Overview
Follow Jazmin Escalante, newly arrived in California from El Salvador, as she recounts her first days of school in America.
Describes a young Salvadoran girl's experience integrating into an American school.
Synopsis
Follow Jazmin Escalante, newly arrived in California from El Salvador, as she recounts her first days of school in America.
BookList
Jazmin Escalante is smiling on the cover, but her opening words are, "I was so afraid." Newly arrived in the U.S. from El Salvador, she doesn't know how she will manage as a fifth-grader speaking only Spanish in an American school. This full-color photo-essay goes beyond the general immigrant adjustment story and focuses on a dramatic episode. First Jazmin scouts out the school with her mother. Then comes the first day, filling in the forms, being introduced to the class, hating the way the teacher mispronounces her name, and coloring in pictures while the kids do lessons. But things get better: the ESL teacher helps her take part in class; she moves up a grade to her own age-group; and when the kids play soccer, though she's the last one chosen, she proves herself by scoring two goals. Finally, she makes a friend. Words and pictures particularize what happens to Jazmin, and this both roots the experience and universalizes it. Any kid can identify with what it's like to be new and alone in a strange school.