WESTFIELD SCHOOL DISTRICT PREPARES ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Westfield Public School students in the “English as a Second Language (ESL)” summer program enhanced their study of English prior to entering first, second, or third grades in September.The eleven participants in the extended school year program are from China, Brazil, Mexico, Ukraine, Germany, India, Philippines, and Russia.
This year, the program focused on learning through the themes of animals and dinosaurs. Inside the classroom, with guidance from ESL teacher Maggie Gonzalez, students described and compared the daily lives and habitats of zoo animals and dinosaurs.
They predicted the sizes of dinosaurs and stood arm and arm in a human chain until they reached the correct calculation based on their research.
In preparation of their trips to a dinosaur museum and a zoo, the students crafted several questions to ask the field paleontologists and zookeepers. To be visible as a group, they designed and tie-dyed their own t-shirts and visors to wear on the excursions.
In addition to Westfield ESL teacher Maggie Gonzalez, the federally funded one week program was taught by former student teacher Elizabeth Fredas. “The purpose of the summer program is to give the students the opportunity to enrich their English language acquisition in a social and academic environment,” explained Gonzalez. “I thoroughly enjoyed working with these motivated learners and was quite impressed with their growth after just one week. I look forward to expanding on these themes in the fall.”