Research in Cape Verde the impact of colonialism on its culture and language to work toward creating a welcoming and social justice-oriented school community where students emigrating from there feel valued and empowered.
Our two weeks in Cape Verde have left me with lots of new knowledge and skills that will help change my teaching in September. I'll go back to the classroom with a deeper understanding of the history and culture of Cape Verde, a new appreciation for the prior school experiences of the Cape Verdean students in my class, a host of ideas for new Cape Verdean literature to bring into my classroom, and language skills that will help me better receive the newcomer Cape Verdean students in my class.
With a deeper understanding of Cape Verdean history, literature, and in particular the language forms, I feel better prepared to create an ESL classroom and is culturally and linguistically sustaining for our Cape Verdean newcomer students. We are also returning as a FFT team with a collection of ideas for how to infuse the culture and context of Cape Verde into math and science classes as well, and will pass these ideas to our school colleagues in September.
While in Cape Verde, we were able to visit with many of our students' families. We spoke with them about their students, learned more school in Cape Verde, and were able to show to families the amazing work their students did last year in Boston at our school. During these visits, my colleagues and I challenged ourselves to do as much as possible in Cape Verdean Kriolu, and I'm returning with a new appreciation for the language and the difficulty our students face learning English as newcomers.
Our new knowledge of Cape Verdean history, culture, and language will help me design curriculum that my students from Cape Verde feel included in. From the texts and pictures we use, to the historical figures we study, and the music we use in our Arts Elective classes, our Cape Verdean students will be closer to the content and the way we are learning it.
We are coming back to Boston with plans to integrate Cape Verdean literature into our English and Humanities curriculum, but also with some ideas for our math and science teams to integrate Cape Verdean culture, history, geography, and environment into their classrooms as well. We'll meet with our colleagues personally and in a school professional development day to share what we've learned.
With our new connections to teachers in Cape Verde, we also have the chance to collaborate with them remotely. We are exploring ways that we can stay in contact, and create partnership between our schools and classrooms. Our students would be able to conference call and share stories with students in Cape Verde, and vice versa, directly sharing how their English has developed as a result of our fellowship.
During our time at the Amilcar Cabral High School in Assomada, we met with teachers who are wrestling with many of the same issues that we are in Boston. They're wondering how to better faciliate their inclusion classes, how to engage students in a world with so much social media connectivity, and how to better teach English to students who also need to pass difficult national exams. We have started a discussion of a teaching exchange for next year, and will continue to share ideas for practice.
Our time studying, meeting families, and practicing language has given me a deeper understanding of the cultural, political, and educational context that our students from Cape Verde grow up in. I know this will change not only my curriculum ideas for my English class, but also my ability to form early positive relationships with my newcomer students from Cape Verde.
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