Volunteer ESL program at Classical a success

LYNN – Lynn Classical English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher Hanna Blucek was realistic when she began organizing a new summer school program for immigrant students during this past school year.After all, she was asking teenagers to arrive at the Classical Academy on North Common Street at 8 a.m., four days a week in July for a program that is not worth any credit toward a diploma.Blucek expected six students at best to sign up, but was shocked to see that 15 of her ESL students volunteered to take the 90-minute class and work on improving their English before the start of the fall semester.Funded with a Hardscrabble education grant, the ESL summer class is designed to help immigrants who take ESL classes polish their skills and gain confidence with the language before they return to school.With the backing of department head Julie Cushing and Freshman Academy Principal Judith Taylor, Blucek penned the grant proposal last year. Along with the 15 students in her classroom, fellow ESL teacher Melissa Winchell teaches students off-site and seven additional students are studying at the New American Center at a reading group.Foreign students are expected to learn English and are held to the same standards on the MCAS test as Americans, but budget cuts have reduced staff in the ESL department and teachers like Blucek have difficulty keeping up with each student’s unique individual need.With this summer course, Blucek and fellow ESL teacher Jamie Jamieson are able to take the time to help students individually and make sure that everyone is at or near the same level come September.”The value here is that come September I am going to have 15 kids in class that have that basic understanding,” Blucek said. “I just can’t leave the class for an hour a day to help with the A’s and B’s. There was a time when we would have reading specialists that would do that, but the funding just isn’t there, especially with 120 layoffs this year. ESL was saved, but nothing was added.”Many foreign students, especially those who speak Arabic, have a difficult time understanding English because the characters are different and many languages are read in the opposite direction.Blucek said that she has a few students who are fluent in speaking and understanding English, but are essentially illiterate when it comes to reading and writing because they simply do not understand how the language works.The summer program is not organized like a typical ESL class, rather students explore the language in many unique ways, one of which is through song.Each day Blucek and Jamieson lead the students in renditions of English songs such as John Lennon’s “Imagine” or the Reggae classic “Beautiful Girls.”Along with loosening up the classroom and building friendships, singing helps the students understand the meaning and pronunciation of English words and allows them to feel more comfortable with the language.”The benefit of the singing is that in their first language music represents hope, love, fun and staying safe. English to them represents things like school and studying,” said Jamieson, who routinely uses singing in her ESL classroom. “Now with the songs English is the language of ‘No One’ and ‘Imagine’ and they are learning the grammar.”Blucek is hoping to meet with the School Committee this fall to have the program accredited, and is hoping that more parents will become involved, something that is a struggle when dealing with immigrant families.”This is exciting from a teacher’s standpoint, but it is for parents too,” she said. “The problem is that most don’t know about it yet. My hope is that the family sees (the fliers and workbooks the students take home) so that maybe the little brother sits down with his sister and tries to learn some of these words.”