For Inauguration Day, a class of ELL students at Pearl Lean Elementary School in Warren, Mich., who are mostly newcomers from Iraq, learned how to sing "Hail to the Chief" and say the words to the U.S. presidential oath of office. See the video from a local news station that features them singing and reciting here.
"I hope they can feel like they are kind of like a community—that they are really part of America now," says Barbara Gottschalk, an English-as-a-second-language teacher at the school, in the news video.
Ok? Very strange. I would hope interacting with Americans and being welcomed by them would be more appropriate. What's next on the list? Singing The Star Spangled Banner? Ask Americans how they feel about Pomp and Circumstance and I don't think they'd tell you they felt at ease and at their friendliest.