When my colleagues and I decided last year to submit a proposal for our national conference about how to best support refugee and immigrant students, we had no idea how critical of an issue this would become. Our topic was not only seen as critical for school psychologists, but gained attention by other education professionals.
We are in the early stages of a collaboration with a website that provides resources for parents and educators of students who speak English as a second language. When I first used this website, as a bilingual educator, I remember it being focused on the teaching aspect, but they have become much more global in their view of the needs of these children. I am impressed with their interest in meeting the emotional needs of students, and as we develop our work I will share it here.
Until then, I invite you to look at Colorin Colorado if you would like to learn more about how to meet the academic, emotional, and social needs of ESL students. The website is run by WETA, the public broadcasting network out of Washington, DC, and has partnerships with the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association. They currently are building a section on the site called En español Serving and Supporting Immigrant Students: Information for Schools. The website contains a large amount of content in Spanish to support families as well.
Dr. Lisa, School Psych 