Community Education: Student Empowerment

Assignment 6:  UCLA Students Share Their Stories with Wilton Place Kids

 According to Wilton Place teacher Tony Osumi:  "If UCLA students can create opportunities for the booklet to express the kids' voices and interests, it will be no problem getting them to write for it.  Motivation comes from the meaningfulness of the work.  My guess is that most of the kids have not read or seen stories or heard people talk about their lives in real ways.  They may need models and examples from us.  UCLA students should be writing stories now and sharing them with students.  Students may also not really understand the concept of publishing and sharing their stories with a wide audience.  Most teachers don't do anything like this — not even within their own classroom.  If kids grasp the importance of wanting to share their own stories and receive support for doing it, motivation goes way up.  UCLA students should think of ways to bring this understanding to a kid’s level quickly."

Taking Tony’s comments into account, write two short stories of about one-half page each about yourself based upon the following list or any other topic you think may be relevant to the type of work we are doing in Wilton Place classrooms.  Remember, we are writing this for elementary students.

1.  How you got your name and what it means.
2.  How and why your family came to America or Los Angeles.
3.  Your most memorable day — good, bad, exciting, scary, etc.
4.  Your favorite family food.
5.  A story that connects somehow to the Open Court theme, but takes it a step further and teaches a moral, message, or is more critical and probing.

Short Biographical Stories

By Cheryl Samson

1. My parents are Cosmelita L. Samson and Francisco C. Samson. My mother and father met at a college in the Philippines. They were both teachers before they came to the U.S. They came to America for a better life. In the Philippines, there was a lot of poverty, crime, and bad people. They wanted to come to America to give my brother and me a better life. My mom was the first one to come to Los Angeles because she already had family here. Her sister was living in Huntington Park. She was pregnant with my brother at the time. After she arrived here, my father came. My dad went back to school to get a better job and my mother took care of my older brother. Six years after my brother was born, I came. We moved to Duarte, when I was 3. I have lived there ever since. They always remind us that life in America is better than the Philippines and that we are very lucky to be here.

2. My name is Cheryl Ann Lao Samson. My name is "Cheryl," spelt with a "C" because my mother’s name is Cosmelita, and she wanted my name to start with a "C" also. "Ann" came from Saint Anne, the mother of Mary because my family is Catholic. Mary is the mother of Jesus. I am also Pilipina/o and many Pilipina/o families name their children after people in the Catholic Bible or Catholic saints. "Lao" is my mom’s maiden name, her last name before she got married. My mom is half-Chinese, and "Lao" was the last name of her father, my grandfather ("lolo"). She wanted that to be a part of my name also. "Samson" is a Spanish last name from my father. It is also a person in the Bible. In the Bible, Samson was a strong man who had long hair. He fell in love with and was tricked by a woman named Delilah who ended up cutting his hair and blinding him. When he cut his hair, his strength went a way. I also have a Pilipina/o nickname that my family calls me only. It is Jing-Jing. My mom’s nickname is Ming, and my brother’s nickname is Jun-Jun. They wanted both my brother and I to have nicknames that started with a "J" and since my mom’s name is Ming, they named me Jing. I also hear that they named me Jing because my mom’s favorite Christmas song is "Jingle Bells." My brother’s name is Jun-Jun, because he is Frank III. My dad’s name and grandfather’s name are also Frank, and since my dad is Frank Jr., he is "Jun" for short. My brother is Jun-Jun, because he is the jr. after my dad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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