Penn Manor Ready to Help Non-English Speaking Students

By Roxanne Todd

Correspondent

It’s your first day of school, and although a hoard of students saunter down the hall, you are alone because you can’t speak or understand their language.

Think about that.

For students in Penn Manor School District, help is widely available.

The district is on the cutting edge of English as a Second Language (ESL) programs, and it has several helpful options for the non-English speaking students referred to as English Language Learners (ELL).

It takes three full-time and two part-time employees to handle the ESL program. Eshleman Elementary School principal John Matusek serves as the ESL coordinator for the district.

His team includes ESL teachers Anne Andrew, who works at Manor Middle School and Martic and Conestoga elementary schools; Rebekah Long at Hambright Elementary School; Kate Cox at Central Manor and Eshleman elementary schools; Wendy Letavic at Penn Manor High School; and Alissa Hockley at Letort Elementary School.

The number of ELL students is fast increasing at Penn Manor. The school year started with 60 and an additional 30 have since enrolled. Last year, there were 36 ELL students.

Why the increase? Cox said many migrant workers have come to the area because of “opportunity,” and Hockley believes adoption is a driving factor. Another factor is a shifting of population from the city to more rural areas.

The ESL teachers deal with 13 languages, including Spanish, which is the most common, and Waray, a Philippine dialect that is the most unusual. Others include Russian, Ukrainian, Swahili, Indian, Latvian, Mandarin Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean, Cambodian and Punjabi, an Indian dialect.

“We do not have to be proficient in or know their languages,” Letavic said.

“We use strategies such as picture clues and graphic organizers to teach,” Andrew added.

“I use a lot of song and rhyme and poems. … We use picture clues. I actually take them on a field trip inside our building,” Cox said. For example, she will hold up keys and give them the word. Then she will take them around the building and show them how the keys work.

Hockley said she has noticed the ELL elementary students learn social English much more rapidly than academic language. Letavic said the high school students tend to pick up academic English faster than the social aspects of the language.

“Our highest ELL population is at the elementary level,” Matusek said. “They take the math PSSA tests immediately once they’re enrolled in English.” For the first year, the reading is for participation only. The instructors have one year to prepare them for Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests that count.

“The students progress quickly because they are immersed in the language,” Cox said. “They are going to understand you a lot faster then they will be able to communicate back to you.”

Long said she finds it easier to teach ELL students who are fluent in reading and writing in their first language.

“And it does make a difference what their first language is,” Matusek said. He said it is easier to teach students who use the Latin alphabet.

At the high school level, Letavic has to prepare the ELL students to meet graduation requirements.

“The science and math classes seem to go well. They struggle mostly with social studies,” she said.

Matusek said Penn Manor School District is dedicated to running a top-notch ESL program.

“The one thing I am most proud of is the Penn Manor support for our students in our ESL program. We have incredible support for our board and administrators,” he said.

With the help of the Lancaster-Lebanon Intermediate Unit 13, the district offers interpretation and translation services for parents.

Once a year, the ESL instructors hold a family picnic at which parents, ELL students, teachers and interpreters spend time together just having fun.

“It is neat to see all the cultures mingle. Kickball is kickball no matter the language,” Matusek said.

They also try to do field trips to introduce American culture.

“We tie our instruction into these,” he said.

The latest endeavor of the ESL staff is called “Making Reading HIP (Helpful, Informative and Personal). Thanks to a Penn Manor Education Foundation Venture Grant, the ESL program will use audio books downloaded onto MP3 players as a teaching tool.

(c) 2007 Intelligencer Journal. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.