Educators' Guide to Engaging Multilingual Students in the Panorama of the City of New York

Text by PJ Gubatina Policarpio (www.pjpolicarpio.net) Illustration by Megan Leppla (www.meganleppla.com)

Educators’ Guide to engaging multilingual students in the Panorama of the City of New York

1. Check-in with the Teacher.

The classroom teacher should know their students best. Prior to their visit or before the tour, check in to see what the teacher’s goals are for the museum visit, what curriculum connections the class is making or want to make, and if there are any special needs or considerations. This is a great time for me to ask if there are other languages spoken or used in the classroom.

Also, I let the teachers know that I welcome and encourage moments to translate key words, questions, concepts, and/or ideas to reach the most students. This is a great way to collaborate and engage the teacher during their visit.

2. Use active cues to get students’ attention.

Teaching with the Panorama can be challenging because of many factors, including its size, impressive detail, and a moving model airplane touching down and taking off at LaGuardia Airport! So it’s important to use creative and active ways to gather students’ attention. Check with the teacher to see if they already have a strategy in place in the classroom. Some of my favorites include: Clapping: I like rhythmic clapping because it involves both sound and movement. Make sure that this does not distract other groups.

Sign: First, I introduce the sign language for the word “Focus” and then I reinforce this gesture when I need a student’s attention.

3. Give students equitable opportunities to participate.

Allow students to engage with the Panorama without being the focus of everyone’s attention. I like to have lowstakes, low-pressure activities for all students to participate in. For example, as students walk into the Panorama, I ask them to think of a word that describes how they are feeling. Then, I ask students to write down the word on an index card. To share I ask students to look at each other’s cards. Students can then be grouped into similar words or ideas for further conversation.

Text by PJ Gubatina Policarpio (www.pjpolicarpio.net) Illustration by Megan Leppla (www.meganleppla.com)

Educators’ Guide to engaging multilingual students in the Panorama of the City of New York 4. Encourage partner talk.

Students have lots of great observations, ideas, or thoughts but may be uncomfortable with sharing in a new space or in large groups. Give students space to express these observations and ideas comfortably with a friend. You can ask open-ended questions such as: How is this borough different or the same from the last borough we looked at?

5. Affirm students’ background knowledge of other languages.

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When I hear students speak or use languages other than English, it’s an opportunity for me to bring it back to the Panorama. I ask questions like: “What’s another word we use for “bridge”?” In Spanish? Russian? Farsi? Filipino? And more.

I like to ask: What are some of the languages we speak, hear or read at home? In the classroom? In Queens? In NYC? This allows students to share their own knowledge into the museum.

6. Activate students’ relevant prior experiences.

In Queens, when students point out LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy Airport, it is a great opportunity to talk about migration, movements, and travel. Here, I start our conversation with: What are airplanes used for?

They are used for people to travel and move between two places. Then I follow up with: What are some of the places you or your family members have traveled to? Santo Domingo, Mexico, Pakistan! In this way, students are sharing their experiences with travel or migration in a personal way. By reframing this question, students can freely share their own experience without necessarily answering: “Where are you

from?”

7. Make room for student questions.

As educators, we often get excited about teaching and sharing our knowledge that we sometimes forget to stop and ask students if they have any questions or need any language clarifications. Once during a visit with a 2nd Grade group, I kept using the word “gallery” to describe the spaces we were moving in until finally one brave student stopped and asked “What does “gallery” mean?” A-ha!

Text by PJ Gubatina Policarpio (www.pjpolicarpio.net) Illustration by Megan Leppla (www.meganleppla.com)

Educators’ Guide to engaging multilingual students in the Panorama of the City of New York 8. Reinforce vocabulary students are learning in the classroom.

Check to see if there are any concepts or vocabulary from the classroom that you can bring into the Panorama. Teachers often use the Panorama as a way to learn about rural, urban, and suburban communities. I like to emphasize this classroom connection by asking students to define these terms. Using the Panorama, I ask students questions like: How can we identify the different communities? Where do you see an “urban” community here? What does “rural” look like? What makes this “suburban”?

9. Engage students actively through multi-sensory activities.

See: Try extended looking. I like to challenge students by asking them to look closely at the Panorama for an extended time, about 23 minutes without comments, questions or raising their hands.

Sketch: Use a Telescope! Students can look closely by sketching a detail (building, bridge, statue!) they find most interesting in the Panorama.

Hear: Create a Soundscape! Each student makes a sound that they might hear or imagine in this space. Direct the soundscape symphony.

Feel: How does it feel? Have students touch and feel building blocks, models, and other touch objects.

Move: Students pose like their favorite skyscraper in Manhattan or decide like the Statue of Liberty what their pose might be if they were a statue or monument.

10. Have fun!

The museum is a great place for all students to learn, discover, and come together as a community. What makes the Panorama special is that it gives all of us a singular view of our city, New York City. We all have a piece of NYC, along with 8 million others, that makes it special for us no matter where our families or we come from.

Note: This is not an official Queens Museum publication.

Thank you to Queens Museum and Queens Museum Education!