Keeping their English fresh

Summer ESL course helps studetns keep up

By:Sharlee Joy DiMenichi
   JAMESBURG — Some new English speakers will start the school year with an edge, thanks to a four-week language learning program at the John F. Kennedy School.
   About 25 students in kindergarten through 12th grades met from July 5 to Aug. 2 to keep their English reading and conversational skills fresh, said JFK Principal Albert Perno.
   Mr. Perno said that when he previously taught fourth and second grade at the school, he noticed that new English speakers’ abilities would lapse somewhat over the summer, causing them difficulty in September.
   "Sure, we notice that it’s hard for those kids," Mr. Perno said.
   Mr. Perno said the summer English Language Learners program was started four years ago in response to growth in the borough’s Latino population.
   According to a 2001 state Department of Labor press release, Hispanics accounted for approximately 55 percent of New Jersey’s total population growth. In 1990, Hispanics accounted for 9.6 percent of New Jersey’s total population, but in 2000, they accounted for 13.3 percent — a 51 percent growth rate that has outpaced their non-Hispanic counterparts’ rate of 4.4 percent. Middlesex County consists of 13.6 percent Hispanics while the national Hispanic population accounts for 12.5 percent of the total national population.
   The students, who attend school in Jamesburg and Monroe, came from Hungary, Peru, Chile, Venezuela and Ecuador, said Assistant Principal Wendy Sloter.
   "It was like the United Nations here," Ms. Sloter said.
   The summer language program is funded by a federal grant and staffed by English language learning teachers from Jamesburg and Monroe, Mr. Perno said.
   Youger children learned through such activities as playing with objects grouped by English first letters and identifying nouns in their native language and in English, said Ms. Sloter and Mr. Perno. Those in higher grades primarily practiced talking, Mr. Perno said.
   Ms. Sloter said English learners are more talkative in the summer programs than a regular classroom because they feel more comfortable speaking in front of just a handful of children.
   "We tend to find they’ll come out more because that person meets with them in small groups," Ms. Sloter said.