Student Researchers... it's that time of year again

Today's story:
One teacher has reserved the library once a week so we can work with her EL students on book selection and senior research projects. Today, I watched as two of the students struggled with finding resources on immigration. Both students have limited English skills. Since I know some spanish and I know there are spanish language databases available from San Francisco Public Library, I was able to direct both students to sites that would help them. Using some spanish to explain it and some English also, I was able to show each how to sign up for a library card and access the spanish language databases. Boy, did their faces light up when they saw that information could be retrieved in spanish. I know they need to learn English but those databases are difficult to navigate even for seasoned students. They still need to synthesize the data into their senior project essays in English but if they can find what they need in spanish, more power to them. It's a good thing. And they both didn't give up! Just another day in our library.... helping students in more than one way.