Dear Teachers,
The following is a visual representation of reading ladder that I have created. The anchor book for this ladder is Esperanza Rising written by Pam Munoz Ryan. The story is of a young girl from Mexico, whose family lost it all after her dad was killed by bandits after the Mexican Revolutionary war ended. Esperanza is forced to leave her homeland along with her relatives and some workers who use to work for her father. This books portrays the American dream, from which families sometimes migrate to America to search for a better future or escape violent living conditions.
This theme would be something for your students to know and learn more about. Sometimes it is important for students to understand how people of different races make it her to America, and understand not every country is as great as America, and what separate us from everyone else. I have included picture books for the students at a younger age, some novels, graphic novels, and also a non-fiction book so students can read about true stories of immigration and the different diverse people that choose to pursue the American dream and push their families forward.
One of the picture books that I have included is Carmen Learns English, written by Judy Cox. This is a story that shows students the huge language barrier that sometimes immigrants encounter. Carmen is a new student to her school with a huge problem, she does not know a single word in English and her teacher does not know how to speak in Spanish. This is a very big problem that is good for students to know about and be able to understand, it takes time and a lot of learning for foreigners to learn how to communicate in English.
I think it is important for students to also learn about immigration through real stories, non-fiction. I have included Just Like Us by Helen Thorpe. This is true story of 4 young girls who entered America illegally to pursue the America dream. The books mentions all of their personal lives but gets very intense when readers learn that two of the girls have documentation while the other two do not. This is a turning point of their friendship. It is important for students to know how people make it to America searching for a better life and also learning about the limitations the illegal girls have compared to the two that have documentation.
I hope you see the importance of my theme through this reading ladder. It is important for students to learn more and more about our country, and how many foreigners search for the American dream. All books have a special role in this theme, I have included immigration in other countries to expand knowledge of your students.
Sincerely,
Ricardo Arias-Ruiz
