Teachers on the Kendall Eighth-Grade Junior High Team recently organized an Immigrant Experience Day for their students. Eighth-grade students had read stories by immigrants from other countries and studied the history of immigration in the United States. They had an opportunity to hear a first-hand account of immigration from a Kendall staff member and sampled ethnic food from many countries.
The Immigrant Experience Day is part of the eighth-grade team’s method of finding new ways to incorporate what the students learn in the classroom into their lives. Interdisciplinary units allow the students to better retain ideas and concepts that they learn in the classroom, and it gives the students the opportunity to expand their knowledge and apply it to different subjects.
Students listened to the personal story of Mirjam Bauer, a counselor in the high school, who became a naturalized United States citizen after her time spent here as an exchange student. She shared her experiences of adapting to the culture of the United States and her ties with her family in Holland. Bauer also shared the process involved in becoming a citizen and the citizenship test that she had to take.
Eighth-graders in Marlene Magliocco-Morrow’s ELA class read “Inside Out & Back Again” by Thanhha Lai, a critically acclaimed novel about a young Vietnamese girl who flees Saigon during its fall. Students in Morgan Engelbert’s social studies class studied immigration and the social and political ramifications experienced by those who come to the United States. Gretchen Rosales’ Spanish 8 students read “The Circuit: stories from the life of a migrant child” by Francisco Jiménez, which details the story of a young child trying to find his voice in society and highlights his struggle to belong.
Members of the eighth-grade team also brought in food from cultures that represent their ancestry and heritage. Math teacher Kaitlyn Curtis made German chocolate cookies; Magliocco-Morrow prepared antipasto; Rosales made Mexican rice; and science teacher David Heffron provided tortilla chips and salsa. The students were excited to try ethnic foods and many were surprised that they enjoyed the different tastes from around the world.
For more information, contact Communications Specialist Beth Nash at 349-9028 or emailbnash@monroe2boces.org.
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