They spent the day planning their communities. They had to plan where the houses, yards, streets, stores, and school would go. They also had the chance to plan an area that served children specifically. Layla Jean had the idea that along with a playground, they would also build a community center where children could take English classes. This idea spread quickly, so by the end of class, almost all of the groups had added English classes to their offerings for the children, along with pools, playgrounds, amusement parks, daycare centers and even a museum for kids! Everyone seemed very engaged and focused on this activity for the full 25 minutes that we worked on it. Don, Lenore, Leanne and I took notes and observations on each students' understanding of what makes a suburban community different from urban or rural and how they were doing on the project. We noticed a few students really working at including everyone's ideas in thier small groups. This was good to see.

We will continue with our work next Wednesday!

LEEANE/LENORE: Day One of Communities Study!

THE YOUTH AMBASSADORS

Today I began the first InFlight session in Leanne and Lenore's 2nd Grade class. We are studying types of communities: urban, suburban, and rural.

We started out by playing some fun drama games incorporating listening, movement, and body awareness. We talked about what we would be doing in the drama together: creating a story! We talked about one of the aspects of stories: problems. Sam was able to give us a great definition: "It's when something goes wrong and it needs solving." When I asked, who do you think will be solving the problems in our story, they said, "We will!"

I started out by talking to the students about what a refugee is: someone who is forced to leave their country because of war or conflict. Then we read a beautiful children's book called, "My Name is Sangoel" about a boy refugee from Sudan who moves to the US. When his doctor, students, his soccer coach, and his teacher have trouble saying his name, he has the wonderful idea to where a teeshirt with a picture of a sun and a goal to teach people how to say his name correctly. Sun-goal. The students were so interested in the story. They talked about how sad he was, leaving his friends and how hard it would be for him to be in a completely new place. They all raised their hands when I asked if they had ever been new to a place.

After a short dicussion, we began the drama.....1-2-3-ACTION! I came into the room in role as Ms. Johnson, one of the characters from the book who I imagined as a worker from the International Rescue Agency. Ms. Johnson was looking for a group of Youth Ambassadors to help the agency. She explained that when refugee families arrive, they often have children with them and that the agency decided it was time to have a team of 2nd graders who could act as guides and a welcome committee to these young people. Ms. Johnson was shocked to know that the students knew the definition of refugee and that they had such knowledge about New York City. The students answered the final question, "If you were a Youth Ambassador, what would you do to help a young person who had just arrived to the United States?" After hearing their answers, the IRC decided they should definitely be the Youth Ambassadors!

Before we even had time to celebrate, we recieved 3 emergency letters delivered to our door. They were all 3 from young people from different countries who were moving to the United States. Based on what they said in their letters, the students decided which of the three communities their families might like to live in (urban, suburban, rural). The final letter was from Sangoel, who would be arriving in 2 days! From what he said in his letter, they decided that he would be most happy living in the city.

Tomorrow we will write him letters letting him know that we will help him and we will send him pictures of the city!