All around the world, people speak, read, and write in many different languages. Some languages have different alphabet systems, and others make sounds that don't exist in English. Not only can our languages be different, but so can the ways we dress, eat, and greet others. When children come to the United States from other countries and need to learn English, they become English language learners. I Am an English-Language Learner introduces eight children from various countries who are learning English in their new homes. They share what they miss about their native countries, how they feel about living in the United States, and what they dream of doing. Each one has a new story and unique journey, helping everyone understand that the best education comes from learning about one another. This children's book introduces young readers to new customs and cultures through the stories of students who are learning English as a second language.

Immigration is one of the most contentious issues in twenty-first-century America. In forty years, the American population has doubled from 150 to 300 million, about half of the increase due to immigration. Discussions involving legal and illegal status, assimilation or separatism, and language unity or multilingualism continue to spark debate. The battle to give five million immigrant children America's common language, English, and to help these students join their English-speaking classmates in opportunities for self-fulfillment continues to be argued. American Immigrant is part memoir and part account of Rosalie Pedalino Porter's professional activities as a national authority on immigrant education and bilingualism.Her career began in the 1970s, when she entered the most controversial arena in public education, bilingualism. This book chronicles the political movement Porter helped lead, one that succeeded in changing state laws in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts. Programs that had segregated Latino children by language and ethnicity for years, diminishing their educational opportunities, were removed with overwhelming public support. New English-language programs in these states are reporting improved academic achievement for these students.This book is also Porter's testament to the boundless opportunities for women in the United States, and to the unique blending of ethnicities and religions and races into harmonious families, her own included, that continues to be a true strength of the United States Porter examines women's roles, beginning in the 1940s and continuing through the millennium, from the vantage point of someone who grew up in a working-class, male-dominated family. She explores the emotional price exacted by dislocation from one's native land and traditions; traveling and living in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia; and the evolving character of marriage and family in twenty-first-century America.

The latest book from the Immigrant Learning Center addresses some of the most prominent immigrant groups and the most striking episodes of nativism in American history. The introduction covers American immigration history and law as they have developed since the late eighteenth century. The essays that follow--authored by historians, sociologists, and anthropologists--examine the experiences of a large variety of populations to discover patterns in both immigration and anti-immigrant sentiment. The numerous cases reveal much about the immigrants' motivations for leaving their home countries, the obstacles they face to advancement and inclusion, their culture and occupational trends in the United States, their assimilation and acculturation, and their accomplishments and contributions to American life. Contributors Wayne Cornelius, University of California, San Diego * Anna Gressel-Bacharan, independent scholar * Nancy Foner, Hunter College * David W. Haines, George Mason University * Luciano J. Iorizo, SUNY Oswego * Alexander Kitroeff, Haverford College * Erika Lee, University of Minnesota * Deborah Dash Moore, University of Michigan * David M. Reimers, New York University * William G. Ross, Cumberland School of Law * Robert Zecker, Saint Francis Xavier University Distributed for George Mason University Press

Traces the lives of twenty-two immigrant teens throughout the course of a year at Denver's South High School who attended a specially created English Language Acquisition class and who were helped to adapt through strategic introductions to American culture.

Grande puts a human face on the epic story about those who make it across the border into America, those who never make it across, and those who are left behind.

"In a green town in the middle of America, a bright 18-year-old Hispanic student named Isaias Ramos sets out on the journey to college. Isaias, who passed a prestigious national calculus test as a junior and leads the quiz bowl team, is the hope of Kingsbury High in Memphis, a school where many students have difficulty reading. But Kingsbury's dysfunction, expensive college fees, and forms printed in a language that's foreign to his parents are all obstacles in the way of getting him to a university. Isaias also doubts the value of college and says he might go to work in his family's painting business after high school, despite his academic potential. Is Isaias making a rational choice? Or does he simply hope to avoid pain by deferring dreams that may not come to fruition? This is what journalist Daniel Connolly attempts to uncover in The Book of Isaias as he follows Isaias, peers into a tumultuous final year of high school, and, eventually, shows how adults intervene in the hopes of changing Isaias' life. Mexican immigration has brought the proportion of Hispanics in the nation's youth population to roughly one in four. Every day, children of immigrants make decisions about their lives that will shape our society and economy for generations.

This practical classroom resource helps teachers address the needs of students with non-parallel schooling, and immigrant English learners who are two or more years below grade level when they enter secondary school. It addresses standards and high stakes testing, arguing that teachers need specialized knowledge to assess English learners in literacy and academic content. This book also features an introduction to the theoretical reasons for the commitments, which are contextualized within historical and political developments within education programs for English learners. It then goes on to show how teachers can use the commitments in practice within real classroom settings for teaching English language arts, science, social studies, and math to English learners. --From publisher's description.