Student Voices In their own words Hearing newcomers’ stories The best way to understand ESL students is to hear their stories directly from them.  The links below are to resources in which learners describe their own experiences. They are all interesting and some are positively moving.   • ESL Students’ Canadian Experiences This page, part of the ESL Infusion website at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, provides short texts written by ESL students’ about their experiences arriving in and adjusting to Canada.    • Teaching the ESL Learner: What Students Say Although targeting university students, this site captures students’ concerns which apply equally to high school learners.  A two-minute video of an interview with one ESL learner is an eye-opener in terms of evaluating ELLs. • New Moves This video is free and available for ordering (a preview is available at this link).  It was prepared by the Settlement Workers in Schools organization in Ontario and depicts high- school students describing their immigration experience. Want more? • Growing New Roots: The Voices/Reflections of Immigrant Teenagers in Canada These excellent, moving videos are available for ordering. They show immigrant high- school students discussing the challenges they faced on arriving in Canada. • Teaching and Learning in Multicultural Ontario One five-minute portion in the middle of this one-hour video shows a presentation by three ESL students about a bilingual book they wrote.  The presentation includes some interesting comments about how they felt when they first arrived in Canada.  The relevant segment starts at 34:30, but the entire video is interesting. • Why I Came Here This interesting series of video interviews by the Toronto Star tells the stories of adult immigrants and why they came to Canada.  It gives a good perspective of the types of issues our students’ parents and families are facing. © 2010 Eastern School District Information and content by Martha Trahey