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School districts throughout the United States have seen increases in the number of students entering their schools needing additional support in learning the English language. Many of these students are immigrants and all qualifying school districts receive additional funding from the U.S. Department of Education to partially fund programs designed assist students in learning English. Bexley has a growing population of Limited English Proficient (LEP) students. The number of students needing additional support has increased to the point that two years ago the school district used its Federal funds to hire an additional teacher to support our LEP students. Bexley now has two fulltime LEP teachers working to support children speaking Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, French German, Hebrew, Icelandic, Japanese, Kazak, Omoo Afraan, Punjabi, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Urdu, and Vietnamese in their learning of English. Bexley’s program is called “English as a New Language” (ENL) and is guided by a philosophy that a new language is learned best when learned within the context of real life experiences. Bexley LEP students set classroom goals and pick projects to learn words and their meaning by doing things that connect them with the American culture while honoring their own culture and language. Two recent examples of this are ENL projects focused on repairing bicycles and hatching chickens. These provided the children with interactive opportunities to learn the meaning of words associated with science, engineering, health and exercise, and writing. Students were able to learn new words and form deep understandings of the words because they were learned within the context of these experiences. The bicycle project turned into a community service effort with several of the bikes distributed to children who could not afford to buy them. A video camera recorded the chicken hatching project, with live video posted to the school district website. The project received international attention as individuals from 72 countries logged in to watch. Students also participated in field learning opportunities that include visits to the Titanic Exhibit, Ohio Historical Center, and Slate Run Farm. In many cases the students participated in the trips on weekends because they said they did not want to take away from the school day and instructional time. Our students are also supported with technology. Rosetta Stone, Brain Pop, Study Island, Reading A to Z (RAZ) Kids, and interactive grammar sites provide stimulating tech environments to the students to support their English language learning. Most important of all, our LEP students are supported by the best LEP teachers. Our teachers are highly qualified, thoroughly trained in their field, and understand how to teach our children. Bexley’s LEP teachers spend quality time with their student both in and out of school. As a result of these efforts our children are performing at remarkably high levels. Last year, 44 percent of our LEP students met the “Progress Standard.” This standard is the measurement of the student meeting benchmarks to becoming proficient in English. This year, 90 percent of the students met the progress standard while the number of ESL students in the cohort increased from 18 students to 41 students. Thirty-four of our students attained the English Language proficiency standard; that measure is 15 students above the state determined target. Congratulations are in order. We can all be very proud of our students and their teachers for achieving at such high levels of performance.
(Remarks by Michael
Johnson, Bexley City School District Superintendent)
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