Tell Me a Cuento, a Reading & Writing Project with English Language Learners

Tell Me a Cuento, a book of poems, is also a list of multicultural picture books.  What makes this list different is that students learning English wrote the poems  in response to each of the illustrated books included.  The little book is the last step in our Tell Me a Cuento book club in Lawrence, MA.  Readers responded to the books they read with collaborative poems of there own.


You are most welcome to create a book with other English language learners of all ages,  using "Tell Me A Cuento" as a guide.  Adults love picture books, too! Many respond with passion to the folktales and illustrated stories of their own cultures.

Franchelly Greer painted the cover portrait based on a family photograph.  His photo depicts a line in the poem "The Gift He Gave Me" by students

in the Day Care Providers program at Northern Essex Community College. One student wrote about her grandmother who sewed matching clothes for her and her doll. She was responding to Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora. 

 "I Laugh" was written by teens at Lawrence High writing about their babies who stay in the school's day care while they are in class.  They had read "The Things I Love," a poem in Lissette Norman's book, My Feet are Laughing.   
Here's a link to an earlier post about Felicia and Kyle at Greater Lawrence Technical School who designed the book.

You can open the book at Tell Me a Cuento, a book of poems with a click, download it, and share it. 

"Home is wherever your friends and family are." "Home is where you can go no matter what happens, and occasionally to sleep."

Felicia Marte and Kyle Taschereau, both senior graphic communications students at Greater Lawrence Technical School, work on deadline in the days before Christmas break. Felicia and Kyle designed a book of poems written by English language students in Lawrence, MA. Tell Me a Cuento, a Book of Poems was funded by the Lawrence Public Library and a grant from Mass Humanities. The poems were written in response to children's books set all over the world. Stay tuned. Felicia and Kyle's work - and the words of the poets - will be on line and in print in the new year. Many of the poems are about what home means, and Felicia and Kyle wrote their own takes on home - the title of this post. Soon these talented students can sleep.

Where Fireflies Dance Podcast

ESL Book Club

Welcome to a short podcast, Where Fireflies Dance Book Discussion (mp3) or Discussion Podcast. It is one discussion in a series called "Tell Me a Cuento," a book group for adults reading picture books with universal themes. This discussion happened at Child Care Circuit in Lawrence, MA. We read Where Fireflies Dance by Lucha Corpi, a book in English and Spanish, illustrated by Mira Reisberg. The book includes titles of songs people played in cantinas in Veracruz, Mexico which led to our singing in the book group. You'll hear about being a tomboy forced to learn embroidery, the lure of tropical flowers, memories of cantinas - and you'll never doubt how nearby the children are.