cthompson's Recently Published Stories

signs to help ESL students in an LEAF classroom

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A struggle for understanding

Cramped in a small second floor classroom, walls the color of Mexican stucco, English as a Second Language teacher David Swanson speaks slowly. “What is it?” he asks the class of 12, pointing...

created by cthompson | 23 wks ago
161 views | 2 recommendations | 1 comment

apichert

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ESL students unite in common goal: opportunities

As a 16-year-old visiting his sister in Chicago for the first time, Jorge Diaz was struck by one thing.“The city was so big. Everything was big. Cars, airports, streets, people…height and width,” he adds...

created by cthompson | 24 wks ago | updated 24 wks ago
51 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments

Datt and her now husband at University of Florida

cthompson

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Independent student pushes through paperwork

Happie Datt doesn’t believe in looking back. “I’m looking forward all the time. I don’t believe in what ifs,” she says repeatedly, a mantra that has guided her ever since crossing the tarmac in...

created by cthompson | 24 wks ago | updated 24 wks ago
95 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments

apichert

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Memories of Chile Connect Advocate with Immigrant Children

As an advocate for immigrant children, Antonieta Diaz gives them the time to tell her their stories. She will listen. “I got to learn the stories through their voices. It’s really...

created by cthompson | 28 wks ago | updated 26 wks ago
134 views | 1 recommendation | 0 comments

For wounded soldier, citizenship is 'icing on the cake'

" Alcivar, 25, was sworn in as a United States citizen on Friday, some 20 years after coming to the United States, four years after joining the Army, and months after a sniper outside Baghdad, Iraq, shot him in the leg. At any given time, roughly 40,000 noncitizens serve in...

created by cthompson | 30 wks ago
27 views | 0 recommendations | 0 comments

A Slippery Place in the U.S. Work Force

" Balbino López Hernández, who came here illegally from Mexico, closes his eyes to join the hallelujahs. But after the service Mr. López, 28, a factory worker who has been unemployed since June, shares his worries about jobs and immigration raids with other worshipers. ...

created by cthompson | 30 wks ago
62 views | 4 recommendations | 2 comments

A Daily Interaction

“Good morning, Marta!” “Oh, good morning, dear.” Every morning begins this way. I stumble into my dorm’s bathroom, half an hour later than planned, as Marta, our cleaning woman, mops the water that’s seeped...

created by cthompson | 32 wks ago | updated 30 wks ago
113 views | 12 recommendations | 1 comment

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