By Danna Sanchez, Special to Pine Whispers
For a lot of people, what automatically comes to mind when they hear “ESL” is Hispanics or Spanish-speaking people. But at Reynolds High School, there are a lot of students from many countries taking English as a Second Language classes.
Reynolds’ ESL program serves students from countries such as China, Burma, Hong Kong, Thailand, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, India, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, the Philippines, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Brazil, Egypt and Mexico. ESL is for any student whose first language is not English.
“ESL helped me and now I can talk to girls,” rising senior Jorginho Marroquin said with a smile.
Marroquin said one year in the ESL program was enough to help him, but another rising senior – Edwin Romero – said he needed longer: “It was pretty difficult. It took me two years to learn English.”
Stacey Jolly, one of the ESL teachers at Reynolds, said it takes most students five to seven years to learn English, and that is why many students are put in ESL in elementary school. That way, by the time they reach middle school or high school, they have all their years left in school to take regular classes.
Rising sophomore Luz Marina Marroquin has been taking ESL classes since first grade.
“It was easy – I think I had it in me,” she said. “The teachers are easier to understand and now I understand the basics of class, the meanings and the differences.”
Students take a standardized test called “ACCESS” to determine their English-speaking proficiency. The students are tested in speaking, listening, writing and reading. There are six proficiency levels, which are 1) Entering, 2) Beginning, 3) Developing, 4) Expanding, 5) Bridging, and 6) Reaching. Students are placed in the appropriate ESL class until they meet the proficiency level and exit the ESL program.
Jolly said, “99 percent of the students want to learn English: There are hardly any discipline problems. That is why I love it. Most students are motivated and I get to meet people from all around the world.”
Jolly has been teaching ESL for 17 years, the last 13 years at Reynolds. She enjoys helping students overcome the many challenges they face, from Arabic students having to learn to read from left to right to Asian students getting used to an alphabet instead of characters. The rewards are many.
“ESL has helped me learn more English so I could accomplish future goals,” Romero said.
Sanchez recently completed her freshman year in Intro to Journalism. This story was written as her final project for the class.