Remember the Krebs Cycle? The Pythagorean Theorem? Hamlet? Imagine having to study them in a language foreign to your own.
Over 15% of our students are English language learners, many of whom immigrate to the U.S.
in the middle of their high school career. They are thrown into classes where they’re expected to read, write, and discuss in a new language, and (in many cases) a completely different alphabet.
We are librarians in an inner-city Title 1 public high school where over 300 students voluntarily visit the library every day. Almost 90% of our students come from low-income families, so they don’t have much money for books.
That's where we come in. The more printed texts we carry written at their reading level, the more opportunities our English learners have to broaden their vocabulary and strengthen their reading comprehension (Cummins, 2011).
My Project
Recreational reading is more effective than traditional methods of instruction (e.g. drill and repetition) for improving reading and listening comprehension, vocabulary, oral language, writing, and grammar skills in second-language learners (Elley and Mangubhai, 1983).
For that reason, we’re requesting books in English and Spanish that are appropriate and enjoyable for English language learners. These books will provide a necessary scaffold as our students progress from introductory English to conversational English to academic English. We’ve included 10 popular Spanish novels because developing the students’ literacy in their first language improves their literacy in their new language (Cummins, 1981 and Krashen, 1996 and 2003). Moreover, students who read for pleasure in their heritage language have better language retention than students who don’t (Krashen, 2004).
Your funding would allow us to provide more high-interest, low-level English library books, as well as books in our students’ native language.
This will also encourage ESL teachers to schedule more time for their classes to visit the library, check out books, and read.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Wright and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
