Linwood Middle School

North Brunswick, New Jersey, USA 

Valentine Messages of Love: ELL Students Bond with Senior Citizens

Students from English Language Learners (ELL) classes develop their figurative language skills and provide a service to homebound senior citizens when they create handcrafted valentines. This project is one of many within the school that is geared towards helping local senior citizens, but ELL teachers were instrumental in designing this to include their students in the outreach. In class, students explore simile and design their own messages of love using like or as, for example: A friend is like water in the desert. Forty-seven students work in small cooperative groups to write their similes based on love and friendship, giving highly skilled students a chance to assist beginning learners. This project develops caring in students as they discuss what it means to be lonely and unable to leave the house easily. Student participants demonstrate compassion when they inquire about the native language of the seniors and aim to include translations of their messages. This effort not only connects the generations as it unites the young and old, it empowers ELL students when they see the positive impact they have on their community.