Thornton Academy Postscripts Alumni Magazine Spring 2016 | Page 20

Tony Palumbo ’08
Postscripts corresponded
with this music educator who
is passionate about music
technology and improvisation
and teaches music in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates

Read to Me: Thornton Academy English Language
Learners & Young School Bears’ Reading Buddies Program
Jian “Jane” Zou ‘19 (China) said, “Sometimes
the book has words I don’t know. Claire will read
together with me. She’s a good reader.”
When students arrive at Thornton Academy
from twenty different countries, they come
with varying levels of English proficiency.
Each student is tested to place them in
an appropriate level English Language
Learning class or support program.
This year, ELL teacher AnnaLouise
Englund decided to challenge her
international students by pairing them
with early readers in kindergarten at Young
Elementary School in Saco. Twice per
month, before school starts, they board a
bus to accomplish their assignment: read
a children’s book to their small partner.
AnnaLouise finds that meeting with the
kindergarteners helps her students to
become “motivated and excited for real
world reading.” Thornton student Shiyu
“Rio” Yang ‘19 described how she prepares,
“Before I read to my child, I always prepare
very hard. I listen to a video to imitate
the voice so I can improve my speaking.
Then I find words that I don’t know, ask
some questions of myself, and then answer
them.”
Any teacher would recognize
this as ideal motivation for learning.
In the photo above, Jane (from China) reads
with Claire, a Saco resident who is adopted
from China. On the day that I visited to
photograph them, they were discussing
a picture book about Chinese New Year.
Claire questioned Jane closely if her
experience matched the one described in

20 TA INTERNATIONAL

the book (it did). In an earlier session, Jane had
shown Claire how, for the first time, to write
her own name using Chinese characters. “She
always listens to me very seriously,” Jane noted.
Young School’s Principal Peter Harrison
described how a mentor-student relationship,
combined with a cultural exchange, benefits the
community, “It’s a mutual mentor relationship.
I love that idea. The benefits are two-way.
Here’s a little kindergartener or first grader
who is able to share and teach something
about English language to a teenager. The

At an Arabian
Tea House in
Old Dubai.

BY PATRICIA ERIKSON
youngsters

are

mentoring,

too.“

Thornton student Yini “Nancy” Pan
‘19 (China) described the exchange
this way, “As a foreigner, when I face
children, I don’t feel as nervous and
shy as I do when I face teachers or
adults. We are from different countries
and our first languages are different,
but all in all, they’re just cute kids. So
we exchange our ideas and cultures.”

“After finishing my Bachelor’s in Music Education from University
of Southern Maine, I began exploring teaching opportunities all
around the world. My wife Allyson Thompson (Class of ’07) and I
have always wanted to travel and it seemed like the best way to do so
while making a living. I attended an international teaching job fair
in Boston last February and received offers from schools in Hong
Kong and Congo before accepting my current job in Dubai.
“Dubai is absolutely wonderful. I have a good time teasing my
parents back in Saco about how I’m laying out on the beach in midFebruary and having regular camel encounters around town. On
a serious note, any worries about living in this part of the world
(Dubai is situated on the Arabian Gulf) no longer exist and I’ve
never felt safer than I do living here.
“At my school (GEMS International School Al Khail), we teach
students from 80 different countries making English Language
Learning a focus for all lessons. Beyond this, specialist teachers
like myself meet once a week with teachers from each grade level
in order to ensure connections can be made between subject areas.
While expectations are high for all teachers, this job has been more
rewarding than I could have imagined. Each day I interact with
students, parents, and teachers from all over the world who I am
constantly learning from.

Fernando Maranhao ‘17 (from
Brazil) wrote, “I help the
children to pay more attention
in the story by asking questions
like ‘what do you think is going
to happen?’ or ‘who is this
character?’ I think this program
is helpful to us both.”

Meeting a falcon on a
visit to the desert.

“Ally is working at my school as a Kindergarten Learning Support
Assistant. My current contract is for two years but we foresee
spending more time over here.”

Tony Palumbo’s camel report is as follows (see right): “Camels can be seen every
now and then crossing the road and sometimes even moving along with (or against)
traffic! We also had camels at our school for United Arab Emirates National Day
celebrations this past December. Students could take them around for rides.”

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