Newcomers in Your School: Cultural Connections and Instructional Strategies

Newcomers in Your School: Cultural Connections and Instructional Strategies

Learn effective strategies and receive ready-to-use resources for classroom instruction designed to increase inclusion and learning for newcomer students

Given the increasing tide of newcomer youth entering U.S. schools, it is critical to address the cultural, social, and academic needs of these students and their families. CAL offers professional development services designed to help educators recognize the diversity of newcomers in schools, learn effective approaches and proven instructional strategies with newcomers in the content classroom, and receive ready-to-use resources for classroom instruction.    

CAL’s services are designed for PreK-12 teachers, administrators, and practitioners, such as social workers, counselors, and after-school specialists, who work in educational settings with newcomer students and their families. CAL encourages teams of educators and practitioners to attend. 

These professional development services are designed to be offered as a two-day workshop. Attendees will get hands-on guidance and resources on how to create a welcoming environment for newcomer students and how to facilitate their learning. Each attendee will receive a workshop packet, with materials that explicitly address how to promote welcome for newcomers within educational settings and were developed by CAL’s experts in immigrant and refugee integration, building on over 40 years of experience in working with newcomers.

Learn more about the materials.

Cultural Perspectives, Influences, and Key Resources – Day One

• Building awareness of the diversity of newcomer students in the school, including special populations such as unaccompanied minors and students with limited and interrupted formal schooling
• Identifying our own perspectives and how these influence our interactions
• Learning more about our students and their families, and what they contribute in the school and the learning environment
• Fostering connections among your school’s students, families, and teachers, immigrants and non-immigrants alike
• Determining how to apply resources in your school setting

Adapting Content Instruction for Newcomer Students – Day Two

• Analyzing how to adapt content instruction, materials, and assessments to meet the needs of newcomer students
• Determining how to promote oral language development in English in your educational setting
• Learning how to bridge oral language skills to literacy development
• Designing content lesson plans that allow newcomers to participate alongside their peers
• Analyzing the application of the college and career readiness standards (such as CCSS) for optimal achievement by all newcomer students

Contact CAL to learn more.