Back in the ’80s, when Saturday Night Live was funny, Jon Lovitz did a skit called “Get to Know Me!” espousing how people (i.e. Steve Martin) benefited from knowing him. We believe the same is true of our 2019 Fellows and are, therefore, continuing a blog series throughout the summer to introduce you to many of our grant recipients.

Today, in celebration of Ramadan, we highlight a teacher pursuing learning about the Arabic language and Muslim culture. Karina Escajeda (Cony Middle and High School – Augusta, ME) will complete Arabic language & cultural immersion at The Arabic Language School in Dahab, Egypt, to improve family partnerships and refugee student engagement; create community workshops; and increase student understanding of the value peers emigrating from Iraq and Syria add to the school culture.

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On Why Karina Designed This Fellowship

Two years ago, in the midst of a national debate regarding refugees, I resigned from my teaching position at a nearby private boarding school in order to take a position in my hometown, at my former high school. I was deeply aware that my English teaching skills and interest in community development were needed here. In the past seven years, Arabic speakers have become our community’s second-largest demographic, numbering over 1000 residents and making up 5% of the population. With this shift, there has been some divisive rhetoric in our community about refugees.

Our students need to develop an understanding of how to best honor differences. It is imperative that we connect with our new residents and educate our long-term residents about Arabic culture and language to grow stronger as a blended community. I am dedicated to showing our students from Iraq and Syria that we in our small town value who they are and where they come from.

On Her Itinerary

St. Catherine’s Monastery on Mt. Sinai

At The Arabic Language School in Dahab, Egypt, I will be placed in a class that is appropriate to my level of Arabic. There are no in-person Arabic classes within 72 miles of my community, so I have begun formal Arabic study online; however, this particular school focuses on one-on-one attention. The  include ten hours a week of individualized; one-on-one lessons in the afternoons; and cultural outings in the town so that students are exposed to spoken Arabic.  On one weekend, I will go to Mt. Sinai and St. Catherine’s Monastery (included by the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in its world heritage and culture list). I’ll also embark on a desert hike and overnight at a Bedouin camp to understand the rural, conservative experience of many of our district’s language learners. When the course ends, I will fly from Sharm to Cairo to join a four-day cultural and historical tour of Cairo, Luxor, and Giza.

On How Her Students and Their Families Feel About Her Fellowship

My students and their parents are so excited about my immersion experience. They know that I will have a Weebly site for them to follow, and they are excited for my videos, interviews, and pictures that I will post. All of my Arabic-speaking students are from Syria and Iraq. Their spoken Arabic dialects are mutually understandable, but very different from each other. Syrians speak the Shaami dialect and some Iraqis, my students included, speak the Gulf dialect. I will be learning the Egyptian dialect, which they think is wonderfully hilarious.  It’s a bit like American, Australian, and British English. They can’t wait until I come back and start talking.

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Karina is a K-12 English Language Learner Specialist and the only teacher in the district who has begun to dedicate time to the study of Arabic language and culture. For more than 20 years, she has lived, taught, and administrated programs at public and private schools in California, Maine, Honduras, Mexico, and Japan. She believes in collaboration, authentic tasks, and honoring the achievements of each individual language learner. She has been awarded a 2020 Fulbright DA Teacher Fellowship in Greece, studying refugee integration and teacher training.

In 2000, the English Language Learner (ELL) population at Fargo High School barely hit 3%; 15 years later, refugees and immigrants make up 10% of the student population. Leah Juelke, ELL specialist, makes it her mission to welcome and educate these teenagers and, so do their peers native to North Dakota, thanks to the school’s Partnership for New Americans.

The initiative mirrors the Sheltered English Instruction model, a strategy Leah researched on a Fund for Teachers fellowship. To better reach her students, largely emigrating from in and around Tanzania, Leah attended a Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol Workshop there to learn from Tanzanian, Kenyan and American secondary teachers about ways to simultaneously teach language, content and academic skills.

Leah (center) taking part in the Sheltered Instruction workshop in Arusha, Tanzania.

“When I set out to complete my fellowship in Tanzania and South Africa, I knew that I would learn something more about my students, but what I didn’t know was that my experience would completely change the way that I teach,” said Leah. “My eyes were opened to the rugged ways of life that many of my students come from. I couldn’t help but to make connections between the refugees in South Africa and those in North Dakota. South Africa’s current xenophobia movement mirrored what is happening in North Dakota.”

“It’s really opened my eyes to all the different cultures that are here in the Fargo area,” said one native Fargo student speaking of the Partnership. “And it’s helped me see that there are a lot of different ways of living life.”

As part of the Green Card Voices initiative, last year Leah and her English Language Learners published their personal narratives in a book called Green Card Youth Voices: Immigration Stories from a Fargo High School (for purchase here). This compilation now serves as a vehicle to generate awareness about the immigrant experience and includes links to the students’ video narrative, a study guide, and glossary to help teachers use the book as an educational resource when teaching about immigration.

Watch a trailer for the book and meet the authors.

“The Journey to America project helped me share my story and understand my classmates more,” said Aline, a junior from Congo. “Before, I didn’t talk about my life in Africa because it was so sad, but now my family and I talk about it and we have come to peace.”

This year, Leah was named North Dakota’s 2018 Teacher of the Year and received her honor from the governor and in front of her students and school community at a surprise ceremony in the Fargo High School gymnasium. Afterwards, her mission continued to be her clarion call.

“I’d like to encourage people to be open-minded, and to know that diversity is a wonderful thing,” she said. “By being educated more about other cultures, it just opens a lot of doors. And getting to know our neighbors is very important.”

FFT Fellow Chris Smith and 15 of his students recently hosted the first Chicago Immigrant Refugee Resource Fair at Mather High School. The story behind the event, shared below by Chris, demonstrates the true ripple effect of a Fund for Teachers grant. This high school music teacher designed a fellowship to attend the Blas International Summer School of Irish Traditional Music and Dance at the University of Limerick to enrich orchestra curriculum by integrating elements of Irish folk music, ensemble skills, and improvisation. He shares the progression of learning from there below. We are proud of you and your students, Chris!

“I have continued my study of Irish traditional music since 2013 when I was awarded the FFT fellowship, which was transformative to my teaching in many ways. Not only have I incorporated lessons that I learned in my teaching strategy, but my support from FFT has led to many more opportunities for me and my students

Chris with Martin Hayes during his 2013 FFT fellowship

Last summer, I attended the Swannanoa Gathering outside Asheville, NC, to again study under Martin Hayes, a teacher from Blas. I also received a small grant from the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, which I used to host a lecture/performance and workshop by members of the Irish Music School of Chicago.

Additionally, I was inspired at write a grant proposal (which was funded) which allowed for a residency at Mather High School by renowned traditional Irish performer Kathleen Keane. Over the course of two months, Kathleen visited Mather to perform and work with a small group of motivated orchestra students. She taught them a set of traditional jigs which they performed in concert.

Because of my FFT experience, I was also awarded the Teaching for Global Classrooms fellowship by the US State Department. In summer 2016, I traveled to India and, in part, taught music at a school in Vadodara, Gujarat.

Visit this website Chris created to document FFT fellowship in Limerick, as well as another site, including access to his resulting unit and lesson plans, following his TGC fellowship.

Based on my TGC fellowship, I was able to apply to then attend a conference for alumni of government sponsored international travel. As a participant, I was invited to apply for money to create a project on the subject of inclusion. I was awarded a grant from the State Department to organize and implement the Inaugural ChiUnderOneRoof: Chicago Immigrant and Refugee Resource Fair.  My students and I hosted hosted 25 local community organizations who work to support our immigrant and refugee population.

Parenthetically, since my fellowship, my wife has been awarded a fellowship along with one of her coworkers and three teachers at my school. These are just a few of the things that have resulted from the opportunities afforded me by Fund for Teachers.”

Click here to read Chris’ description of how planning the resource fair impacted him and his students.