Welcome to Ms Habra’s website!

Bienvenidos a mi pagina!

Mi nombre es Ana Carolina Habra. 

Creo que la mayoría de ustedes me conoce, 

Este nuevo periodo sera un poco diferente. Ahora las maestras de ESOL debemos ir a las aulas a trabajar junto a las maestras de grado para ayudar a los alumnos. Es un nuevo desafio porque significa que estaremos en contaco con todos los ninos, hispanos, americanos, asiaticos. Pero ayudandolos a todos, especialmente a los "nuestros", a los que necesitan mejorar su nivel academico del idioma ingles.

Espero serles útil, no sólo a mi alumnos, por quienes siempre trato de hacer lo mejor para ayudarlos a aprender lo que necesitan para sentirse más seguros en el aula,  sino también a los otros alumnos que a veces se benefician de tener una atencion mas personalizada.

Y tambien a los  padres, que vienen muchas veces con sus inquietudes a la escuela y necesitan encontrar alguien que hable su idioma. Es bueno que ahora tenemos una traductora permanente en la escuela. Ella ya se comunico con ustedes. Es muy buena y trabaja lo mejor que puede para encontrar formas de ayudar. Aun asi, siempre son bienvenidos tambien conmigo para cualquier consulta, ya lo saben.

Espero que lleguemos todos a fin de año contentos y seguros de haber hecho lo mejor!

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My name is Ana Carolina Habra and I am from Argentina, South America. I am in the United States as part of the Visiting International Faculty Program. Each day, in countries around the globe, leaders in education recognize the need to provide students an international education, and the VIF Program is dedicated to providing this opportunity to schools. I joined this Program because of my enthusiasm for teaching and sharing my culture with others.

I am working at Knollwood Elementary School as part of the ESOL Program.

The ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) is a program that delivers specialized instruction to students whose first language is other than English and therefore need language assistance to participate fully in the regular curriculum and the statewide assessment system. ESOL teachers work collaboratively with classroom teachers to help English language learners become proficient in the English language as well as in academic content language.

Teaching ESOL at Knollwood Elementary School is a wonderful cultural exchange experience to me. I am co-teaching in 2nd and 3rd Grade classrooms, and pulling out 9 students to serve them directly every day.  Whether for the students, their parents, or my colleagues I try to make myself available to facilitate the communication, even when my priority is to teach my students. Not only do I teach English to students who speak other languages at home, but I also serve as a translator when I am needed, because we do have a permanent translator working at our school now. It is so rewarding to see the students, teachers, and parents benefit from being able to communicate! 

October is an important month for our Hispanic students and their families since we are celebrating the Hispanic Heritage. We had a school celebration last Friday. Many Hispanic students and parents volunteered to prepare the Barrio Latino (The Latino Neighborhood) in the covered play area, a play at the Media Center, "La Loteria" (like a Bingo game) that the students played using pictures and words; the names for the things were said in Spanish but the students were able to see the pictures on a screen so that, even those who do not speak the language, could understand and play, and finally, the Fiesta (the party) at the Cafeteria, with singinging and dancing. We had a great time!

The role of ESOL teacher brings with it great responsability; however, it is one of the most rewarding and fulfilling experiences.