In the back corner of the school, there is a room where students who struggle with English can receive help. This program is called English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and it helps students whose first language isn’t English.
“ESOL supports students in academic studies in our resource room,” Carol Logue, ESOL teacher, said.
To qualify for ESOL support, a student must have difficulty communicating in English, be inadequate in different areas of English speaking, reading or writing and/or speak another language at home.
There are a total of 23 students in the ESOL program and one teacher, Logue, and one classroom assistant. To be an ESOL teacher Logue had to receive regular teaching certification along with an ESOL certification.
Logue said the ESOL program helps students with their homework, quizzes, tests, research papers and projects during their classes. ESOL students can go to the ESOL resource room for individualized instruction during their study hall or during a class in which they need help for a certain class.
“Their regular teacher is the primary teacher on the subject,” Logue said. “I don’t try to change the assignment; I just try to make them more accessible to the students.”
Logue also encourages students to join different activities that they might be interested in after first coming to America or MHS.
Gaby Escobar, junior, is an ESOL student born in Mexico who moved to America seven years ago. Escobar recommends other non-English speaking students take advantage of the ESOL program.
“[When] I don’t understand something, they can explain it to me in another way,” Escobar said.
Logue said there is no dominant country of origin for ESOL students.
“The students are coming from all over,” Logue said. “[A popular original country] is usually determined by current events.”
Another place in the West St. Louis county area that helps non-English speakers is the Asian Center located at the Daniel Boone Library off Clarkson Road near Clayton Road.
Latha Sujeeth, a librarian at the Asian Center, said the Asian Center was opened in 2006 and was created so Asian-language speakers could have a community-based center.
“The Asian Center is a learning center,” Sujeeth said. “It also helps Americans know more about Asia and helps older Chinese and Indian community members. It also provides awareness of Asia.”
The Asian Center offers ESOL classes to non-English speakers, along with Indian and Chinese language classes to English speakers. Both language classes are offered year-round at the Asian Center and meet twice a month. The Asian Center also offers a bilingual story time for children, which is held once a month.
Sujeeth said the Asian Center usually supports Asian-language speakers but will occasionally encounter speakers of a European language.
“The Asian Center is unique because it is resource-oriented while the [Daniel Boone] library has everything,” Sujeeth said.
Besides language classes, the Asian Center also offers culture, arts and cooking classes. Recently, the Asian Center also started up some teen programs, the first of which is a Bollywood dance program that will happen on Saturday, Mar. 12 from 2-4 P.M.