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!