Document Type
Presentation
Publication Date
4-10-2013
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 4th-graders 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.
Recommended Citation
Asian American Studies Program, University of Massachusetts Boston; Mather Elementary School; and Kiang, Peter N., "Educational Engagement in Boston’s Vietnamese Community: Asian American Studies Program student-faculty-alumni engagement with teachers, students, and families of the Mather School (BPS) in Dorchester" (2013). Office of Community Partnerships Posters. 120.
https://scholarworks.umb.edu/ocp_posters/120
Comments
Presented as part of the poster showcase at the Office of Community Partnerships' Community-Engaged Partnerships Symposium on April 10, 2013 at UMass Boston.