By Tadese Measho
The government is considering a new law that will
help the students from other countries who don’t have papers to be in
the U.S. The law will let these students who have been in the U.S. for five
years receive financial aid for college and also apply for U.S. citizenship.
Ms. Gutierrez, an ESOL 4 teacher, thought the
law is very important for students. To give students a good writing activity,
she and Ms. Cohen, another ESOL 4 teacher, came up with the idea to ask their
students to write letters to Congresswoman Connie Morella about this law. They
believe passing the law will change the lives of a lot of students.
When Ms. Gutierrez asked her students to write
the letters they were very excited. “I thought this would help approve
the law,” Maria Torres said. Ms. Gutierrez said that Congresswoman Morella
would write back to them, but some didn’t believe her.
The students were happy when many got letters
from Congresswoman Morella. “When I got the letter from her my family
was proud of me,” Amanuel Berku said.
Ms. Gutierrez said, “In some countries they
don’t use this kind of way to change the law or create a new law.”
She said that now in this country a lot of immigrants are unwelcome because
people are afraid of terrorists and not trusting each other. “Maybe
this idea will help the ESOL students learn how the laws work in this country
and how they can change the laws,” she said.
(Please read the letters that students wrote to Congresswoman Morella about the Dream Act.)
