2024 Raquel Sinai Newcomer Scholarship Winner’s Essay

By Meily Perez

I think that the truth is that it is difficult to adapt to a new country because there are new cultures, new languages, new friends, new places. It is as if you are starting your life over again. The advice I would give you to help you is that I want you to not be afraid that you have strength in this new episode of your life. That you can overcome a new beginning of course I know that it is difficult for me. It was very complicated and difficult to adapt to this country. Of course I always said it was fine but it was not true.

You know, I missed my family, I had never been separated from them and when I started high school it was very difficult because I have always been a calm, shy, quiet person, difficult to make friends and even more so with a new language. What helped me was meeting my new friends. They were the ones who spoke to me and since then school was no longer so complicated. It is also necessary to be mentally prepared for this change in your life because we have to be psychologically well because he told you this the truth. It happened to me that I had anxiety that made it more difficult for me to adapt to this country. It is always sad for not being able to speak its language I recommend that you talk to your family about how you feel about your new beginning or you could also talk to a professional or you can talk to your school counselor to help you adapt more if you don’t understand about your classes make friends who speak your language and they have been in their school for longer they could help them or explain to them what they do in their classes or also talk to their teachers, they try to help them so that they understand and understand what they are explaining.

Finally I want to tell you that of course at the beginning it is always difficult to adapt to a new country. But I know that you can do it and achieve it to have a good future. You can achieve your dreams or goals so never give up and keep moving forward. If you fall get up again to continue fighting for your dreams.
(Meily lives with her aunt in the United States.)

Scholarships and Awards for you and your students – Start the applications now! There are 4th and 8th grade awards, high school, higher ed, and teacher ed scholarships, and the Judie Haynes grant for teachers – due date March 15th. Apply here.

Current Events and the ESL Classroom

By Elizabeth Claire

Claire begins this post by stating the benefits and the need for introducing current events in the ESL classroom. “Students need to develop an understanding of current culture, sports, government, dangers, scams, entertainment, and their future possible job opportunities and careers. There is essential vocabulary to be developed. Well-chosen articles can challenge students to use critical thinking skills and much needed vocabulary for various academic and life events.”

She first lists seven guiding questions for teachers as they decide what to present to their students. These include students’ awareness of events, their age and background, resources, teacher bias, and administration concerns.

She then notes the challenges of finding materials appropriate for students’ maturity level and English skills. She points out the necessity of background information and scaffolding. An additional consideration is what information is beneficial in students’ lives. The list includes safety, health issues, scams, cultural events, citizenship, and scientific discoveries. A few free and subscription resources are listed.

Finally, once the articles have been chosen, Claire offers strategies for working with both beginners and advanced students. For beginners, these involve pre-teaching vocabulary, several readings and following up with questions. advanced students may read the article on their own followed by analysis questions, understanding bias, and fact checking.

The author concludes that although students should be taught not to believe everything they read, “that doesn’t detract from the importance of teaching current events to ESL students. While including news of current events in the ESL classroom might entail extra effort, it pays off in increased relevance for students’ lives.”

Elizabeth Claire taught ESL for 25 years and has trained teachers in the U.S., Japan, and the Czech Republic. She authored 28 books in the field, founded Easy English NEWS and published it for 25 years. For these works, in 2012, she won the Mensa Education and Research Foundation’s award for “Intellectual Contribution to Society.”
Having lived in NJ, Claire started offering the NJTESOL/NJBE $1000 Educator’s grant, which is now supported by Judie Haynes.

See the article for details and guidelines.