Birding with EMS

Over the course of October, the Graduate Assistant team worked with the middle school English learner classes at Edmunds Middle school to conduct a multi-part birding experience! All 3 GAs

are current MATESOL students here at Saint Michael’s College, so we were excited about the many learning connections. The 3 of us visited Edmunds twice to conduct pre-teaching lessons to the 20 EL students about the SMC Natural Area and birding. We designed fun and engaging lessons and games for the students to familiarize themselves with the vocabulary they would be utilizing on their field trip to the SMC campus.

These pre-teaching days were a great opportunity for the GAs to put their TESOL skills to use and form connections with the students and teachers prior to the field trip. After these visits, the classes joined the GAs in the Natural Area to try their hands at birding. Although it was a gloomy, damp day, everyone’s spirits were high as we huddled in the teaching pavilion to learn about Merlin. The students loved using the Ipads to listen for birds and identify different species. When they were familiar with their tools, the group braved the rain to explore the trails and find more birds, following along with the “birding buddy” from our curricular kits. Each pair of kids was also equipped with binoculars, a clipboard, and an ipad, like true ornithologists (one of our challenge vocabulary words)! They were inspired to stay quiet and really hunt with a competition to find the most birds and win an I4E tote bag.

The visit ended with bagged lunches back under the cover of the teaching pavilion, while the students practiced their oral skills and shared their bird identifications! It was a wonderful way to end a busy field trip season at SMC!