How should newcomer teachers approach this school year when there are so many challenges for our immigrant families? What are the best activities for the first days of school? Both of these questions are answered in this back-to-school episode with award-winning educator and author, Larry Ferlazzo.
You can listen to the show right here or in your favorite podcast app:
Listen to “BAP128 Back to School in 2025 with Larry Ferlazzo” on Spreaker.
Larry is retiring! But fear not. He is getting his much-earned retirement from the daily life of a classroom teacher, but he is not retiring from the field. Scroll to the end of these notes to find some of the retirement shows that Larry has done recently.
WHAT SHOULD NEWCOMER TEACHERS KEEP IN MIND IN THE 2025-2026 SCHOOL YEAR?
While the following are not new, Carol and Larry discuss how they are more important than ever.
Larry feels that the following are critical to focus on at this time:
-
- Building Their Sense of Agency
- Newcomers Should Know: You are Their Ally
- The Newcomer Classroom is a Space for Fun and Distraction
- Safety Should be a Priority
- Students Should Feel Good about Themselves
Building Their Sense of Agency
- Many don’t come with a strong sense of agency as it was not their choice to come here.
- Remember to include this critical piece: In life, there will be those who are actively working to deny you opportunities and your agency. We need to prepare for that.
- He offers some suggestions that have to do with autonomy/choice (what book they want to read or game they want to play). Here is a great TikTok video where Larry offers four ways he promotes student agency in his classroom.
- We mention the power of authentic opportunities to use language. Larry shares examples and stresses that during this time, we would do this in the school vs. in the community for their safety.
Newcomers Should Know: You are Their Ally
- Larry passes out Red Cards. These explain student rights.
- Check out this video that Dr. Francisco Jimenez shared with Carol recently to help families know how to respond to ICE. This can be shared with students and families to help them understand their rights.
- Much of this can all fall under get-to-know-you activities. For example, Carol would share that her family immigrated from Mexico. Larry would share that he accompanied families to immigration hearings this past summer, among other things, which shows his students he is an ally.
- ** Larry emphasizes that all teachers should only act in a way that they feel it is professionally safe for them to do so. These things are okay to do in some places and not in others. We trust that you will use your best judgment. You’re no good to your kids if you get fired.
- However, Larry points out that learning a word or two (or more!) in your students’ language is a great way to show you are an ally. Carol used a form like this with her class.
The Newcomer Classroom is a Space for Fun and Distraction
Our job is to support students to become more fluent in Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing in English. A great deal of this can happen when we lower the stress of a student. Stephen Krashen’s Affective Filter Theory was mentioned (read more about that from Valentina Gonzalez here). The idea is that if we lower stress, more learning happens.
Examples given:
- Compelling Conversations
- Authentic Opportunities to Use Language (like interviewing school employees – and setting that up ahead of time to be a good experience for the students)
- Playing games (Kahoot, Quizzes/WayGround, Fly Swatting Vocabulary, Using AI…)
- Funny videos that are great for newcomers, and then writing and talking about them. Larry has great collections like his: The Best Fun Videos for ELLs in 2025-so far.
- Teachers can crack jokes!
Safety Should be a Priority
- From the classroom, to the school, to the community – are we making sure we are all on the same page where student safety is concerned?
- You can advocate for your staff to know what to do if ICE comes to the school.
- Do students know that counselors are available and other services.
- Classrooms should be places where students feel safe to make mistakes.
Students Should Feel Good about Themselves
- This should be in all we do
- Much of what was discussed in the show supports building students’ self-confidence and sense of competence.
Other topics mentioned in this conversation:
Larry Ferlazzo talks about how he is a big advocate of inductive learning in education. He explains the benefits and explains how it is different from deductive teaching. He offers great examples for the newcomer classroom.
Find more from Larry about Inducting Learning vs. Direct Instruction in this Edweek Article.
Creating Conditions for Motivation
Larry has been writing about this for years, and there is direct alignment to what was discussed throughout the show. The four research-based elements he suggests are outlined in this Edutopia article by Larry:
-
- Autonomy: having a degree of control over what needs to happen and how it can be done
- Competence: feeling that one has the ability to be successful in doing it;
- Relatedness: doing the activity helps them feel more connected to others, and feel cared about by people whom they respect; and
- Relevance: Students must see the work as interesting, valuable, and useful to their present lives and/or hopes and dreams for the future.
Carol mentions a book she uses frequently from Larry on this topic: The Student Motivation Handbook
Carol references Episode 126 with Dr. Francisco Jimenez. Dr. Jimenez is an award-winning author (books like The Circuit and Breaking Through are listed among the best young adult books of all-time from the American Library Assn and are great to use with newcomers). Dr. Jimenez was deported in middle school. In his interview with Carol, you can hear the parallels to what was discussed in today’s show. He wants teachers to know that they can be very influential and help students not lose hope. Your education (all that you learn everywhere you go) will serve you a lifetime. Here is that show.
Boosting Achievement of SLIFE, 2nd Edition was also mentioned.
Here is a padlet with lots of resources from the book.
The podcasts on this blog have much of the content for free
Check out Carol’s Rapid Literacy Padlet as well.
Do yourself a favor and bookmark this page with Larry’s “Best” Lists all in one place. You’ll find a tremendous amount of free resources for the Newcomer teacher from Larry!
OUR ACTIVITIES FOR THE FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL
LARRY:
Larry always begins with a writing assessment. Students write about a family member or a good friend. This gives him an idea of where to start with students.
Larry has written a lot about the use of Peer Tutors. He feels all high schools should use them as the tutors gain as much or more than the newcomers. Here is more information from Larry on Peer Tutors.
He begins a routine where students will get a whole group lesson and then work with peer tutors. They will work with things like:
- conversation sheets
- creating posters about themselves with sentence starters
- Reading books like Easy Stories
- Writing activities that go from words, to sentences, to paragraphs to essays.
- “Speed Dating” with the peer tutors is a great way to practice output.
- (Check out his 7 Week Unit on ELL Beginners Writing a Story). You might also be interested in Larry’s post Here’s A Revised & Updated Version Of What A Typical Day & Week Of My ELL Newcomers Class Looks Like.
All of the above is with support from Peer Tutors. If you don’t have peer tutors, consider what Carol did. She put the word out to the community that she could use volunteers for the newcomer classroom. You can use this video to do that. It helps potential volunteer see how easy it can be to help you.
Larry also begins with PWIM. The Picture Word Inductive Model is perfect for getting the words from the students to begin a speaking and writing assignment with a picture of the school or classroom. Check out this post from Larry about this technique with ELs.
Larry also made a point to say that VERY LITTLE technology was used in his newcomer classroom. The peer tutors are helpful enough so it is not necessary. However, Carol and Larry agreed that AI can be VERY POWERFUL for newcomers when they are at home. There are so many ways it can support their practice of the language for listening, speaking, reading and writing in English.
CAROL:
Carol reviewed her TOP TIPS for the First Days of School
She has shared them in a video that has thousands of views. The video offers a deeper dive into the following:
- Name Tents: Will be used for conversations, Will help with stress to be holding somethin
- Teacher Created Selfie-Kahoot: Quiz about the teacher, Written with complete sentences vs. questions, Echo reading opportunity
- Selfie Kahoots about the Students:f Teacher gets a trivia question from each student, Teacher makes these to play throughout the year for language practice, Can be done for holiday traditions or other occasions: Helps to teach test-taking strategies
- Instead of IDK Poster: From Seidlitz 7 Steps: Environmental Print that is chorally read often
- Social Contracts are Created WITH Students: From Capturing Kids Hearts, See this Show about how to make one , Environmental Print that is chorally read often
Related Boosting Achievement shows you may find useful:
Teaching Newcomers in this Climate is Episode 124
Starting the year in a challenging climate is Episode 57
CLOSING THOUGHTS
These have always been true, but we need to focus on them more than ever:
- We are playing a long game.
- You can have a profound effect no matter how long you have your student.
- Newcomer teachers have the best job in the building.
Other recent highly-recommended Larry Ferlazzo interviews:
Edweek Video:
Zaidee Stavely from EdSource:
Marcus Luther of the Broken Copier Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-classroom-as-it-is/id1634849386?i=1000714803920
And you can find MORE interviews with Larry here: https://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/about/
Aren’t we glad he isn’t really leaving??
Please reach out and let us know what you thought about this show. You can comment here or connect with us on social media:
Larry on Facebook: Larry Ferlazzo Educator
Larry on Instagram: @MrFerlazzo
Don’t miss this FREE WEBINAR opportunity on Trauma Informed Instruction. Larry and I are excited to interview Elise White Diaz. Register right here: bit.ly/Oct14DCR
Thanks for helping me with my learning. Have a great school year!
Carol