How to run a guest-worker program

A Guest-Worker Program That Does Well by Migrants

By Krissah Williams
MONTERREY, Mexico -- If a quarry needs a migrant worker who can haul 50-pound loads of rock out of a mine, or a big landscaper wants to hire a man who'll mow grass from sunup to sundown for $8 an hour without overstaying his visa, Jeffrey West scrolls through his computer, clicks the mouse and fills...

In this article, Williams interviews Jeffery West, owner of Latin Labor Solutions (LLS), who explains how he recruits Mexican laborers, fills out their paper work to obtain visas, and sets and prepares potential employees for appointments with the U.S. consulate. Interestingly, West found that Mexican workers were willing to do hard labor for very little pay compared to U.S. Laborers who after a few hours of hard labor quit the jobs.

Williams notes that some recruiters take advantage of the illiterate by charging them more money to take a job than they could get compensated for. This reminds me of how farmers in the early 1900s treated Mexicans when they loaned them money to take care of their bills, and then paid them very little, forcing Mexicans to work on farms for many years (Takaki).

I believe it is important for the Congress and the Senate to be careful not to treat these laborers unjustly. Their proposal to charge workers many fees in order to secure low paying jobs in the U.S. is inhumane. U.S. citizens in low paying jobs get government assistance in order to meet their basic needs. Why create hardships for people who are willing to give the strength of their youth in the fields and construction work? Why make laborers lives harder by making them jump through many hurdles when all they want is a chance at a better life?

Video: The Recruiter: Labor Across the Border
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content?referrer=emaillink

Ninos Mueren

Some people immigrate because they are unable to find the resources to feed their children. At the hospital featured in this video 20-30 children die from malnutrition each month.

Poverty Along the Mexico Border

Need I say more?

Immigration Reform

This slide show highlights some points on why immigrants come to the U.S.

Making the Bill

Charles Babbington's articleImmigration Deal Survives Hurdles talks about the progress the on immigration reform. He notes that the senate defined criminals to be sex offenders and gang members and would not allow them to become legalized. I am glad that these leaders made a sensible decision not to criminalize everyone.

The Senate also decided that law enforcement would not be allowed to have access to revoked visas. This was also a good move because of the decrease in raids at the workplace and the breaking up of families.

On the table is still the debate on how the guest worker program should be operated. How long should workers be allowed to be in the country, and if this should be tracked so that they can be legalized. Republicans propose that immigrants should pay costly insurance in order to be considered as a responsible citizen. I don't agree with fines imposed on immigrants because they are already at the bottom of the SES in America and the monies they acquire are actually used to meet the basic needs of the family. Most immigrants don't drive around in Lexus and Hummers, or have 20 acre ranches. They work for what they have so Republicans need to back-off on their insistance that immigrants should pay the government and their special interest groups for services that many don't even use.

CINCO DE MAYO!!!

Viva Mexico!!!

Tribute to world cup 06.

5 De Mayo 2006

Si PODEMOS!

Wagner Cinco de Mayo

small tribute to celebrities

San Antonio Bars 101 Concept Map and Worksheet

Worksheet
This is a guide for adult ESL students over 21. This guide informs students about inexpensive and expensive ways of how to entertain themselves in bars. It also mentions ways to interact with someone they find interesting. Students also recieve information about how to order drinks and are encouraged to be responsible for their drinking.

Software Evaluation # 3 Merit Software Evaluation

Title of Software: Merit Software Evaluation

Producer: Merit Software, since 1987

Target students (e.g., age or grade-level of students): ESL elementary.
* The producer is not limited to middle school and adult software available for ESL students but includes a variety of other products for all elementary , middle, high school levels, adult literacy and GED, college preparation, and special education.

Proficiency level (e.g., beginning, intermediate, advanced): Intermediate

Description:
The program is designed to help students with grammar. Topics are broken down into 6 units. The software is designed with a pre-assessment, activities/exercises, post assessment and follow up exercises. Scores also kept for students so that teacher can monitor their progress and have easy access to them.

The program is very user friendly. The student is presented with a sentence that is grammatically incorrect. They are given 2 answer choices to pick from. Students are given a star for each correct answer. Since the program is designed on levels, the student must be able obtain 6 stars before going on to the next level.

Language skills targeted: Written language. Although students are also given an opportunity to listen to the sentence they must work on.

Evaluation:

The strengths of the program include its user-friendly features, its ability to track student progress, and the programming that creates follow-up question for students on concepts they are having trouble with. In addition students are able to listen to the sentences. A weakness for this program is that it may not be culturally sensitive to all students. The sentences are biased to American students who have studied in the U.S. by using their vocabulary and their frame of reference.

I think that the program will be useful in the classroom because it allows students extra practice on their grammar skills. Since the program asks follow up question for the goals not met, students know what they still need to work on because of such immediate feedback. As a result this would be a good resource to draw from for those students who may still need help with grammar concepts.

Since the questions seem to be set up in drill format, the approach the developer is using has to behaviorist. The goal of this software package is to provide as much practice as possible so that students form good grammar habits.

Kidpix - Matching

In this worksheet, students will have to organize the animals into the correct category. This would allow teacher to see if students understand the concepts of amphibian, fish and reptiles.

Science Fair and Scientific Method Videocast

I created this slide show through Photostory and then converted it to an MP4 file. While I am able to post to this blog here, I still need to figure out how to do it on the school blog.

Grand Opening of the Alameda Museum

april 14 2007 01
Originally uploaded by EHop.

The opening of the Alameda had many events that allowed children and adults to get a taste for some Mexican culture. It had a display of conjunto music that photographed many local artist, most of which I did not know, however, I thought it was a nice touch when I could here the conversations of older Mexican-Americans who grew up with the type of music. "Look isn't that ....." "Wow, I'm glad she made it!" "Did you see .... " For some of the museum goers this exhibit was very nostalgic and made me appreciate this type of music even more.
Another exhibit that hey had was on the acutal Alameda Theater. The theater is in walking distance from the Museum. I would have liked for the theater to have gotten a face lift as well, and seen it converted into a museum. The photographs and the posters of the movies that played during the theaters 1940s golden era reminded me of how my father idolized many of those Mexican actors and acresses.
Some of the other exhibits included artifacts on loan from other museums in the Smithonian network. It also included a media show that compared to Cirque du Soliel, left much to me desired. The two-story complex has a nice layout. I hope that as exhibits change, they continue to share the Mexican-American experience not only in San Antonio, but also from around Texas.

Software Evaluation # 2 MindTwister Math

Evaluation Outline

Title of Software: Mindtwister Math

Producer: Edmark Corporation

Target students (e.g., age or grade-level of students): Grades 1-5

Proficiency level (e.g., beginning, intermediate, advanced): advanced

Description:
Provide a brief description of what the program is, what it does, how it looks, how the user interacts with it, etc.

This program is designed to help students review basic math skills such as rounding, addition, subtraction, measurement. Students are presented with a game where they are to answer whether a number is missing such as “4”. A numbers sentence is then flashed on screen and students are supposed to “chime” in if the sentence is missing a “4” in it. The number sentence stays on screen for approximately 3 seconds. In addition, while the narrator enunciates when she gives directions, she speaks rather rapidly; therefore, it would be difficult for beginner and intermediate students to understand.

The producer of this software also provides a link to its website where anyone can buy software for any given subject, (language, reading, science, and math). In the language section, Edmark, provides software that helps a student learn how to read, and learn about phonics. There are also other products that you can buy in purchase in the basic subjects of math, science, and reading.

Language skills targeted:
The language that it targets is the content vocabulary in math. In addition, questions are worded as they would be on a “high stakes” math test.

Evaluation:
The strengths of this program is that it covers the basic math skills that are covered on a standards-based test. I don’t feel it would be effective tool for helping ELLs to learn in English. If anything, the program would help reinforce vocabulary that has already been taught. The purpose of this program is not learning language, but to reinforce math skills. Another feature I like about the program is that like many video games, it keeps the scores of the players. It fosters competition among students. This program follows the behaviorist approach. The student is drilled on different math skills. The student is conditioned to understand the concept and to follow a method for to solve the problem.

Since my classroom is mixed, I would like to use this program my classroom. It would help prepare my students for the upcoming test!

immigration

The Hole - video powered by Metacafe

El Chavo del 8

El Chavo del 8
Originally uploaded by irvmark.

This is like a pop icon in Mexico. The show was a huge hit when it first aired. I remember watching as a child in the late 70s and early 80s.

I remember playing outside all day and when 7:00 pm came around I raced my brother to the living room and pick my spot on the floor to watch the program.

My dad was a great moderator because he would ask us questions about the story. He always tried to make us critical thinkers.

As I grew up I learned that the show had gained international fame. A couple of my Navy friends from Colombia, Bogota and Cartegena, also told me about how their show was also one of their favorites growing up.

Its good to know that even though production of the show has stopped, many channels still air reruns of it.

La Tigresa

La Tigresa
Originally uploaded by Orcoo.

I like this shot of the tigress. She has a really nice coat. Looks healthy and well fed!

EGBERT Ch. 10. Teacher Development

EGBERT Ch. 10. Teacher Development
RICHARDSON Ch. 7. Fun with Flickr: Creating, Publishing, and Using Images Online



We've talked a lot in class about how technology can be used to help ELLs learn English. The internet is also an excellent resource for teacher professional development. Describe ways you have used internet resources for your own professional development as a language teacher. If you haven't already done this, describe some of the resources in the Egbert chapter you would be interested in trying.

Next, briefly describe how images such as those from Flickr and other free photo sharing sites can be used in ESL classrooms.


One of the resources I use all the time to help me with extra material for class is Edhelper.com. Some of the resources of free, but it is better to get a subscription for a year. In this site you'll find activities for all subject areas.

As far as professional development goes, I have not done much of that online. However, I do often get emails from PBS teacherline. They always offer courses for different subjects, technology, behavior management, classroom management, and other topics relevant to teaching. I almost did sign up last year for a course, but had too much going on.

I am sure there are also other sites that help with training, and I am sure that are groups where teachers can create support groups for various grade levels.

I remember that one of the professors from the TTF program created a yahoo group so that we could communicate with each other on various topics. We also shared some resources to help us with the teaching.

Sites such as flicker provide images for the classroom. While I did not get a chance to look at it, it would be great site to get all the images needed for powerpoint, or to enhance any other type of presentation.

Lately it seems that it is difficult to find time to do everything!

EL MOJADO ACAUDALADO - LOS TIGRES DEL NORTE

Check out the need people have to make it to the U.S.

Lou Dobbs on Illegal Immigrants

This video exemplefies how the U.S. has always exploited immigrants by paying them low wages.

The Immigration Debate

Check out this parody.

EGBERT Ch. 9. Limitations, Caveats, and Challenge

The use of Internet always has its caveats in the classroom. Fortunately the district has many sites blocks, but it is not all inclusive. Eggbert talks about how students should be trained to become responsible and close unauthorized sites. Of course students should be monitored at all times.
In addition posting songs or videos to your site may have some legal issues if the the author of such media decides to sue in court. Fortunately there are many sites such as Youtube that allow you to re post the videos onto your blog site, just like the ones I just posted. Another way to bypass this is to have students create their own videos or audio files.
Finally the issue of plagiarism must be address. Eggbert suggest the use of sites such as www.plagiarized.com which suggest methods for discovering plagiarized documents. If the essay does not have the same tone as many of the other works that have been fabricated by students, then it was probably plagiarized.

Prompt 8

CUMMINS Ch. 3. Assessment
EGBERT Ch. 8. Assessment


The major difference between traditional standardized testing and authentic assessment is the first is a snapshot of student's learning, that is not all ecompassing while in the latter students can demonstrate their learning processes through a variety of formats usually portfolios, speeches, or other media.
Both types of assessments can be computerized. I remember taking the GRE on computer. However, authentic assessments may be more ideal for computer use. With the advent of many types of software students can create powerpoint presentations, slide shows, narrated slide shows, videos or podcast on the topic of choice. It would then be a matter of students following a rubric in order to meet all the criteria required in a given assignment. Eventhough standardized test would be easier to grade with a computers with scores being instant, the authentic assessment would still demonstrate student learning better.
I've toyed with the idea in my head of having students document a science experiment using pictures and putting them together, but I still need to make that leap to implementation. Part of the problem is the lack of materials, and other would be time. Perhaps in the future, this will become a possiblity in my classroom.

Content-Based Instruction

Eggbert talks about the use of powerpoint and Internet sites to supplement the instruction. Currently I have students working on a "wholistic" ecosystem project. I gave them book resources but also gave them several links to sites that allow to research the different ecosystems further. Students are to report on specific information for the ecosystem they chose (i.e. desert, tundra, grassland, etc.) Before letting students onto the sites, I brought up the sites through a projector that connects to my laptop and modeled for them how to use the site and where to find information. Some students preferred books on the topic over the computer. Projects are due this week, and I can't wait to see what they have discovered.

Another way I have incorporated technology is through the use of kid-friendly sites that are related to the topic of study (fossils, rocks, water cycle). The sites usually have many graphics and can are used to help students understand content better. This year, students seem to remember the Internet site more than the Scott Foresman Science book.

I would like to do more integration of technology. I've got a couple ideas using kidspiration to help supplement an activity center for the students.

Missing Men

In my mother's pueblo of San Lucas Tecopilco, many of the men both young and old often leave Mexico to find good wages in the United States or Canada. After 6 to 8 months they usually return with their savings.

However, there are towns where the majority of the men leave at the same time and are gone for extended periods. Which begs the question. How do the children manage without male role models? ABC news covered this story on Missing Men in Mexican Towns.

Do you think this creates problem for those communities? If so what do you think can be done to alleviate it.

Farmworker Hands

check out this slide show on farm worker exploitation

Favorite night spots

Phillip and I will be bringing you the 411 on our favorite nightspots in San Antonio. Check it here for the hottest spots.

"Tell Me More" Software Evaluation

Title of Software: Tell Me More

Producer: Auralog: Innovation for language learning

Target students (e.g., age or grade-level of students):

Proficiency level (e.g., beginning, intermediate, advanced):

Description: Designed for language learners of ESL, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese
The software has two interfaces. The first is self-study where student chooses what he/she wants to learn. Various links allow students to navigate through the program at their own pace. Many language drills and pronunciation drills are available. The second interface consists of a teacher operated mode where the teacher controls the course of study for the language learner. Various windows helps teacher give or deny access to students at various program levels.

Language skills targeted: Beginner to Advanced Speaker

Evaluation:
Perhaps the programs strengths is that it is easy to use. There are plenty of help buttons that allow users to navigate easily through the program. Graphics have good resolution, and it is easy to make out visuals. In the phonetic area, a computer graphic demonstrates how the sound is made. In addition the sound bite repeats itself until you make it stop. Weaknesses include comprehensibility of the spoken language. There is no way to clarify or make the sound better.

I would not use this program as the soul source for teaching English language learners, but I would use it as a station in order to supplement what is being taught in class. If the district paid for it, I’d be willing to use it in the classroom. Because of the language drills and repetitiveness of the program, I would have to say that program uses the audiolingual method. Although the software tries to be interactive, students learn by repetition.

#6 Inquiry & Problem Solving

Eggbert’s chapter on Inquiry and Problem Solving mentions the use of a KWL chart as a solution to both inquiry and problem solving. In my class the chart is modified thanks to a training on Expository Text I attending. Instead of writing down what students know, we write down what they think they know about any topic. After we begin reading students go back to see if any of their statements was present in their reading. If it was, students place a plus sign next to their thoughts. If what the student thought about a topic turned out to be erred, then they write a minus sign next to it. If the thoughts addressed not addressed at all by the reading, students then circle it. In the second column students write in new information such as important and interesting facts about the topic. In the last column students write what they still want to learn about the topic.

Some of the skills this process involves is the connection of and synthesis of background knowledge to the text. In addition students actively search for what their information in the text and evaluate whether they are right or wrong. Lastly, students continue to ask questions about the topic, this lends itself to extra-credit if the student wants to research the topic more.

Perhaps podcasting can be used as a tool where students use their background knowledge to tell about a topic. Then listeners can comment on the podcast and provide feedback for students on where to take their research.

Prompt 5

Comprehensible input is important because that way the information is promulgated by the teacher and recieved by the student is how it will be embedded in the students mind. By the same token the facilitator has the responsiblity to structure the student's output. Eggbert shows various examples for teachers to structure the output such as creating "Wanted" signs with random pictures to focus on "past tense" or creating digital presentations about various topics.

Using the ideology of student-cenetered learning, students should work collaboratively to improve social skills while working on their responses or creating presentations. Onew way to captitalize on this social learning is through the use of "wiki" short for quick reference. Students could potentially start quick notes about their workplace or trade and other students could edit and add information to what has been started. The work published on the wikis could potentially be corrupted by pranksters, but surpisingly many of these hacked wikis are corrected within hours. It has been concluded by Richardson that many of these wikis are slightly less accurate than the encyclopedia.

One of the benefits of wikis is the potential for publishing information regarding any topic immediately. This could be applied to many of the science or social studies topics that are expected to be taught. The teacher could lead the topic and students can add on informations, vidoes, pictures, or data. The data from the FRESA project referenced by Cummins could be an example of farmworkers cultivation of strawberries and the effects it has on their life.

The wiki prayer sums up best how wikis can be a good resource for students:

Please, grant me the serentiy to accept the pages I cannot edit,
The courage to edit the pages i can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

Prompt 4 Using Technology

Effective communication in the learning classroom is necessary so that students can become more proficient in English. Eggbert describes many ideas for facilitating communication among students using technology. One of those is what we are currently doing in this class. Each students has their own blog and is responsible for posting their own and commenting on others.

I could see how this would be a great tool to use with the ELL learners, because they would be forced to write in English, and the pressure would be on them to write well so that others could their message. It would also help my weak spellers because it would force them to spell correctly, in addition spell check would make them select the correct spelling for their words.

I really did not understand many of the other ideas, I don't know that they would be useful since I have not personally tried it, or seen it done. Implementation of a blog such as this would help close the gap of a transmission approach, and make the students problem solvers and critical thinkers.

Prompt 3 Authentic Communication

I agree with the Cummins chapter on how it becomes impossible to teach students in poor schools how to think for themselves, when the high stakes standards testing has principals practically forcing teacher to teach to the test. Principles don't want students doing hands-on experiments, they want them working on on paper-pencil test over and over again until they are able to master multiple choice test.
It is a great idea to bump up learning in the classroom with authentic texts. I like the idea of the French MGM school and the Italian CEM schools. I was surprised to learned that they have used the technique of school collaboration since the 1920s. As I read about it, while I don't really have an opportunity to communicate with other classrooms, I can certainly make students talk to each other and share written ideas with each other on a weekly basis. Of course implementation kinks would have to worked out.
I have not used the different web sites for ESL students, but I agree that students will be able able to listen and to try to comprehend authentic English dialogue, the portion of the equation that is missing is feedback if they were to try to imitate. However, there were programs that mentioned that students could have real time communication with a native English speaker, this would be great practice for authentic communication and feedback.
This past weekend I heard on CNN that for Japan watching t.v. shows on their cell phones was old news. As the technology becomes available, pretty soon, people will be able to video conference with their cell phones. This would be a great resource for a classroom to have as they implement authentic English instruction with ELL.

Prompt 2: Authentic Literacy

Multiliteracy goes beyond reading and writing in the classroom. It includes the culture and society print rich environment or lack thereof. In capitalistic societies, students are more prone to be exposed to commercial advertisement that targets a myriad of consumers in an effort to make a profit. In addition, students are often exposed to multiple languages and multiple modes of communication that includes visual and auditory or a combination of these. Consequently students should be exposed to real life experiences for reading and writing beyond the classroom in a collaborative effort from the community in an effort to build social capital and achieve literacy engagement.

Eggbert philosophy on the authenticity of reading and writing resonates with the multiliteracies paradigm. Eggbert believes that students should be allowed to interact with their environment in order to attain greater literacy skills. He expresses that students should be have extensive reading and writing practice. As they are exposed to authentic materials, students must them be instructed in learning strategies such as deduction and prediction in order to get the most out of the literature.

Blogging is a form of authentic communication that can be used by ELL in order to attain better grammar usage as well as to be able to convey messages and to negotiate meaning with English proficient students or people. ESL literacy programs would do well to implement blogs for their students as part of their curriculum.
Setting up the blog was not difficult, what has difficult was personalizing it. It was hard to read through the HTML to find out what codes needed to be changed to get it to do what I wanted it, I don’t think I’ve been quite successful yet, since the page layout is not what I envisioned it to be. Regardless of the minor page issue, I would like to use this blog as a tool to publish and express ideas on immigrant issues.

Use Photostory 3!!

This is FREE software produced by Microsoft! It is a great tool to create slide shows with music, text, and narration. The possibility of uses in the ESL classes. . . endless! If you would like to try it out for yourself, download it from the Microsoft website. For guidance on how to use Photostory 3 use this Jake's online tutorial.

Once you create your great lessons, please share them here!!