On the first few days of class, Adriana Alvarez stands in front of her sixth- to eighth-grade English as a Second Language class and asks them to try an exercise with her.
She tells the students, many of whom have recently immigrated to the United States, that she wants to understand who they are. Alvarez wants to know what their pronouns are. What is the name they like to be called? What is the correct way to pronounce their name?
Alvarez uses herself as an example first. After introducing her name, she tells them that she is Mexican. She is a short person. She is a person with brown skin and brown eyes. She tells them that she is a person who loves to talk and dance. And she tells her students that she is someone who will be there for them.
Alvarez is a spring 2022 graduate of the UO College of Education’s Curriculum and Teacher Education master’s program and now teaches English classes in the Bethel School District, the same district she attended in high school. The support and encouragement she found from UO faculty members, Alvarez said, were essential for her academic success and her ability to share her background as a means of connecting with students.