Atlantis students are the teachers — they created books for migrant kids to learn English
FALL RIVER — What started out as a civics project for eighth graders at Atlantis Charter School developed into lessons in English, graphic design, publishing, community spirit and empathy.
Social studies students at Atlantis recently wrote and illustrated a series of early-reader picture books meant to teach kids basic English. They’re gifts for migrant children from Haiti staying in the Fall River area.
On Wednesday, the students presented 20 copies of the books to community and children’s advocacy group United Neighbors of Fall River. Wendy Garf-Lipp, United Neighbors’ executive director, said many migrant families staying in local motels include kids of kindergarten-age.
“Our children are going to go crazy over this,” she said. “They’re so eager to learn English. They're so excited about it.”
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Atlantis Charter School students reached out to the community
The eighth-graders at Atlantis were advised by the state Department of Education, as part of their civics instruction, to create a student-led project. Dean of Humanities Lisa Dion and social studies teacher Tom Furman reached out to United Neighbors to ask what they needed and how Atlantis could help.
“One of our problems is we have migrant children that are not yet in school that are in the motels," Garf-Lipp said. “Although we have Citizens For Citizens coming out once or twice a week doing movement and dance, they have no language [instruction] going on."
She had done a similar book project years ago, she said, and showed them books by author and illustrator Richard Scarry.
“As a former reading specialist, I said absolutely,” Dion said.
Furman said his five classes of students created five books in a series, each on a different topic, like animals, foods, first words and more. With their teacher’s guidance, they imagined themselves in the migrant kids’ shoes and brainstormed about what a child new to America might need to know.
“’When you were a kid, what were the first words that you learned?’” Furman asked them. “There are safety words, like ‘fire’ and ‘help’ and stuff like that.”
“We wanted to make them simple enough so it would be easy for their [young] minds to understand, and be able to identify as they were reading it more and starting to get into it,” said student Ella Corriveau.
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Planning the books meant the students had to become teachers themselves, educating little ones in a foreign language. They kept the words and pictures simple enough for kids to understand, but distinctive so there’d be no confusion. Corriveau said they designed the lettering to be basic and easily legible.
“The images had to be very precise and very detailed,” said classmate Emma Correia.
Atlantis Principal Robert Beatty said the project was a model of ideal education.
“Any time the kids take ownership of learning like this and share it with other people, it’s often times the way that education should work,” he said. “It was really exciting to see a project like this come to fruition, for the kids to get recognized for it and for them to be so proud of their work.”
Book project aims to educate and inspire
Garf-Lipp was overwhelmed when receiving the books, saying she “never expected anything of this quality.”
The books were printed and bound on laminated pages so they can be used, reused and loved by multiple rounds of kids.
More than just a writing or illustration project, the book project was a study in empathy for those in dire need. Garf-Lipp said she was impressed by how the school asked an organization like hers what the community's needs were first, and how the students took to heart conversations about what the migrant families’ lives must have been like.
“We spoke about what the need was, and then you took that idea and ran you with it, and you made something that’s going to change the lives of the children that are new to our country,” she told students.
It wasn’t lost on the students how the basic act of learning to communicate with your neighbors in the same language can be the first step in a changed life, and how books are inspiration-machines.
“One day when they grow up ... they could become the next famous or artist or something," said student Jalil Islam. “And that just makes me feel good inside.”
Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River students create English picture books for migrant families
