Here at Arbor Hill Elementary School, we are taking a new approach to Social Emotional Learning (SEL) for our English as New Learners (ENL) students this year.
Once a week, about 50 students gather in the library for community building, led by ENL teacher Kathryn Sokaris and with support from translators. Then, they break into smaller groups, also with translators, to ask and answer ‘getting to know you’ questions in English.
Some of the students are the only speaker of their home language in their classrooms so, in addition to practicing English skills, the meetings help them to feel less alone and understand that they can learn English while continuing to keep their native language.
During last week’s session, 21 countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belize, China, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guinea, Honduras, Jordan, Mexico, Myanmar, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Peru, Puerto Rico, Sudan, Turkey, Venezuela, Vietnam and Yemen) and ten languages (Spanish, French, Karenni, Pashto, Dari, Chinese, Vietnamese, Arabic, Turkish and Igbo) were represented.
The support we're able to offer to all our students makes us AHES proud!
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