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Better Understanding
ON THE INSIDE The latest happenings in our area Page 2
March 31, 2016
Tutoring program helps Spanish-speaking students by Caitlin West STAFF WRITER
A tutoring program pairing elementary and high school students aims to help Englishlearning students with several subjects while also deepening their connection with Old Forge School District. Los Pequeños Estudiantes started in the middle of last year with three then-sophomores — Taylor Tansley, Cameron Read and Francesca Samony — who tutor two elementary students on subjects including math and English after school once a week. It began after Lea Garcia, who teaches Spanish at Old Forge High School and has been with the district 13 years, was translating for parent-teacher meetings and realized that many times the Hispanic students felt isolated. “I just kept hearing these things over and over again, like they weren’t a part of the school or they didn’t feel like they were a part of the school,” Garcia said. With the help of elementary teachers Lisa Nee and Lynn Marianelli and special-education teacher Gina Aldrich, Garcia developed the mentoring program, which pairs upperlevel Spanish students with first- and secondgraders whose teachers recommended them for extra, one-on-one help. “They’re behind, and we’re catching them up,” Garcia said. She shared the concept with some of her upper-level Spanish students, and the three girls volunteered. They tutor the younger kids in English but also speak in Spanish on occasion. “The parents [of the younger students] will bring in food for my students in gratitude for what they’re doing,” Garcia said. “So there’s a cultural exchange going on here.” The program organizer trains the tutors and oversees their efforts, which is based on research-based English-as-a-Second Language (ESL) best practices. The younger students get a juice box and snack plus rewards like stickers for their work, and the organizer shares their progress with their parents in Spanish after the
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From left: Taylor Tansley, Xavie Arroyo-Bourdoin, Camila Carrasco-Cantieri and Cameron Read.
sessions. Garcia said she wants the program to help integrate the English-language learners into the Old Forge community. “I know that it’s a very loving, inclusive community. … I’ve seen students from every part of the United States and other parts of the world come, get to know the other kids, and the kids will include them,” she said. “Most of the time, it’s based on sports, because Old Forge is crazy about sports. So if there is a kid that plays soccer, he’s immediately integrated into the school, and these little kids, their parents don’t understand that. So we’re trying to get them in sports [too].” The program also lets the high schoolers combine their love for Spanish with gaining
community service hours they can put toward graduation projects or honor society requirements, Garcia said. “One of the girls I know wants to be a teacher, and the other two I think are going to go into medicine, and they see the value of being able to speak Spanish and being able to communicate with the Hispanic community,” she said. Garcia added that they hope to include more elementary students in the program, including some Vietnamese kids. The younger students have loved participating in the program, Garcia said. “They feel they’re more involved in the school,” she said. “The kids have actually gotten additional services which they needed.”