Hurdling Over Language Barriers: Building Relationships With Adolescent Newcomers Through Literacy Advancement

"Two of the article's authors are white, monolingual English speakers who taught at a six-week high school summer literacy institute for newcomers (i.e., attended a U.S. school for three or fewer years). The students were Spanish or French speakers. The teachers focused on building relationships with students through cross-disciplinary literacy activities. The teachers identified activities that would help them build relationships with students while also developing students' written, oral, and digital literacy skills in English and the students' first languages. This article provides details for implementing the three activities - heart maps, All About Me presentations, graffiti boards - and shares examples of the work students produced."