Sunday, December 07, 2008
New voices of thanks in a new land
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Jude Prashaw
Prashaw, of Roanoke, is an English language learner specialist at Fallon Park Elementary School.
"Dear Soldier, Thank you for protecting our country." So starts a handful of letters from Betty Coyne's second-grade students at Fallon Park Elementary School.
While Coyne's writing assignment focused on the theme of Thanksgiving, I believe her true purpose was to encourage her students to write. "The more my students write," she says, "the more fluent readers they will be." Almost every day, upon entering Coyne's class, I am greeted with: "Come see what my students wrote today."
One letter continues, "Thank you for saving our country and it was a very hard thing to do." A second letter includes a personal note, "I like to play soccer," and ends with, "I appreciate you four saving me and my family."
Many of us, I am sure, have read similar letters from students around the country. Why, then, do these second-grade letters from Fallon Park speak to me of the true spirit of giving thanks? Perhaps because the complimentary close of the letters include phrases such as:
"I am Mauricio. I am from Mexico. You are the best soldier." "My name is Abdulwahab. I am from Africa."
Coyne's second-grade students are English language learners. They come from Kenya, Somalia, Liberia and the Congo; from Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador. And, yes, they now come from Iraq.
These children have experienced poverty, war, sickness, hunger and fear. They left everything and arrived in a new culture with different traditions and a new language. Yes, they are poor, and yet they are deeply thankful.
While these students thank our soldiers for "protecting our country," I would like to thank Liliana, Dolla, Neireda and Marlene; Jamal, Felix, Hawa, Mano and Abdulahi; Lesley, Tania, Mowly, Edward, Diana, Edy, Oumarou, Abdulwahab and Mauricio.
Thank you for your spirit of curiosity, for your eagerness to learn and for thanking me each time you leave my class. Thank you for teaching me the true spirit of giving thanks.
