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. 

"Tell Me a Cuento" Workshop for Teachers

I had the best afternoon with adult education teachers in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Sandra Chupkai and I presented a workshop on Tell Me a Cuento, a book club for ESOL students reading illustrated children's books.

Northeast SABES, System for Adult Education Support, hosted the workshop. The Lawrence (MA) Public Library and Mass Humanities made it possible for me to present and for each teacher to recieve a copy of Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa by Veronica Chambers. We did a model discussion. Many teachers had actually met Celia in NYC or she sang at their graduations. The discussion was an amazing testimonial to the power of Celia's music to translate a culture and the pride in salsa music as a symbol of Latino cultures in counties around the world. Thank you to all the teachers who shared your stories. Sandra and I presented the workshop to give teachers ideas for running their own Book Clubs for adult ESOL students or for parent groups. I hope the handouts on Tips for Teacher-Led Discussions will inspire teachers to offer their own programs. If teachers would like support in presenting a Tell Me a Cuento program or variation on it, please e-mail me. We also spent some time talking about selecting multicultural books with cultural authenticity. I showed some slides of my powerpoint on multicultual books.