Aliens: a negative example for learning

The website Aliens on the official White House website is a government information page that presents the current U.S. administration’s position on immigration and undocumented migrants. 

The site uses direct and highly persuasive language, combining statistics, policy statements, images, and political messages to support a particular viewpoint on border security and immigration enforcement. Because of its strong political framing, it offers an interesting opportunity for educational work in the ESL classroom, particularly when combined with human rights education and critical thinking.

From a language-learning perspective, the website provides authentic English material that students can analyse. Learners can identify persuasive vocabulary, emotional language, rhetorical strategies, and the way information is organised to influence readers. Activities might include examining headlines, identifying facts and opinions, or discussing the difference between informative and persuasive texts.

The resource is also valuable for developing media literacy and critical thinking skills. Students can explore questions such as: Who is the intended audience?, What message is the website trying to communicate?, What information is included and what information might be missing?, and How do images and language influence the reader’s perception of migrants? These discussions help learners understand that even official sources can present information from a particular perspective.

From a human rights perspective, the website can be used as a negative example to introduce debates about migration, asylum, discrimination, and the rights of refugees and migrants. Students can compare the language used on the website with principles found in documents such as the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights and discuss how different societies balance security concerns with the protection of human dignity and fundamental rights.

Possible ESL classroom activities include analysing key vocabulary related to migration, comparing the website with reports from international organisations, writing alternative headlines from different perspectives, holding debates on migration policies, or evaluating the reliability and purpose of different sources. In this way, students not only improve their English language skills but also learn to read critically, recognise bias, and reflect on complex social issues from an informed and respectful perspective.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/aliens/

Some things I have learned about the U.S by Juan Luis Cortés Nicolás

This OER (Open Educational Resource) presents a series of activities that encourage and motivate students to explore and experiment, as well as to work in teams to learn about different aspects of the English curriculum related to the development of their Cultural Competence. 

ESO (Educación Secundaria Obligatoria, equivalent to secondary school) students will be able to develop their skills and acquire knowledge in a way that relates concepts and associates ideas, solves problems, and enhances their critical thinking, so that it becomes part of their personal and academic development to function in their environment.

The OER, which can be found in the Creatum repository of digital educational objects of the Community of Madrid, consists of a set of varied learning situations, presented as small challenges that spark curiosity and creativity, and can be developed over several sessions. 

This is a didactic proposal in which, through learning situations related to the USA, it is intended to develop the cultural competence of English Language students. It will aim to introduce aspects of the country's history, traditions, and geography, highlighting the following content:

The Civil Rights Movement in the USA, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Rosa Parks.

The celebration of Thanksgiving and the importance of being grateful.

The National Parks of the USA, emphasizing Big Bend National Park, located in Texas.

For the development of the learning situations, the English language will be used as a vehicle, in any ESO course, with the activities being especially suitable for bilingual courses, as they have to learn the cultural component of the foreign language and possess greater communicative skills to express themselves in English.

Find this OER on:

https://innovacionyformacion.educa.madrid.org/creatum/odes/9acad783-f54a-4454-b1cb-ec8ac1347151/index.html

The Six Triple Eight

I just watched this movie on a popular streaming platform, and I think it’s worth featuring on the blog due to its compelling example of resilience against both gender and racial discrimination, as depicted in this little-known story from World War II.

The 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion was a unique and historic military unit of the United States Army during World War II, known as the "Six Triple Eight." It was composed entirely of African American women, led by Commander Charity Adams Earley, and was the only African American women's unit deployed overseas during the conflict.

The battalion’s mission was to address a critical problem: a massive backlog of military mail intended for American soldiers stationed in Europe. This correspondence was essential for troop morale, but piles of undelivered letters and packages had accumulated due to logistical and organizational challenges. The "Six Triple Eight" was first sent to Birmingham, England, and later to Rouen, France, to tackle this task.

The women of the 6888th faced racism and sexism both within and outside the military, including segregation in their accommodations and workplaces. They worked in 24-hour shifts in cold, poorly lit warehouses.

Despite their vital contributions, the 6888th was largely overlooked in military history for decades. However, in recent years, their legacy has been recognized. In 2019, a monument was unveiled in their honor at the U.S. Army Women’s Museum. More recently, in March 2022, the members of the 6888th were posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor granted by the United States Congress.

You can find information about the movie through this link:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Six_Triple_Eight

The Library of Congress offers an intriguing collection of resources (in English) about this unit, including testimonies from its members. Access it here:

https://guides.loc.gov/6888th-central-postal-directory-battalion

This website is dedicated to these women and their achievements:

https://www.womenofthe6888th.org/

Photo source: https://www.womenofthe6888th.org/photo-gallery?lightbox=dataItem-jfe4criy4 

OELA Resources

The National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition & Language Instruction Educational Programs (NCELA) supports the U.S. Department of Education's Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement, and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students (OELA).

NCELA collects, coordinates, and conveys a broad range of research and resources in support of an inclusive approach to high quality education for English learners.

Visit their resources on:

https://ncela.ed.gov/resources/oela-resources

NCLEA resource library @ASKNCELA1

NCLEA (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition) resource library is a searchable database of over 20,000 items including research articles, literature reviews, reports, classroom materials, curricula, fact sheets, multimedia products and more to help stakeholders learn about and advance multilingual learner education.

Find NCLEA resource library on:

https://ncela.ed.gov/

Free to Use and Reuse Sets @librarycongress

This page features items from the digital collections of the Library of Congress that are free to use and reuse. The Library believes that this content is either in the public domain, has no known copyright, or has been cleared by the copyright owner for public use. 

Each set of content is based on a theme and is first featured on the Library's home page. These sets are just a small sample of the Library's digital collections (https://www.loc.gov/collections/)

https://www.loc.gov/free-to-use/

Independence Day

Independence Day is a federal holiday in the United States commemorating the Declaration of Independence, which was ratified by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The Fourth of July has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941.

The following Ted-ed lesson by Kenneth C. Davis and animated by Henry Chung, Mark Storer, Noel Wong, Alexandra Kogl, Mike Field dives into some of the lesser known facts about the process of writing the Declaration of Independence

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/what-you-might-not-know-about-the-declaration-of-independence-kenneth-c-davis

How did trains standardize time in the United States?

Standard time is the synchronization of clocks within a geographical area or region to a single time standard 

During the 19th century, scheduled trains required time standardization in the industrialized world. 

Standard time was not enacted into US law until the 1918 Standard Time Act established standard time in time zones; the law also instituted daylight saving time (DST). 

This lesson explains some details of the history of time standardization in the United States.

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-did-trains-standardize-time-in-the-united-states-william-heuisler 

On YouTube:

The Zinn Education Project

The Zinn Education Project promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in classrooms across the USA. 

For more than ten years, the Zinn Education Project has introduced students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula.

Their website offers free, downloadable lessons and articles organized by theme, time period and grade level. The teaching materials emphasize the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping history.

(Source About The Zinn Education Project)

https://www.zinnedproject.org/

On Twitter:

https://twitter.com/ZinnEdProject

On Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/ZinnEducationProject

Women's Equality Day

Women's Equality Day is celebrated in the United States on August 26 to commemorate the 1920 adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment (Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution, which prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. It was first celebrated in 1973 and is proclaimed each year by the United States President. (Source: Wikipedia)

Some resources:

http://www.nwhp.org/resources/commemorations/womens-equality-day/

https://kidskonnect.com/social-studies/womens-equality-day/

https://www.pinterest.es/wisdpisocstu/womens-equality-day-resources-for-teachers/

https://www.depts.ttu.edu/wstudies/events_womensequalityday.php

http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2017/08/25/five-ways-to-teach-womens-equality-day/

World Digital Library

The World Digital Library (WDL) is a project of the U.S. Library of Congress, carried out with the support of the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (UNESCO), and in cooperation with libraries, archives, museums, educational institutions, and international organizations from around the world.

The WDL makes available on the Internet, free of charge and in multilingual format, significant primary materials from all countries and cultures.

(Source WDL)

Visit:

https://www.wdl.org/en/

Newcomer Toolkit

This report was produced by the National Center for English Language Acquisition (NCELA) under U.S. Department of Education (Department) This tool kit helps U.S. educators and others who work directly with immigrant students and their families. 

It would also be interesting to develop intercultural communication and competence in our classrooms.

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/oela/newcomers-toolkit/ncomertoolkit.pdf

USA Learns

USA Learns, a free website for adults to learn English online. Here you can practice English speaking, reading, writing, listening, grammar, vocabulary and more. The website was originally launched in 2008. Since then, more than 7 million adults from around the world have visited it.

Their beginning and intermediate English courses include hundreds of educational videos that will teach you American English. USA Learns also has thousands of English learning activities and quizzes that let you know immediately if you answer correctly.

The following video explains how to start learning English free with USA Learns. You will learn how to register, choose an English course and sign in next time. When you register on USA Learns, your work will be saved and you’ll be able to see your scores. You only need to register once. Registering on USA Learns is easy and free. (Source USA Learns)

http://www.usalearns.org/

U.S. Geological Survey. Educational Resources

The USGS was created in 1879. It is the sole science agency for the US Department of the Interior. 

The USGS provides science about the natural hazards, the water, energy, minerals, the health of our ecosystems and environment, and the impacts of climate and land-use change.

It also provides educational resources (for Primary, Secundary and Undergraduate Education) and useful information about the Earth and its processes.

http://education.usgs.gov/

NewseumED

Headquartered in Washington D.C, the Newseum is an interactive museum that promotes free expression and the five freedoms of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States: religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. It was open in 2008.

NewseumED is a free online learning platform for teachers and students that shows the Newseum's commitment to reach all who wish to better understand these freedoms and their relationship to learning and teaching history and civics.

It provides free learning tools on media literacy, EDcollections, lesson plans, activities, EDideas, and much more.

You can register to get free, complete access to all these resources.

https://newseumed.org/

Colorín Colorado

Colorín Colorado is a US bilingual website in English and Spanish serving parents and teachers of English language learners in grades PreK-12. It receives major funding from the American Federation of Teachers and National Education Association.

Colorín Colorado provides free multimedia materials on bilingual education (videos, toolkits, activities, articles...) and advice to parents and schools.

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/colorincolorado

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColorinColorado.org

On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/colorincolorado

http://www.colorincolorado.org/

Shaping the Way We Teach English

Shaping the Way We Teach English is an awesome video-based training resource for English language educators. It is free and accessible through The Online Language Center of the University of Oregon and it includes about 10 minutes long videos (one for each of the 14 modules), transcripts, and recommended supplementary web based reading.

You can see teachers from around the world working with their classes and share their experieces about the way they teach.

http://oelp.uoregon.edu/shaping

Solicitud de intercambio virtual

Desde el SEL hemos recibido el siguiente aviso de una profesora de español norteamericana interesada en un intercambio a través de Internet (correos, Skype, proyectos virtuales, etc.) con profesorado español y grupos de alumnado de entre 13 y 16 años. Ella trabaja en un escuela pública del estado de Florida y su alumnado tiene un nivel básico de español.

Cascade DuSel

Spanish Profesor, Pasco eSchool

cdusel@pasco.k12.fl.us

http://eschool.pasco.k12.fl.us/

Hermanamientos con centros de Estados Unidos y Canadá

La Consejería de Educación en EEUU y Canadá facilita, a través de esta página, un servicio de punto de encuentro de centros educativos con el objetivo de poner en contacto aquellos que deseen realizar un proyecto de hermanamiento tanto virtual como presencial. La adscripción de centros se realizará según la oferta/demanda y teniendo en cuenta las características reflejadas en la solicitud y el orden de llegada de las mismas.

Para solicitar un contacto con un centro, bastará cumplimentar la solicitud (ver la página) en el idioma del país de origen y remitirla a los siguientes correos electrónicos:

Programa piloto: Centros educativos con secciones bilingües de la Comunidad Autónoma de Galicia e ISAs (International Spanish Academies) de EEUU-Canadá:

hermanamientos.isas@educacion.es  

Centros educativos del resto del España y de EEUU-Canadá:

hermanamientos@educacion.es  

Los centros que deseen localizar posibles contactos de forma autónoma podrán utilizar los siguientes enlaces para acceder a directorios de centros:

Great Schools www.greatschools.org

Center for Applied Linguistics (CAL) www.cal.org/resources/databases.html

K-12 Directory of Schools.com www.k12directoryofschools.com