On my first blog post I introduced the topic I researched, ELL(English Language Learners) bullying. For the part of the project I went over to my old school where I interviewed one of my old teachers about my topic. The seconds blog post was all about the interview and what went on during it. I also did more research. So, for my Agent of Change, I went back to my old school to give a presentation on ELL bullying. This school has a lot of ELLs and I figured they had experienced this problem.

Usually when you are reading/watching something about bullying, you expect statistics that show how many students were bullied and things like that. Well, during my research I learned that people haven’t talked about the bullying of the ELLs. There needs to be more articles written about that and more publicity about it so the people are aware that it’s a big problem. There were specific examples but very small numbers.

I wanted to make a change by spreading the word and letting people know that ELL bullying is a very serious problem. In order to do that I contacted one of my old teachers and we talked to the principal of the school. He agreed for me to go there and give a 45-min presentation on ELL bullying. If you would like to see my presentation, take a look.

About thirty five people attended my presentation. As I was getting everything together I heard some of the students say “Why are we here?” or “Ugh… another bullying presentation!” I turned around and I explained what I was about to present. I told them that it wasn’t just about bullying, but ELL bullying. Bullying that happens to students like them. Then suddenly, they were all paying attention and became more interested.

During my presentation a teacher, Mr. Dale Perkins, helped me a lot. He explained more thoroughly the things that I was saying because some of the students couldn't understand. He also helped me with the activity at the end of the presentation. We passed out four poster boards and we told the students to write mean things on them. At first the students were kind of shy but then, after a few words, they starting writing so many things. Then we collected those papers and passed out four other poster boards, but this time they had to write nice things. The students started writing nice word and everyone wanted to write something. After that, I took the posters that had mean words written on them and ripped them apart. I told the students that the words had no meaning and did not matter. Then, I took the posters that had nice words on them and we all read them out loud.

Haven’t read my first blog? Do it now, just click here.

On my first blog post I introduced the topic I am still researching, ELL(English Language Learners) bullying. For this part of the project I went over to my old school where I interviewed one of my old teachers about my topic. This teacher was actually one of the first people to really help me understand what I was doing. He helped me understand everything I had trouble with and tackle harder books so it could improve my writing. My old school has a lot of ELLs and I figured they had experienced this problem. Click here to read the full interview.

What I found out during my interview is that a lot of students are made fun of the way the look or their accents and face lots of social struggles. ”Well, you know, all students get teased and made fun of as they grow up. This happens to everybody, but there’s a difference between being teased and getting bullied. English language learners are particularly vulnerable to being bullied because bullies generally try to target people that are maybe a little bit different or a little bit vulnerable, and ELLs qualify on both counts. They’re different because of the way they dress, the way they look, the way they talk and they’re vulnerable because their English isn't that good.” So the victim can’t speak up.

As I was doing more research on my topic, I came across this story about a Cuban girl who moved to America when she was eight with lots of excitement. She ended up being bullied because she was different. She went to school and kids made fun of her, put spiders under her desk and the teacher wouldn't do anything. She was hoping things would get better, but they didn't. She had no friends and got bullied even more. They insulted her and she was depressed. She went to a therapist and learned that bullies had their own problems. In high school she changed her outside to make her feel better on the inside. She made new friends and talked to more people. She I realized that she let the bullies take control of her emotions and locked herself in her own world of not speaking, not having friends, and wishing she was another person. Full story lies here.

I also learned that people haven’t talked about the bullying of the ELLs. There needs to be more articles written about that and more publicity about it so the people are aware that it’s a big problems. Here is one about bullying in race, ethnicity and immigration. It talks about the ways that the students are bullied and some ways you can prevent it at school.

Bullying is one of the biggest problems in schools all over the world. It all starts with an annoying comment then it leads to sever matters. We've seen it happen and unfortunately, lots of people know how it feels. No one likes it, especially people who can’t fight back whether it's physically or verbally. Those people or students are immigrants and English Language Learners (ELLs).

My interest on ELLs being bullied is very personal. Two years ago I moved to the United States knowing only twenty words in English.  I went to a new school where people were nice to me, but a few other students were making fun of me. I remember they were making fun of my accent and a few words I used. They continued to do that for a full school year and it really bothered me. It wasn't just me they were making fun of, there were more of my classmates that had to go through their bullying and act like everything was okay.

The issue is that these students can’t fight back in any way other than inappropriate behavior. There are many ways these kids get bullied. For example, students get taunted and sometimes physically abused. They are made fun of the way they dress or what they believe in and many more.

This is important because if all these non-ELLs are getting bullied and not a lot of peple know about it. There a many difficulties that these students have. Like, learning disabilities, adjusting to the environment and meeting new people. Language differences, they might not understand what is being said or cannot respond to the point. Bullying experiences may lead to inappropriate behavior and self-harm.

Research shows that about 50% of students say that they make fun of non-ELLs accents and 29% say that they use physical force to bully them.

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Hola! Bienvenido a SLA! Nos llamas Jorin, Kobe, Noah, y Fatoumata. Asistimos a Science Leadership Academy. Es en Filadelfia. Este es donde vivimos. Somos supér bien estudiantes y amigos buenos. SLA es cerca de dos tiendas y un museo. SLA hay approximate quinientos estudiantes y hay cinco pisos y muchos profesores. Tenemos un convención de Educon. Ofrecemos muchos actividades. Los actividades son fútbol, voleibol, básquetbol, y béisbol.

En SLA, tenemos las clases de español, bioquímica, inglés (literatura), matemáticas (álgebra, geometría, cálculo), salud, historia, arte, drama, y educación física. Nuestras clases son interesantes, divertidas, importantes y fascinantes. Nos gustan más debate, inglés, español, salud y bioquímica. En las clases necesitamos tomar apuntes, trabajar duro, prestar mucha atención, hacer toda la tarea y ser responsables.

Señorita Dunda enseña bioquímica. Ella es súper inteligente y creativa. Señorita Dunda es muy boba. Señorita Giorgio enseña matemática. Señorita Giorgio le encanta practicar deportes. Señorita Jonas enseña historia. Historia es muy aburrida. Señorita Jonas es muy simpatica y muy guapa. Su clase es espanol divertido. Su clase es historia aburrido. Su clase ingles es tranquilla. Su clase bioquímica es extraña. Su clase matemática es chevere. Somos muy inteligentes y supér tranquilos. Los profesores y los estudiantes son súper trabajador y muy divertidos.

Science Leadership Academy es asombrosa, diversa, y difícil pero divertida. Es la escuela mejor y pública en Filadelfia. En nuestra escuela hacemos todo diferente. Las clases son muy interesantes. En cada clase es importante participar activamente. Nos encanta que en las clases dirigimos las discusiones. Para más información visita. https://www.scienceleadership.org/.

Equipo España: Script

Hola! Estos son los seres queridos en mi vida.

Me llamo Jorin Gerveni. Mi cumpleaños es seis de julio. Tengo catorce años. Yo soy albanés. Soy de Albania pero vivo en Filadelfia. Asisto a Science Leadership Academy aquí en Filadelfia. Soy muy deportista y muy cómico. Yo juego futbol. Soy supér talentoso. Tengo los ojos cafes y el pelo café. Me gusta practicar deportes y me fascina Eminem.

Ella es mi hermana. Se llama Emi. Tiene los ojos azules y el pelo es rubia. Tiene ocho años. Le gusta bailar y leer. Los fines de semana ella tiene clase de baile. Es muy enérgica y supér habladora.

Su nombres son Brian y Alex. Son dieciséis años y son muy cómicos. Tienen los ojos cafés y el pelo café. Son de Filadelfia. Cuando tienen tiempo libre, ellos juegan videojuegos. Le gusta practicar deportes y escuchar la música.  

Ellos son mi amigos desde de Albania. Nosotros somos de Albania y vivo en Albania. Yo vivo en Filadelfia. Somos muy cómicos y mejores amigos. Tenemos los ojos cafés y el pelo corto. Nos gusta jugar futbol.

The reason my slide looks like that, is because I put pictures of everything that I like and pictures that describe me. I am independent, generous, courageous, very athletic but, sometimes I am little impatient. I am good at friendship.I have tons of friends. I always look out for my friends and try protect them. I am enthusiastic about my goals and I enjoy my life. This slide basically describes me and what I do in my life. As you can see, there are two pictures related to soccer. That’s because I love playing soccer and as one of my friends would say “ Soccer is life.” One of my dreams is to play for a professional team. The picture on the bottom is related to the picture that has a camera in it because one of my favorite hobbies is photography. I also like drawing, listening to music and watching movies. I put the pictures there to represent something about me and to show who I am.