MPUSD proudly welcomes our newcomers program. “Newcomers” for the purpose of our program, refers to any foreign-born students and their families who have recently arrived in the United States.
Throughout our country’s history, people from around the world have immigrated to the United States to start a new life, bringing their customs, religions, and languages with them. The United States is, to a great extent, a nation of immigrants.
Newcomers play an important role in weaving our nation’s social and economic fabric, and U.S. schools play an important role in helping newcomers adapt and contribute as they integrate into American society.
Our Newcomer program is designed to help elementary and secondary teachers , principals and other school staff to achieve the following:
Expand and strengthen opportunities for cultural and linguistic integration and education. • Understand some basics about their legal obligations to newcomers.
Provide welcoming schools and classrooms for newcomers and their families.
Provide newcomers with the academic support to attain English language proficiency (if needed) and to meet college- and career-readiness standards.
Support and develop newcomers’ social emotional skills.
Cultural Survivors: may be recently arrived immigrants. Many will be concerned about securing food and shelter and may not have much time to learn about and navigate the U.S. school system
Cultural Learners: may feel somewhat at ease with the school and want to learn more about what is taught, the school culture, and other aspects of the school. Han and Love contend that cultural learners are more comfortable than cultural survivors with the new school culture and the U.S. education system. “With the help of qualified and trained interpreters and translated documents, parents communicate with schools and learn to navigate the U.S. school system. They feel more comfortable attending workshops in their native language and are likely to participate in parent-teacher conferences with language support” (Han & Love, 2015).
Cultural Connectors: become familiar with educational terminology, policies, and procedures. They may wish to work with cultural survivors and cultural learners, to encourage them, and to help them understand and engage in school programs and activities that support children and parents.
Cultural Leaders: often become the “voice” of their ethnic and language community and advocate for parents in the other stages. They may become leaders and participate in trainings.