School's out...for the summer?

I will be working with 5th-10th grade ESL students this summer through the MoundsView Summer School program. So, as the students begrudgingly return to school after only a brief taste of summer, I'm working to make these 5 weeks of their summer mornings something fun and educational all at the same time.

My students will range in age as I mentioned above (and a few of them I've had in my regular classroom during the last two years in the district). They will come from homes that speak languages including Spanish, French, Arabic, Japanese, Hmong, Cebuano, Cantonese, Tibetan, Swahili, Ilocano, Vietnamese, and Lao.

My basic goal with them at this point is to make sure that I'm balancing their experiences with reading, writing, listening, and speaking as well as working on specific skills that will make them clear and capable communicators and provide them with strategies to successfully approach high-language content materials in middle school and high school.

Here's to summer...school!