By Meg Peters
Review Co-Editor
Lake Orion ESL students are speaking 39 different languages in and out of the classroom this year.
While this number is comparable to the variety of languages spoken the year before, English as a Second Language (ESL) Coordinator MaryAnne Thorndycraft has seen an increase in students who don’t speak English as their primary language over the course of several years.
‘The state is receiving more workers from different areas, so I think it’s becoming an international trend,? she said.
At the last school board meeting Feb. 25 Thorndycraft delivered a presentation on a new program Lake Orion schools are using to keep track of the 252 students enrolled in the ESL program, about 50 more than last year.
While the high school is hosting 15 foreign exchange students this year, which bumped ESL program enrollment up slightly from last year, the majority of students enrolled in ESL are in kindergarten through fifth grade.
In total, 185 ESL students are from the elementary schools, 26 are middle school students and 38 are high school or Learning Options students. Thirty-one of the 252 students are Schools of Choice students, students from outside districts who enrolled in Lake Orion this year, and three are students the ESL program serves at St. Joseph Catholic School in Lake Orion.
All in all, 39 different languages are spoken at home, with the majority of families?47 percent’speaking Spanish, 10 percent who speak German, and six percent who speak Albanian.
‘We have newcomers that come directly from their country of origin, like Mexico. We get a lot from Mexico who don’t speak any English,? Thorndycraft said. ‘Many students are coming with their families for the car companies, usually from Germany. A lot of times, parents will come over first, and then bring the rest of their families over.?
Unlike past trends, where families might leave the district after a couple years of working, Thorndycraft said most of the students now are here to stay.
‘It’s really cool for our schools to have all of these different cultures coming in.?
Apart from Spanish, German and Albanian-speakers, a program called Elevation is used in the schools to categorize all the different speakers.
This is the first year Lake Orion has implemented the Elevation data-base program, and so far students have been recorded to speak Hmong, ‘Romanian, Vietnamese, Hindi, Urdu, Tagalog (Filipino), Sign Language, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Indonesian, Maltese, ‘Armenian, Bengali, Ukrainian, Welsh, Turkish, Algerian and Cambodian.
To determine whether the ESL program is needed for a student, the district looks at the Home Language Survey families fill out when enrolling their children. If it is checked that a student speaks another language at home, or can speak a second language, they are administered the W-APT test required by the Michigan Department of Education to determine the student’s English proficiency.
A student can score within six different levels of proficiency. Most of the younger-aged newcomers score within level 1 and level 2, and most of the ESL students in high school rank at level 4 or 5.
Students in grades kindergarten through second must stay in the ESL program until at least third grade before taking the state administered ‘exit? test, and must score within the level 6 proficiency criteria and prove they are at their grade level academically to exit the program.
‘My hero is not famous, or has any superhero powers. My hero is Mrs. Ata,? one student from South Korea wrote for a school activity.
Four teachers share ESL responsibilities throughout the Lake Orion district, whether through one-on-one vocabulary lessons or group activities. Depending on proficiency levels, ESL teachers may enter the classroom to aid ESL students, or pull them out for additional instruction in listening, writing, reading and speaking skills.
One teacher, Samina Ata, covers Carpenter, Webber and Orion Oaks elementaries.
‘She may seem pretty ordinary, and she may have a Pakistani accent, but she is my hero,? the student wrote. ‘When I struggled, she had easy, simple solutions to help’She always had time for me.?
Lake Orion doesn’t only serve its ESL students. The program is available to adults and family members too.
Thorndycraft said many mothers enroll at the program, hosted at the Lake Orion Community Education Resource Center (CERC) building for $25 a year.
‘A lot of mothers enroll to improve their English so they can help their child in school,? she said.
For more information, visit the Lake Orion ESL website, at’www.lakeorion.k12.mi.us/16/Content/1872.?