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Never having seen before the video on the Lost Boys of the Sudan
I was moved tremendously. As a matter of fact I was even oblivious
to the tragedies that occurred.

The poor boys that lost everything in a blink of an eye, but managed
to stay together...united in the face of fear, heartache and suffering.
The atrocities that they endured should never be, least of all by children! 
They were so brave!

One of the most surprising things about their story is that they endured
five years of suffering. The second, is that where ever they went, they 
were unwelcome and chased out! No one helped those young boys! 
Third, is that the human spirit is so with-standing and strong. 
Despite all their hardships, they were able to continue on, 
because surely God was with them!

If they had been in my class, I would have made sure that they had a nice
and secure home with a loving family. I would have tried to gain their trust 
first by welcoming them to my classroom and helping them feel part of my class. 
I would have made them feel valued and cared. I would have tried to initiate a
support system for them within the school with a guidance counselor and
social worker to help aid them emotionally and mentally. But most of all I would 
have started very slow with them to try to get them adjusted first with being
surrounded by four walls and a roof over their head...

Basically, I would have done what I would hope many teachers did for them 
upon coming to the United States, a listening ear, a facilitator of ideas 
and a caring heart.

The Family Stories That Bind Us 

I thought the article to be inspiring and very true, especially within my own family. The more a person is aware of the family history, the more able they are to with-stand trials and tribulations throughout their lives. Just as Dr. Dikes wife, Sarah said' “The ones who know a lot about their families tend to do better when they face challenges.” The study proved that the more they knew about their own family's struggles the stronger they were emotionally, which I feel to agree with their findings. Especially, when they found children to have a stronger sense of control over their own lives and that they were able to face challenges.
I believe the findings to be true because I used myself as the example; after an infidelity within my marriage,  I divorced my husband. Knowing that my grandmother had faced the same circumstance when she was younger, gave me courage to continue with my life. I figured if she had been able to continue raising her eight children, a midst a civil war, why couldn't I? And so began my own challenges, but there was a new found courage within me that had not been there before. Feeling brave came from knowing what my family had gone through, and realizing that I could also come out stronger, because I knew I had a strong support system! If then, children are made aware o their family's own struggles and how they overcome them, they too could develop self-confidence.
For my classroom I would try to devise a meet-greet for my students and their family's. A get-together for all to meet one another, learn about each others backgrounds, traditions and struggles faced in the United States. It would be held once a month and it would supplement parents with information about resources within the community that could assist them, information on how to best communicate with their children, advise them of what is expected of them and their children within a school setting and a place where they could make connections with their children, teachers and their community.

For more information (Twenty questions asked for the study): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marshall-p-duke/the-stories-that-bind-us-_b_2918975.html

Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories - Little Toot and the Loch Ness Monster

I barely  remember long when there were television broadcasting stories such as the "Little Toot and the Loch Ness Monster." They were entertaining as well as informative. They retold stories of ancient myths full of purpose and from different traditions. These stories taught children extended vocabulary which could improve verbal communication. In comparison to many cartoons on television today, the classics were much better.

The story though, was interesting. I reminded me of the "American Dream," and how people in search for a better future venture out to unknown lands and how brave they must be. Just like the little riverboat, they too have dreams and regardless of how scary a new place might be, or how cruel these new places are to them, they find it within themselves to fight through. As immigrants reach a new and foreign destinations, they encounter so much adversity. 

These kinds of stories are great for children, especially those who might be ELL's, because they could empathize with struggles and adversities in and out of school.

American Dream

Why come to America? Most of the stories within the video resembled most of my own family's experiences.  And like most family's whom leave home to come to America, they left behind homes, friends and families. The unthinkable struggles and hardships endured both on their way to and already in the United States can baffle anyone. Yet, many left their home countries in search of a better life and future.
Mystery of Ancestry: It was so intriguing to see the family lineages traced to so long ago. The most interesting story was that of Steven Colbert's great-grandmother who arrived in New York city a midst the Civil War Riots. Any person to withstand such adversity should be awed!
Assimilation and Acceptance: The story of Christy Yamaguchi's grand-father was inspiring. He not only immigrated form Japan, but also from Hawaii, in search of prosperity  Yet, like so many immigrants before him and after, acceptance was difficult to obtain if ever. He endured much discrimination, just as many Latino's do today. My family and even I, myself have also encountered racism. Which, as we all know, is ironic because those who discriminate have ancestors whom once immigrated to America. With any hope, things will all change one day for the better. Hopefully, we can all learn to think of ourselves as many different people but, as one!

Meryl Streep said it best "I think they were very brave, or what they were leaving was so tough, that they needed to come for a new chance!"

A Class Divided. (Video for the 3rd Blog Entry)

The effects of the experiment on the children was a very interesting one. It demonstrated to children what it was like to "be" different. Although, all the children were Caucasian  they were separated by the color of their eyes (blue and brown). This caused obvious pain and discomfort to those children who were thought of as inferior, while the other group felt superior. They were able to witness and "feel" discrimination within a school setting, in which they had never experienced before. Their reactions were so strong that their academics began to delineate because of their own feelings of inferiority.

Seeing their reactions made me empathize with them at some points. Being of Latin descent, I have felt my own moments of rejection and discrimination. Feeling different is neither a pleasant or welcoming feeling, one feels; alienated, belittled and even worthless. And seeing these children undergo these exact feelings, made me feel bad for them. As a mother I would not want my children to ever experience those feelings. Yet, it was truly a remarkable experiment!

After, about 20 years these children were reunited and gave great accounts to how they had felt when taking part in the experiment. They explained how the experiment was a turning point in their lives, because they were able to feel how minority people feel. Yet, their accounts were positive one's in which they learned to "see" and believe that everyone is created equal. I think they learned a really valuable lesson, one that they would not have been able to learn without that experiment.

I believe that it was an extraordinary experience to conduct for the children and the teacher. Especially, at a time were segregation was more apparent. I do not know if I would rein-act that experiment now within classrooms today...partly because of the restrictions already placed on educational facilities as they are today. Perhaps, we should begin with administration, and then with teachers. If then, the majority rules in favor, then it could be done within classes. Of course if this experiment were to be taken on, it should be done very carefully and tactfully, just as the teacher in the video did. Overall, I think that everyone could learn something from just watching this video. 

Multiculturalism in Schools

Having been raised within a Latin culture, I can identify with many people from similar upbringings. Although, my own parents where immigrants to this country they adapted the American view on education. My parents valued education tremendously, to such an extant that they matriculated my sister and I into private schools. Yet, other families did not feel the same way. The video on "Multicultural manners in school how does the priority of education differ among cultures?" does point out a very important fact within many Latin cultures, in that a families' livelihood is extremely important. Whereas education is not viewed nearly as important. Perhaps this is due primarily to the vast majority of the population in many Latin countries to be in poverty. And they are the ones to migrate to America searching for a more prosperous future. Therefore it is essential to know and understand these differences, especially in our classrooms, no matter how frustrating they may be. We need to have our students best interests at heart and help them succeed as much as they are able and allowed to. 

Below I have added a link to a You Tube video on immigrant parents and their struggles.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CQ61S10QrM


Manners and Body Language


Most of our communication is made through our bodies. So, being able to read and understand messages can be a difficult thing to do. Especially, with people from varying cultures. Gestures, facial expressions and/or body movements could cause confusion in both directions.  Therefore, being informed about different customs and traditions is ever so critical. Otherwise, we run the risk of misunderstanding the messages that are trying to be conveyed to us, primarily form our ELL's students. 
Words of course could also be misunderstood cross-culturally. The video "Manners and Verbal
 Expressions across Cultures " made light of many things that a person might do that might be 
taken the wrong way. For example, an Asian student might reply "yes" when being asked if they
 understood everything a teacher was saying. But in actually they did not, yet, they did not 
answer truthfully as to not offend the teacher. Hence, we have to learn and adapt sometimes to
 our students and find other ways in which to present ideas, comments or information to them.

*An interesting website that I found on how to read someone's body language...note this might
 primarily pertain to North America



http://www.wikihow.com/Read-Body-Language