All Articles Education Voice of the Educator Working with refugees inspired me to become a teacher. Here’s why listening and learning are an essential part of teaching

Working with refugees inspired me to become a teacher. Here’s why listening and learning are an essential part of teaching

I work in the most diverse school district in Georgia. Here’s what I’ve learned.

5 min read

EducationVoice of the Educator

Teacher and students looking at a globe.

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I never imagined I’d become a teacher. After earning degrees in Sociology and International Relations, I moved to the Netherlands for further study. That’s where I started working with refugees.

When I returned to the United States, I joined a nonprofit and became an AmeriCorps Project RISE member. I worked as an afterschool tutor and literacy instructor and connected deeply with the children and adults I served.

These experiences sparked my interest in education, so I returned to school for a Master of Arts in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. I began my new career as an ESOL teacher in DeKalb County School District, the third-largest district in Georgia and the most diverse. Students and parents come from 167 countries and speak 174 different languages.

From a language and literacy perspective, teaching here is very different from teaching in a monolingual classroom. I quickly realized that to succeed, I’d have to be strategic about learning about my students.

Build relationships with students and families

Before I joined the district, I assisted refugees with everything from building literacy skills to setting up their apartments to applying for citizenship. These interactions allowed me to develop close relationships and showed me the importance of listening and learning.

So, when teachers who have never worked with multilingual learners ask me what to do, the first thing I tell them is to build relationships with students and their families.

When I was working in the classroom as an ESOL teacher and ESOL department chair, I learned about my students’ home countries, cultures, educational histories, and interests. I also made an effort to get to know their families — and the best way to do that was to get out into the community. I attended an array of events, from cultural celebrations and food festivals to basketball games and graduations.

I then leveraged this knowledge to create lessons and assignments that tapped into my students’ prior knowledge and connected with them on a deeper level.

Create a welcoming environment

As the daughter of an immigrant, I know first-hand that parents don’t always understand how school is done here. This is why it’s important to find ways to bring parents to school. It’s also beneficial to give them opportunities to be the experts and show us what they know.

In a professional learning session, a teacher recently shared how she held an International Game Night at school and invited families to bring games from their culture and teach everyone how to play. Fun, informal events like this break down barriers and help parents feel safe and comfortable. They show parents that we want to hear and learn from them and that we value their contributions.

Implement high-quality instructional resources and culturally relevant content

High-quality resources are a must-have for successful English language teaching. One website I found to be helpful early in my career was Colorín Colorado. It provides free information, activities, and advice for teachers as well as schools and families.

Curriculum tools that support culturally equitable practices play an integral role in literacy and language development in our district. We use Lexia English Language Development, which supports students’ English language acquisition through academic conversations and speech recognition technology. We also use two other programs from Lexia to deliver differentiated literacy instruction to students of all abilities.

Another way to integrate culturally relevant content into lessons is through books such as Green Card Youth Voices, a collection of first-person essays written by refugee and immigrant students. One of my newcomer students read the book, then asked to read it aloud to the class and share his story. This is the power of seeing yourself in the stories you read. Reading this collection of immigration stories written by local students inspired my students to write about their own journeys, hopes, and dreams. 

I also found it helpful to integrate students’ interests into assignments. So, during a lesson on persuasive writing, I’d ask them to draft an essay about which soccer team or social media platform was the best and why. This allowed them to focus on developing their language skills, rather than struggling to grasp a topic they weren’t familiar with.

Instruction is more effective when students can see themselves reflected in the content and conversations in their classes. They feel seen, heard, and valued. This fosters a sense of community and belonging, and it creates an environment where they feel motivated to engage academically.

Allow space for students’ native languages

I’ve found that when students are allowed to use their native language, it enhances their understanding of English. When I was learning Dutch, I frequently relied on my English language skills to help me learn Dutch. 

This ability to move between languages — translanguaging — is also gaining traction as a pedagogical approach to teaching in literacy classrooms. In my classroom, I encouraged translanguaging in several ways. I might ask students to write part of an assignment in their first language and part in English. Or if two students spoke the same language, I’d ask if they’d like to discuss a topic in their first language and then present their ideas in English.

These activities helped students build their skills and confidence in English while promoting an inclusive environment where all languages are respected. 

Building understanding helps us advance together

My work in the classroom and with organizations that serve refugees and immigrants has taught me that success starts with listening and learning. When we understand our students’ backgrounds, cultures, and interests, we can better guide them toward wherever they want to go.