Using Britannica with Emergent Bilingual Students

 

I'm not sure if I mentioned this or not, but I have a library intern from TWU this semester. Her background is elementary, but so was mine until I made the leap to high school.  She was really nervous about coming to our library, but she has been here a few times a week since January.  She is definitely getting into the groove with our students.  It has been so much fun.  

Last week was her observation with a high school class.  I picked our Emergent Bilingual students because I have a good relationship with the teachers and the students.  And the classes are pretty small.  Of course the downside are the languages they speak.  The predominant language is Arabic with a few Spanish, Vietnamese, Pashto, Farsi, and Uzbeck speakers as well.  So we decided to do a preliminary research lesson using Britannica.  The library intern and I looked at Britannica and discussed the features we wanted to highlight based on the classes we were going to see.  The 3 main features we settled upon were the reading level, the translate feature, and the dictionary.  Then we decided that we would demonstrate what we wanted them to do using one topic, and then the students could pair up and pick one of 3 topics we gave them.  The intern created the research sheet, and we did some mock lessons the week before the kids came to the library.  On the day of her observation, I conducted the lesson with the first 2 classes, and then we set up her observation for the last class.  Her professor wasn't on campus; we had to set up a laptop where she could Zoom and see everyone.  That was different!

Lourdes (the intern) did a fantastic job.  The kids were super quiet, but they worked like crazy.  They participated, and did everything they were supposed to do. It was great.  I know it was such a relief when she finished since high school is really not in her comfort zone.  Her last day is in early April.  I think we will all miss having her around.  She will be a fantastic librarian.