I had an amazing day in Saint Paul yesterday: moderated a panel with six teen English Language Learners, kids from Ethiopia, Mexico, Hmong people, Burma and the Ukraine. The teens spoke about the experience of learning English as teens, what works in the classroom and what doesn’t.

It’s so very emotional because I wanted these kids to talk about what goes on in their heart as new Americans — all of us ended up in tears. They were speaking to school administrators gathered by the Council on Great City Schools.

One takeaway is that these young peole want a buddy system: a teen who has been there before, who arrived speaking no English a year or two before, but who is the real proof that you can do this. Also, I think most of the kids would love to have a chance to talk about their stories about how they got to this country. At one point, a student pointed out to the audience and said this was THEIR country. And then I said no, the whole idea is that this is YOUR country and you must own it. Very powerful.