Teachers who work with English as a Second Language learners will find ESL/ESOL/ELL/EFL reading/writing skill-building children's books, stories, activities, ideas, strategies to help PreK-3, 4-8, and 9-12 students learn to read.
Asian Pacific American Heritage Month
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month! Colorín Colorado celebrates family traditions and the rich diversity of Asian and Pacific Americans with books, activities, and a variety of resources and ideas for ELL educators.
Explore the following:
- Books and Authors — Find great books written about a wide range of Asian and Pacific American cultural experiences, as well as interviews with Asian American children's book authors.
- Information and Resources — Learn about ways to help your English language learners (ELLs) get ahead with our selected resources.
- Ready-to-use — From webcasts to toolkits, these resources help PreK-12 educators.
- More resources — Find links to other organizations and resources to help you celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.
Books and Authors
Asian Pacific American Heritage Booklist
The term "Asian Pacific" refers to a group of more than 25 different countries, including China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea, and Thailand. Our booklist features stories for children and teens spanning a number of Asian Pacific countries, as well as stories by and about Asian Americans and Pacific Americans.
San Francisco Public Library: Children's Books on the Asian American Experience
This list includes folk tales, picture books, and non-fiction titles for children ages 3-12.
Smithsonian Freer and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery: Children's Books and Activities
The Smithsonian's Freer and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery website offers a wide selection of Asian Pacific American children's books and activity books, including selections from the Favorite Stories series mentioned above.
A Video Interview with Janet Wong
Janet Wong grew up in Los Angeles where she observed the rich community life that comes from many cultures blending together. She writes stories and poems about what's deep-down important to children: families, traditions, and community. For inspiration on how to share poetry with kids, listen in as Wong talks about building a "poetry suitcase."
A Video Interview with Laurence Yep
Laurence Yep writes books that draw from his Chinese American background yet speaks to common feelings and experiences. In this interview, Laurence Yep discusses his love for his work and the gratification of writing.
Humble Comics: Comics and Other Stuff Created by Gene Yang
Learn more about comic creator Gene Yang and his award-winning graphic novels!
Children's Book Publishers: Asian Pacific American Interest
Information and Resources
Building Bridges: An Interview with a Chinese Educator of ELLs
Originally from China, Xiao-lin Yin-Croft learned English as an adult and now helps young Chinese students in the U.S. bridge the cultural and language gap that they face from an early age. In this interview, Xiao-lin shares her experiences coming of age as a student in China's Cultural Revolution, and describes the strategies she uses to help her students develop the language skills they need to succeed in the U.S.
From the Classroom: Working with Chinese ELLs
Xiao-lin Yin-Croft offers some insight on Chinese immigrant communities in the U.S. and how cultural influences shape Chinese students' experiences in the classroom. She also offers some ideas about outreach to Chinese parents and describes some particular nuances that Chinese students struggle with when learning English, including details of pronunciation, grammar, and language usage.
Parent Reading Tip Sheets
Our parent reading tip sheets are available in 11 languages, including Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, and Hmong!
Articles for ELL Educators
For the ELL Classroom: Bright Ideas That Work
These articles offer practical suggestions for ELL classroom teachers — everything from publishing a class newsletter to addressing special education needs in the ELL classroom.
Ready-to-use
These free tools are designed to help ELL educators in areas such as assessment, reading instruction, and professional development.
- ELL Starter Kit for Educators: A tool kit featuring assessment and reading checklists, progress forms, and more.
- Professional development webcasts: Free webcasts covering topics from ELL assessment to teaching middle and high school ELLs.
- Colorín Colorado T.ELL.E-GRAM: Free e-newsletters for educators (available in English) and parents (available in English and Spanish).
More resources
Learn more about the resources that organizations such as the Smithsonian Institution and PBS are offering for Asian Pacific
American Heritage Month.
Background Information
- Introduction to Asian Pacific American Heritage Month (InfoPlease)
- Multimedia APA Educational Resources
(Center for Asian American Media) - Student Essays by Asian Americans: In Our Own Words
(Teaching Tolerance) - Asian Americans in Focus
(Teaching Tolerance) - APA Resources
(National Council of Teachers of English)
APA Activities and Lesson Plans
- Smithsonian Education
- Scholastic, Inc.
- Education World
- Library of Congress
- Teacher Vision
- Edsitement (National Endowment for the Humanities)
National Geographic Xpeditions
- Water Resources in Asia: Changes and Challenges
- Changing Boundaries in Pre-colonial Asia to the Present
- New World Influences on Asia
- Cities in Asia
PBS Educational Resources
Grades: Pre-K-2
Grades: 1-3
Grades: 3-5
Grades: 4-8
Grades: 7-12
- KQED: Resettlement to Redress
Resettlement to Redress: Rebirth of the Japanese-American Community examines the resettlement of Japanese-Americans after World War II through the signing of HR442 by President Reagan in 1988, wherein it was formally acknowledged that interment was based on racism and merited an apology and reparation.
Grades: 9-12
- Independent Lens: Asian American Episode Guide
Airing weekly on PBS, the Emmy award-winning series Independent Lens introduces new documentaries and dramas made by independent filmmakers who are taking creative risks.
- Ancestors in America: Asian American
Asian Americans are one of the fastest growing yet least known groups of immigrants in the United States. Join PBS for an exploration of their history and stories.
- Becoming American: The Chinese Experience
Bill Moyers and a group of veteran producers explore the dramatic history of the Chinese in America, and confront myths that have flourished over time about their experiences.
- American Experience: Daughter from Danang
In 1975, with the end of the war in Vietnam imminent, Mai Thi Kim, a poor, young Vietnamese woman, sent her seven-year-old daughter to America as part of a controversial evacuation program. The little girl was adopted by a single woman, renamed Heidi and brought up in Tennessee. Twenty-two years later, Heidi tracked down her birth mother and visited Danang. The reunion that had raised so many hopes and expectations for Heidi and Kim quickly became rife with tension and misunderstanding as the cultural gulf between Heidi and her Vietnamese family grew larger and larger.
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