April 23, 2009

Professor publishes article on writing program for urban, Latina students

Exposito published an article in the April 2009 issue of Educational Leadership: Supporting English Learners titled “Top Notch Supports for Language Learners.”

Sara Exposito, assistant professor of education:

Exposito published an article in the April 2009 issue of Educational Leadership: Supporting English Learners titled “Top Notch Supports for Language Learners.” The article describes Exposito’s experience with a group of girls from Bell Gardens Intermediate in Los Angeles for the past two years. The school’s high concentration of immigrant students primarily from Mexico and Central America led Exposito to feel that Latina girls needed a place to discuss their lived, urban realities that sometimes lead to a numbing of the spirit. After working with the principal at the school and two counselors, the group set up a writing club called Girls at Promise. In this club, girls meet for two days a month to write and share their stories as well as read literature that is connected to their urban reality. Exposito’s team led the girls on field trips to the Huntington Library, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and to local colleges. Girls at Promise is currently finishing its second year.