THE YOUTH AMBASSADORSToday 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!
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