Grant sustains English language learning program

LYNN – A summer English language learner program that was initially a tough sell resulted in great success, leading to a $190,000 grant to bring the program back for a second year.”It’s a program for middle school English language learners,” explained Deputy Superintendent Jaye Warry. “It’s a combination residential component ? and a very intensive English learning program here at LVTI.”Lynn Summer English Learning Academy is funded through the Gateway Cities Education Agenda out of the Executive Office of Education, Warry said.Students were specifically chosen to attend that program that included a partnership between the Lynn Public Schools, Endicott, Gordon and Middlebury colleges as well as Lynn Vocational Technical Institute and Centerboard. Warry said most of the students were very new to this country and could speak English but didn’t have good academic grasp of the language. However, while recruiting students, they ran into a bit of a phenomenon Warry didn’t anticipate.”Many of the kids were hesitant to go away,” she said.The program included living at Endicott College for a short period, and it came together shortly after the Boston Marathon bombings that took place last April. The bombings rocked the city and the country, left three people dead and more than 200 injured. Warry said she suspects that families that were relatively new to the country were hesitant to let their children go for fear of what else might happen.”We decided to take the parents to see the college and they were much more assured,” she said. “This year I think we’ll take the parents to the college in the spring before we ask them to sign up.”This year will be unique in that some of last year’s students will be invited back to join a new crop of what Warry suspects will be around 40 kids in all. The students will also overlap with the Leadership and Learning Academy, another program at Endicott for gifted Lynn students.”It will be a great mix,” Warry said, adding that based on last year’s success, she doesn’t think recruitment will be an issue this year.Twenty-nine students were tested before entering the program and again at its conclusion. Warry said all of the students met the goal of increasing their academic English vocabulary by 40 words and 92 percent of the students reported that the program was “very important to their acquisition of English language skills.”Students weren’t the only ones getting schooled. Warry said Centerboard, an organization aimed at making Lynn a better place by tackling social issues, also worked with parents on English skills as well as financial literacy.Teachers also benefited. Warry said Middlebury College linguistic professors worked with Lynn English language learner teachers on how best to teach the students.”It was a wonderful program,” she said. “Our teachers had access to some of the best linguists in the country and the kids got the best instruction and a residential experience at a college.”Warry said the $190,000 grant should cover all but about $30,000 of the cost of the program and that the remainder will be covered by a second grant.