"No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure. " -- Emma Goldman, Lithuanian-American anarchist writer, lecturer and activist (1869-1940)

I humbly undertake the daunting task of supporting language development with very little skill, but a lot of empathy. On my first day in first grade over thirty years ago I walked a dirt road to a small building made of mudbricks in a village called Moma in the Republic of Congo. Before school began, the students stood outside and sang songs I had never heard before. They sang in Chiluba, a language I was just beginning to understand. Inside, the teachers spoke to us in a different language, Belgian French. I did not know any of the students, I did not know where the bathroom was. I was the only person in class with blond hair and pale skin. When I remember that day, I still feel the panic. How did I learn anything there? I managed somehow. Back in the US, I purposely forgot as much Chiluba and Chisala as I could -- to avoid the embarassment of being asked to "say something African." I adopted the strange version of French spoken by the non-native speakers who often teach second langugages in public schools in the US. Later, I studied Mandarin Chinese in college for four years -- learning to read classical poetry and a few paragraphs in the newspaper, but never mastering conversation. I am in awe of the task that my ELL students set themselves each day -- learning a complex language while trying to master secondary level content and navigate the fractured cultures of the US. I hope I can be helpful, I hope I can be an ally.