Efrain: My name's Efrain Tovar. I teach at Abraham
Lincoln Middle School in Selma, California, and I teach seventh and eighth
grade Newcomer program. Good morning. Good morning.
Good morning. A newcomer, is a student
that is new in the country. Typically, a newcomer is
defined as anyone that has not attended US school
for three years or less. - All right.
Good morning, everyone. First thing we're going to write
the question. - Our newcomers
are very diverse. They come from
different countries an
d they
speak different languages. Every single flag that you see
in my classroom represents the flag of a current newcomer
or a former newcomer. This year, they're all
Spanish speakers. - All the letters
in English make sounds. Yes, just like in Spanish,
right? - They need to be given
every single opportunity to acquire the English
language quickly, but also the importance
of not forgetting where they're coming from. And by that I mean that
I also like to reinforce their primary language. - So s
ay it in Spanish and I
will help you with your English. Okay? Because Alondra,
you have superpowers. You know what your superpower is that you speak two languages. That means,
you know, two worlds. And I want you to be proud
of that. You're learning English? Yes? And you're learning
Spanish in this classroom. You need to learn both so that you can be a supergirl. Okay? All right. - By me reinforcing
their primary language and validating
their primary language. What it does is that it
makes them
feel seen, because I truly believe that
language is tied to identity. Any time that we don't
acknowledge the students heritage language, we are subconsciously
telling them that that they have to leave
that part of who they are aside in order
to acquire another language. Now, I want you to write
the question. You should be able to do this
in 2 minutes. I run a pretty tight ship,
you know, and um -- but hopefully they know
that I meant well for them and that I expect the best from
them because the
y are the best. - Vowels. Beautiful. Ohhhh... That's okay. Give her a hand, please. - I'm all about allowing student
to fail in class so that they can know that it's
okay to fail because failure is
our first attempt in learning. And when you're learning
language, we're going to make
a lot of mistakes. - Question, what do you love? What do you like? Yes, understand? - In order for me
to be able to teach the student and be able to connect
and to reach that student by knowing their story
allows me
to to be a little bit
more empathetic and allows me to know
how to best reach them and how to impact them
in a positive way as they begin to adjust to a new school,
to a new country. I often share with my students
that I was like you. I was an English learner. It was
not a positive experience. My parents are from Mexico. They came to this country
seeking a better life. My parents didn't speak English
at that time, and so obviously
coming into the classroom, being a newcomer per
se was very scary
for me. My teacher told me
that I was not allowed to speak Spanish in the classroom,
and so that shut me down. I didn't feel that I could be me and that has impacted
my life and has, I think, definitely has made me
the teacher that I am today. We as educators
must do everything possible to minimize those anxieties,
to minimize those things that inhibit our students
to be who they truly are. When it comes down to it, these are children, right? Regardless of why their parents
came to this country
, whether they came legally
or illegally, they■re children. And as an educator,
my job is to protect children. My job is to ensure
that they feel safe, that they have
every single opportunity to be successful, to be able
to reach the American dream. And what is that American dream? That American dream is whatever
they want to accomplish in life. This is our one life. So let's live it
with excellence.
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