I CAN DO THINGS YOU CANNOT, YOU CAN DO THINGS I CANNOT; TOGETHER WE CAN DO GREAT THINGS. ~ Mother Teresa
St. Martha is excited to be starting a connection with ESL Newcomer Academy. Newcomer Academy is a learning program within Jefferson County Public Schools with curriculum which provides a welcoming and respectful environment for students new to the United States. The program is for sixth through tenth grade students. These students typically are in their first year of instruction in a U.S. school. They are usually at the beginning levels of English proficiency and may have had limited, or interrupted, educational experiences in their native countries.
Mrs. Franklin and Mrs. Valencia have been working with teachers at Newcomer Academy to build a relationship between our schools’ students. This past week, six students from Newcomer Academy visited our Kindergarten classrooms. The kindergarten students worked together with them on alphabet and early literacy skills. It was an incredible sight to see the kindergartners taking the lead in educating and working with these students whose native languages included Swahili, Arabic, and Spanish. As students visited St. Martha, we also had a class of seventh graders visiting a class at Newcomer Academy. They worked together to complete an activity, communicating through oral language and writing. These experiences between the two schools are a great beginning to an ongoing partnership.
This is a truly unique opportunity. Through these shared experiences, our hope is to broaden our students’ knowledge and acceptance of others, no matter the language or culture.
