Morell knows firsthand the difference that can make. The summer school program allowed students like Haider to be surrounded by kids just like him. Nearly three decades later, she tries to be the mentor that she needed when she first arrived to the U.S. WLRN Ponce de Leon Middle School reading teacher Yuneisy Morell was once a "newcomer" herself - she came to Miami from Cuba when she was 10. The Miami-Dade school district - the country’s third largest - has been rolling out new strategies to support these students, including an English language immersion program over the summer, and an effort to group newcomer students together when possible, so that they can find comfort in their shared experiences. The influx is greater than when Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in 2017 and the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. The district is now serving an additional 20,000 immigrant students - many of whom came with their families from across Latin America, fleeing economic crises, political repression and rampant violence in their home countries. Thanks to students like Haider, this past school year Miami-Dade County Public Schools saw an increase in enrollment - rather than a loss - for the first time in decades. MDCPS rolls out newcomer-focused instruction “The summer camp is so good because I like my friends and my teacher is so cool … yeah,” Haider said with a smile. WLRN is using just his first name to protect his privacy. He’s 14 years old and in eighth grade, with curly hair and an easy smile. This past summer, students at Ponce de Leon Middle took some of their first steps into the English language and life in the U.S., as part of a new summer program just for immigrant students. And many of them are missing their sisters … that is the hard part.” And many of them don't even have their mom here. “Their personal journeys to get to the United States have put me to tears. “They have been here for three to four months,” Morell explained. When she taught summer school this June and July, all of Morell’s kids were "newcomers." That’s how much English Yuneisy Morell’s students had when they walked into her classroom on the verdant, tree-lined campus of Ponce de Leon Middle School in Coral Gables.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |