Be the Hero You Needed When You Were Younger
by Sarah Bernadette Ottow
My friend Emily Francis is one of my heroes. She tells her immigration story loud and proud. Her story of bringing her sisters to the US from Guatemala as a teenager not only helps her students but it also inspires audiences across the world. Over the years, I’ve marveled watching Emily captivate more and more people, from being on The Ellen Show, to getting featured in People Magazine and to sharing her biography on The Teaching Channel. I had the chance to interview Emily recently about her new book, If You Only Knew: Letters from an Immigrant Teacher and I’d like to share some of that experience here with you. When explaining why she wrote a book about her life through letters to her students, she proclaimed:
“I put myself in my students’ shoes and think, ‘What did I want as a 15 year old sitting in that classroom?’ I longed for a teacher who would come and say, ‘What is it that you’ve been through? What are you going through right now? How can I support you? You’re doing a good job. Can you write this in Spanish? Let me see what’s going on in your mind.’ I longed to have someone like that and I never did. And that’s exactly what I want, the idea behind the book is for teachers to say, ‘I can be that one hero that this immigrant student needs.’ Immigration happens every day…It’s not political, It’s dealing with humans, developing humanity. They are coming here. They have already lived an experience. They are not starting over. They are continuing their lives. And I’m hoping that this book will open some eyes and say, ‘Hey, I can be that one instrument. I can help the student move through their path in the school system in the US.’”
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[Sarah] Hi, I'd like to introduce my friend and dear colleague, Emily Francis. Hello, Emily.
[Emily] Hello, Miss Sarah.
[Sarah] So glad you're here with us today, and really like to learn about your book. I've read it, I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy and review it, but for people who don't know, what is your book all about and what should we know about it?
[Emily] All right, if I tell you the title, "If You Only Knew... Letters from an Immigrant Teacher," of course, that's from me. The book, it's really a combination of my story, and a lot of you know my story as an immigrant coming from Guatemala and attending school here in the US, and becoming a teacher, and then impacting student lives.
And I received a call from Seidlitz Education who wanted to publish my story, and so we started discussing ways to publish that story, but it wouldn't flow with just my story, and as soon as we started combining my story with my students' experiences and how I see myself in my students' experiences, that's when it clicked and we realized that that was the way to go. Just writing letters and how is it that I see myself in my students and how my students see themselves in me, and how we have been able to build relationships that have led us to getting to know each other more, being successful academically, linguistically, and just having an impact in our society.
So I'm so excited about my book, and I'm even more excited to have teachers read it, to have students read it, and I'm hoping that one out of the eight letters that are in the book, a student will find something that they can identify with and something that they can take away and make it their own and use it to make an impact on themselves.
[Sarah] So beautiful. I just get emotional 'cause I know the students' stories that you write are so personal to the students and then they, as you said, they really mirror your experiences. So it's not just a text for teachers, it's not just a text for educators at all levels, it's really for students as well. Have you had any reactions from students, have the students that you wrote about, have they experienced it yet?
[Emily] Well, yeah, I've had one student read his chapter, his story. Of course all the names was changed in the book, just because we wanna protect our students' identities, but when he read it, he was in the classroom, he was reading it and halfway he had to step out of the classroom and just get tissues and put himself together because he was reading, he already knew about my story, but just the way he read how it was intertwined with my story, just, he lost it. He just told me what he thought about the chapter and that's what we ended up putting on NetGalley as a feedback from students.
And now I'm getting feedback from teachers. And you know what I love about some of the feedback that I'm getting is, teachers who have never experienced anything like this, you know, teachers who have never walked in our shoes, teachers who have never seen or experienced things that we have experienced as immigrants. For those teachers to say, "What? You and your students went through this, my students who are sitting in my classrooms are going through that? That's just eye-opening." That's exactly what we wanted to accomplish with this book, that it could work as mirrors and windows, you know, mirrors, as if you lived it, you will see yourself in the book. If you never walked our shoes, then you will see what those experiences are all about.
[Sarah] It's so beautiful, 'cause we're experiencing waves of immigration at all times, and, you know, it's not really something that we get involved in in schools politically, it's like, we welcome all students and we wanna be inclusive. And then you said a lot of teachers, and I work with teachers like that too, may not have lived in another place or been not proficient in the language or, you know, been in a situation, a lot of situations that you talk about are really tough situations that are real and a lot of people might not have had experience with that.
[Emily] Yeah, experiences that I really wish a 15 year old put myself in, you know, in my students' shoes and think, "What did I want as a 15 year old sitting in that classroom?" And I longed for a teacher who would come and say, you know, "What is it that you've been through? What are you going through right now? How can I support you? You're doing a good job. Can you write this in Spanish?" You know, "Let me see what's going on in your mind." I'd long to have someone like that and I never did, and that's exactly what I want this, the idea behind the book is for teachers to say, "Hey, I can be that one hero that that immigrant student needs." Like you say, immigration happens every day, you know, every day I'm getting a newcomer on campus, in our district. So it's not, again, it's not political, it's dealing with human, you know, developing humanity. They're coming here, they have already lived an experience, they're not starting over, they are continuing their lives, and I'm hoping that this book will open some eyes and say, "Hey, I can be that one instrument that can help that student move through their path in the school system here in the US."
[Sarah] So beautiful, and I know it's only been out, what, two weeks-ish?
[Emily] Yes.
[Sarah] The buzz is out there. If you haven't been following Emily on Twitter, you should.
[Emily] I'd be going crazy, right? I'd be going crazy, sharing.
[Sarah] Well, I mean, there's so much to share and there's so much resonance with audiences. So if you haven't checked it out, please do, and I'm excited too to let people know that two Confianza resources are mentioned in the teachers' guide. Can you tell us about that, Emily? We have the developing empathy piece.
[Emily] Yes, yes, you know, and just going back to the book, the intention behind this book is that teachers can use it to develop, you know, putting tools in their pockets, so as they read the book, hey, we have some more resources that can be added to your toolbox. And so we have that piece that we wrote about the identity and the immigration and how is it that we can see ourselves in books, so that Confianza piece that you and I have together, that resource is in there, so I'm excited to have teachers to, after reading the book or along with the book, can go to those links and say, "Oh, there's more stuff to learn about." That post that we have through Confianza has so many other links that you can go to, more resources, right?
[Sarah] That's very true.
- Yeah, yeah, so it's like a chain of resources, again, that toolbox that we all need, and this is my 19th year in the district, and not a summer goes by that I don't think, "Eh, I'm good for this year. I don't need any more learning." We don't say that. We don't say that. We need to continually, as our students are developing linguistically and identity-wise and culture-wise, we need to develop our own tools. And so I'm hoping that that teachers' guide in the book will add to those tools that teachers need to support students.
[Sarah] Well, we're so happy to, I mean, I'll speak for myself, but our whole network, we're so happy to be connected to you and I know you've worked with Confianza on some smaller projects and some bigger projects along the way. We're just so thrilled that you're in our network and that we're so happy to share your work with the world and with our network. So if you haven't picked up her book, please do. It's out there, it's ready, it's on Kindle, it's an e-book, it's also available on Amazon and also from the publisher, "If You Only Knew... Letters from an Immigrant Teacher. Emily, we wish you all the best and we can't wait to hear how things develop as you keep spreading your stories and the stories of the students.
[Emily] Thank you so much. Maybe next time we can have some students that can share their experiences after reading the book. Wouldn't that be awesome?
[Sarah] We would love to hear that.
[Emily] Yes, yes, for sure.
[Sarah] Great idea, Emily.
[Emily] Thank you so much for having me.
[Sarah] Okay. Ciao.
Reflections of Our Own Stories
Hearing Emily speak her truth and the truth that countless immigrant students and their families also experience brought tears to my eyes, as you may see in my visceral response starting at 4:30 in the video interview above. It’s not the first time Emily has brought me to tears unexpectedly. You see, over the years, I learned so much from her, I have gotten inspired and re-inspired by her, and I have seen glimpses of my former students’ stories mirrored in her story. Yet each time I listen to Emily, and now, as I read her story now memorialized in her beautiful book, I get closer to excavating my own story, to touching my own truth, too, as Emily has modeled for us in her work. This is what Emily wants us to do. She wants every educator to see that they have something in common with their students new to the country, new to the English language, new to the culture of US schools. Emily wants us, as educators and as people, to see how pieces of her story and her students’ stories can be reflections of our own struggles and triumphs. By finding core truths and themes around identity, well-being, trauma and love, we can build bridges with immigrant students and families—as educators and non-educators alike, as people, as humans.
With students, we call this kind of empathy-building using texts as mirror, window or sliding glass doors, conceptualized by Dr. Rudine Sims Bishops. In fact, several years ago, Emily and I wrote about how to do this in the classroom (I’m excited that that piece, along with this one about building empathy are both included her book’s teachers guide). Just like we can use text with students to teach about other perspectives and to find common threads between students’ experiences, as adults, we can use Emily’s text to find our own connection to her experience and to those of our students. Even if we, as teachers—and most of us in the US are white, English-as-a-first-language—haven’t personally experienced the harrowing immigration journey and culture shock that Emily and her students have. No matter our life experience, teaching others starts with us and our identities, since our world view colors and shapes how we perceive others and ultimately foster student growth.
Centering Students
After the interview ended, Emily and I spoke more in-depth about this goal she has with her book to help others connect their own humanity to those from other countries, languages, cultures. Now, keep in mind that I’ve been in the field of multilingual and bilingual education for over twenty years. The concept of making education personal isn’t new to me, nor is Emily’s story. However, given what Emily said about being a 15 year old and needing the hero that she is now, suddenly struck a chord and brought me back to a place deep inside. As Emily and I debriefed the interview, I couldn’t help but let my memories flow. I told Emily about being scared and lonely during critical times in my life and needing that hero, as she explained in the video and in her book. You see, Emily is not just a kindred spirit, but she is a role model of authenticity and a bright beacon showing us all how to stand in our truth confidently knowing that you matter, your story matters, and those you represent matter. What a generous gift Emily brings to us all! A true teacher, a true leader.
Now, I’d like to stand in solidarity with my friend Emily Francis and share two of my stories here. While I do integrate some of my life experiences into my work currently, I can do better, as Emily has inspired me to do. Like Emily, I can be more vulnerable and more authentic as the teacher and leader I am. By standing in solidarity with Emily, I also stand in solidarity with the students that my story represents. I, like Emily, strive to center the voices and stories of the kids who don’t fit in, the kids who feel left out, the kids lost in shuffle at school.
Nurturing Strengths to Help Address Needs: Mrs. Simonitsch
One story I’d like to share is about my elementary art teacher, Mrs. Simonitsch. When I was in 2nd grade, my youngest sister was born with unexpected birth defects, hearing impairment, and learning disabilities. My world went into a tailspin as my parents spent at lot of time at the hospital with my “unique” and “special” sister. I felt like I had to grow up very quickly to help take care of my other younger siblings. I developed anxiety and panic attacks having seen several emergencies up close with my sister’s life in the balance. Plus, I became an advocate for my sister on the playground when kids made fun of her, stared at her, and called her the “r” word. I learned basic sign language to help me and my siblings communicate with her until she gained hearing through surgeries. I learned so much by standing in solidarity with my sister and I am still so lucky to learn so much from her.
I loved art as a kid and I found it to be a helpful way to ground myself and escape from the chaos around me. My art teacher, Mrs. Simonitsch, saw this artistic strength in me. She made a point to reach out to me and help me cultivate my skills and interest in art. I won “Artist of the Month” beamingly. In 3rd grade, Mrs. Simonitsch asked my parents if I could join her for English tea at her house. She showed me paintings she made and art from her travels and from living in England. Years later, I went on to earn a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and to study art in London and Paris. I tracked down Mrs. Simonitsch in my twenties to thank her for being a lifeline for me at a time I came to understand was a very traumatic and formative time in my life as a child. This teacher saw me, saw my needs but also my strengths. She helped me tap into my love of art and culture to navigate through the scary time I was going through. I am forever grateful and I take these lessons into my work everyday.
Personalizing Pathways from “Gifted and Talented” to “At Risk”: Mr. Stone
Another story I’d like to share is about being in 10th grade when my family moved across the United States from a small, seaside town on Cape Cod to what felt like The-Literal Middle-of-Nowhere, Wisconsin. I felt completely uprooted and unanchored. I went from being a “gifted and talented” star student who loved school and who had many friends and interests in a class of less than 50 students to being an anonymous number in a class of over 250 students without knowing anyone. It felt like sink or swim. I had to eat lunch by myself for a while, I would get lost trying to find my locker in the giant school, and the confidence I had back on dry land had slipped away. I withdrew to a dark, lonely place, feeling disassociated from these new surroundings, new cliques, and new culture. Like Emily, I didn’t have that one educator to be my hero, to let me know they cared, and to help me understand my experience. There was no Mrs. Simonitsch in sight, there was no ocean. Just cornfields and a strange accent. I certainly didn’t feel gifted or talented anymore.
Furthermore, in 11th grade, I experienced the compounding trauma of sexual assault. I didn’t know how to name what I was going through, I didn’t know how to ask for help, and I slipped further and further away into depression. By senior year, I was labeled “at risk” even though school would have been easy for me if I had actually applied myself. Instead, I skipped as many classes as I could and I fought endlessly with my parents feeling misunderstood and unable to advocate for myself or share my truth. Eventually I ran away from home to escape this scary reality.
Understandably, my parents panicked. The police got involved. I eventually came home on my own accord after this break from it all. When I did come home, some friends that I did manage to make gathered around me at my house for an intervention of sorts. What I remember the most was how surprised I was that my assistant principal, Mr. Stone, was there, too, with my friends. Mr. Stone, the administrator who patrolled the hallways and seemed to be too important to bother with someone like me, came to my house that morning. He sat right across from me and he looked me in the eyes. He told me how much he cared about me finishing high school. From there, Mr. Stone set me up with a job in the high school office as a way to keep me from skipping school during my free periods when I was supposed to be studying. He checked on me often and told me I could do it. Through all of this support, Mr. Stone sent me the message that I mattered and that I had a future to move towards. A huge weight lifted off my heart and I could see finally a path forward for myself because he believed in me. I could then start to tap back into myself and my original love of learning, of the arts and of culture. I eventually become an educator myself, now teaching teachers and leaders how to help kids know they matter at school and how to help kids find their own version of success in this world. This past year, I’ve been trying to track down Mr. Stone to thank him for the huge impact he made at a critical time in my life. I am forever grateful for the lifesaver he provided for me when I was trying to tread water and swim through hard times.
Being Authentic and Vulnerable in our Shared Experiences
As Emily said in her interview and as she explains so gracefully in her book, as educators, we are dealing not just with children or with students, but we are dealing with humans, we are helping to develop humanity. Emily urges us, as adults, to see our own vulnerabilities, fears and struggles in the ones we are privileged to teach and care for. I believe this lesson, as I’ve written about here, is for ALL of us. Not just for educators but for all people. At a time when immigration continues to be politicized, can we all simply remember that we are all united by migration? Emily’s story is a story of migration. My story is a story of migration. If you don’t have a story of migration in your lifetime, reach back to the not-so-distant-past to find one in your family. If you can’t find that story, simply start with when you needed a hero when you were younger. And be that hero for someone else. Be that hero without being a savior. Be a co-equal. Learn from those who have struggled or are struggling. Learn from those who are different from us.
Leaders like Emily who I look up to are authentic and vulnerable. They model how to be real and how to learn and how to grow for the rest of us. I aspire to be like that, too. Let’s all be that for our students and for each other. Let’s find the similarities between our shared human experiences. Let’s build those bridges that connect us and unite us in our shared human experience.
To Further Your Learning:
If You Only Knew: Letters from an Immigrant Teacher by Emily Francis
Honoring Students’ Stories from Confianza (Written by Emily Francis & Sarah Ottow 🤓)
Identity Matters: Standing in Solidarity with Students from Confianza
Migration as a Shared Human Experience from Confianza
Texts as mirrors, windows and sliding glass doors from Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop and this helpful video:
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We need diverse books because we need books in which children can find themselves, see reflections of themselves.
I wrote a piece maybe 1990 it was published which I called “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.” And I think that's really why we — children need to see themselves reflected.
But books can also be windows. And so you can look through and see other worlds and see how they match up or don't match up to your own.
But the sliding glass door allows you to enter that world as well. And so that's the reason that the diversity needs to go both ways.
I mean it's not just children who have been underrepresented and marginalized who need these books.
It's also the children who always find their mirrors in the books and, therefore, get an exaggerated sense of their own self-worth and a false sense of what the world is like because it's becoming more and more colorful and diverse as time goes on.
So, I think that's why.
Emily on The Ellen Show:
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[Ellen] There's someone in my audience right now that I want to meet. Emily Francis came to the United States from Guatemala when she was 15 years old.
[Emily] It's really you!
[Ellen] Hi! Have a seat! Let me finish the introduction.
Emily came to the United States from Guatemala when she was 15 years old with only a sixth grade education, and now she teaches English and is changing the lives
of her students every day. Come on down, Emily. And here she is.
[Emily] Hi!
[Ellen] I heard you were in the audience. Yeah, that's a microphone. You can talk right into that.
[Emily] That's what it is? OK.
[Ellen] You did not expect to be here, so big surprise.
[Emily] No. I was over there dancing. I'm just out of breath.
[Ellen] Yeah. All right. So your story is amazing. Tell everyone how you immigrated, how you got here.
[Emily] Yeah. I was 15 years old when my mother decided to bring us to Guatemala. She was already here.
So I was 13 when she left us in Guatemala.
[Ellen] So she left, you're 13, and then how many siblings?
[Emily] I was 13 and I have four siblings.
[Ellen] How old were they?
[Emily] I was 13, there were 11, 9, 5, and 3.
[Ellen] OK. So you're 13 years old, and for two years you're raising them by yourself.
[Emily] Yes. We built a little shack in my neighbor's backyard, and that's where we lived. From 13 to 15 years old.
[Ellen] OK.
[Emily] So at 15, then she says, I have enough money and you can come.
[Ellen] Yeah.
[Emily] She sent a smuggler to bring us here. And then we got busted at the airport. Because the passports weren't--
[Ellen] Yeah, undocumented. So then how did you get in?
[Emily] My grandmother was here. She was an American citizen. She went to the airport and claimed us as her grandchildren. So we were able to stay here.
[Ellen] OK. I hear that you learned English watching my show and Friends.
[Emily] Yes! Yes!
[Ellen] So were you just walking up to people saying, we'll be right back? I mean like--
[Emily] No, it was just fun. When you're learning a second language, and when you have so much energy, and you're watching somebody just talking, and interacting with other people-- you just get that.
[Ellen] And you learn from it.
[Emily] Right.
[Ellen] And I think that probably-- now that you're teaching kids, English is a second language, right?
[Emily] Yes.
[Ellen] And your whole background probably influences how you teach.
[Emily] Yes I do.
[Ellen] Yeah.
[Emily] When I came here, it was like they forced for me to learn English. Which there's nothing wrong with that. I think this is the language we speak in America. But they kind of forgot to work on my native language, and work on my culture. So that's what I do at my school. I bring literature where my students can read in their native language.
I make sure that they value their culture as much as I do mine.
[Ellen] And where is the school?
[Emily] It's Irvin Elementary School in Concord, North Carolina.
[Ellen] North Carolina. OK. The students sound amazing.
[Emily] Yes, I love them.
[Ellen] You want to say hi to them right now? Because Jeannie is there.
[Emily] What?
[Ellen] Let's see how Jeannie is doing with everybody.
[Emily] Oh my God!
[Jeannie] Hi Ellen! Hi Mrs. Francis!
[Emily] Look, I see my little ones!
[Ellen] How's everybody doing there, Jeannie?
[Jeannie] Oh my gosh, Ellen, we are so excited!
[Ellen] These kids have been so thrilled all day to do this for you, Mrs. Francis. And I actually have one of your students, David, here.
And he wanted to say something to you. What did want to tell your teacher?
[David] Thank you for teaching me to speak English and showing me the right path and be with me all along.
[Ellen] All right. We have one more surprise after this.
Emily, there's somebody who wanted to meet you. He's the CEO and founder of Chobani. Hamdi, come on out here.
So Hamdi, you came here-- you have a similar story. You came here in the same year, 1994.
[Hamdi] '94, yes.
[Ellen] And the only English you spoke was, "I am Hamdi, I am from Turkey. And I love football."
[Hamdi]Soccer.
[Ellen] Soccer, that's what football is really, for you.
[Hamdi]Yes. I watched the wrong the show. So her English is much better than mine.
[Ellen] I see. Had you watched my show--
[Hamdi]I watched Seinfeld.
[Ellen] Is that how you learned English?
[Hamdi]Yeah. You watch TV, watch movies.
[Ellen] And of course, what you've done is amazing.
[Hamdi] And I want to remember my teachers. I took ESL classes at SUNY Albany. That's where teachers like yourself taught me how to speak.
So if I am speaking well, it's their work. If I'm not, it's my fault.
[Ellen] It's amazing. So you come to America, you speak you know basically no English. And now you have one of the most successful companies in the United States, if not the world, I would say. Tell everybody how that happened.
[Hamdi] You know, this is an amazing country. And I found my home in upstate New York. So I end up in the city, New York City in 1994. And I said, I'm going to go crazy in this place. This is too much.
[Hamdi] And then I made it to upstate, and started working on a farm. And I felt like home. It reminded me where I came from. And then I started making cheese a little bit. You know, because that's what we did back home. Farming and cheese making.
And one day I saw an ad that said, "Fully equipped yogurt plant for sale." And I throw it to the garbage can, and later on I picked it up. And I called the number.
It turns out this large company was closing this factory and they were selling it as junk. And I went there and I said, well maybe I should buy this. And everybody said I was crazy. My attorney said they were looking for a crazy [INAUDIBLE] to unload this.
I mean, one of the largest companies is getting out of the yogurt business.
[Ellen] Why would you go in? What do you think you would do with it?
[Hamdi] I just thought I should. I bought it in 2005 with five factory workers. And we started making the yogurt that my mother used to make.
[Ellen] And now? How many employees do you have now?
[Hamdi] We have 2000 employees.
[Ellen] Wow.
[Hamdi] The Chobani Foundation wants to support their school's backpack program. Chobani wants to give you $100,000.
[Ellen] $100,000.
[Hamdi] Chobani is celebrating their 10-year anniversary by giving away a free cup of yogurt to everyone in America. Go to our website to find out more.