Building a home: the student immigrant transition to America

The English Language Development (ELD) program helps students who have immigrated to the United States who do not speak English fluently by giving them a base in the English language and American culture while also encouraging them to maintain their roots. “I think a theme of what I do or one of my philosophies is to help my students acculturate not assimilate,” ELD teacher Jennifer Cuker said....

Fifty students wander the halls, attend classes, and scribble away at homework like any other student. However, among them, they speak 17 different languages as most have moved from a foreign country and are acclimating to America and learning English. Although English Learners (ELs) constitute a small portion of the student body, ARHS has a program to streamline the students’ transition into...

At age six, senior Beka Difucio arrived in the United States from Brazil with her older brother and sister thinking she was simply paying a visit to her mother, but nearly twelve years later she remains in the US as an immigrant with a green card who has worked over the years to overcome language and social barriers. “I wasn’t supposed to move here. I only came here to visit my mother… I was...

Normally, a person has little to no memory from when they were two years old, but moving to a new country is a life-changing event that even a toddler can remember. I remember the distinct smell of cleaning supplies at Logan airport, the way the customs officer peered between me and my passport picture multiple times before finally letting me pass, and staring at billboards trying to decipher the foreign...