The Globe’s Emigrating Children describes one teacher’s experiences teaching twenty-four immigrant students during their first year in the United States. From diverse places including Vietnam, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Mexico, El Salvador, and Haiti, these children brought their many languages and cultures to a first grade sheltered English classroom in a large urban school district. Kathleen A. Stark’s thoughts and conversations with her students and her struggles to address each of the children’s emotional and learning needs – while guiding them to recognize and question the assumptions of the world around them – provide a much-needed, intimate look into the lives and education of immigrant children. Stark’s beautifully written reflections about the teacher’s role and the role of education in general are supremely original, honest, and thought-provoking. This book should be read by any teacher involved in such areas as immigration, early childhood theory, literacy, foreign language education, and critical pedagogy. It is also suited to pre-service college courses devoted to these topics.
