Fourth Graders: interviews by Judy Gelles

Fourth Grader, Philadelphia
There are sixteen people who live in my house, my parents, my three sisters and brother, my grandparents, my three aunts, my uncle and my three cousins. We speak Mandarin, Vietnamese, Cantonese, and English. I share a bed with my three sisters. When I grow up I want to be a doctor.

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Fourth Grader, Philadelphia
My whole family was born in Mexico. I came to the United States when I was three. I live with my mom, my dad, my three brothers, my god sister, and my niece. I worry that my parents might get deported to Mexico. Then I would be all alone.
 

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Fourth Grader, Philadelphia
My whole family speaks Chinese. I wish my parents could speak English. Then we would be able to order pizza in a restaurant. If they spoke English they might be able to read my school permission slips and sign them. Now I am my parents’ teacher.

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Over the past eight years Judy Gelles has interviewed and photographed more than 300 fourth grade students from a wide range of economic and cultural backgrounds in China, India, South Korea, England, St. Lucia, Italy, South Africa, Nicaragua and multiple areas of the United States. She asked all of the students the same three questions: Who do you live with? What do you wish for? What do you worry about? The Fourth Grade Project connects children locally and globally, building bridges and tearing down walls.

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