RAHWAY, NJ — Franklin Elementary School is home to the Multilingual Student Ambassador Program where 5th and 6th grade students of diverse languages come together to develop leadership, communication, and cross cultural skills. Organized by ESL teachers Tatiana Gutierrez and Lindsey Lerner Barrett and school counselor Greg Mariconda, the purpose of this program is to mentor students who are new to Franklin School and coming from another country. Ambassadors and their mentees came together as a community and participated in a Vocabulary Word Detective activity on Friday, March 7.
When possible, ambassadors are paired with mentees who also speak their home language such as Spanish or Creole. The students worked in pairs/ small groups to read and engage in various National Geographic leveled informational texts. Students used their detective skills to find a new vocabulary word to explore and complete a four square graphic organizer activity. Lastly, the students cheered each other on as they presented to the group. This was a perfect opportunity to use the results of FES’s school wide data collection to spark interest in our growth areas while incorporating the English Language Development domains of speaking, reading, writing and listening.
Franklin School’s ambassadors and mentees enjoyed mini-muffins and water while they worked together to complete the activity. They had a great morning of having fun with language learning. Everyone is already looking forward to the next event.
Photos Courtesy of Ashley Shanley