Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

4-2-2014

Abstract

Founded in 1639, the Mather Elementary School in Dorchester is the oldest public elementary school in the US. In 2012, nearly 40% of Mather students were Vietnamese American from immigrant households. The Mather School’s Vietnamese Structured English Immersion (SEI) program is the largest in Boston. In 1993, Ngoc-lan (Loni) Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee student in education and Asian American Studies at UMass Boston, was hired as a 4th grade bilingual teacher. Many of Lan’s students later attended UMass Boston where they reconnected educationally with the importance of Vietnamese American identity, community, and empowerment in AsAmSt courses. In 2007, Lan visited an AsAmSt class with three former 4thgraders present. In 2010, UMass Boston AsAmSt alumna, Songkhla (Kha) Nguyen began teaching 2nd grade SEI at the Mather, and in 2012, Tuyet Dinh, a founder of AsAmSt’ s Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth (CAPAY) was hired to teach Kindergarten SEI.

Collaborators/Partners

A partnership between the Asian American Studies Program at UMass Boston and the Mather School (BPS) in Dorchester.

Community Engaged/Serving

Part of the UMass Boston Community-Engaged Teaching, Research, and Service Series. http://scholarworks.umb.edu/engage

Share

COinS