Week 5-ESL Summer Camp

I came across a great article this week based on a school named Knollwood Elementary which had the opportunity to host an ESL Summer camp. According to Savannah Morgan, the author of “Knollwood Elementary School hosts ESL Summer Camp” the program was a successful one in which students seemed to be enjoying themselves a great deal (Morgan, 2017). The ESL Summer Camp was designed for English language learners to continue to work on their English language acquisition. They focused on reviewing language skills learned throughout the school year as well as extending on those skills to further develop their second language acquisition. During the student’s time at the camp, they were given opportunities to work on their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills which are the four components measured in terms of English language proficiency. Although the Summer Camp was held in an educational setting, due to being held during the summer months, the teachers were able to plan fun and engaging lessons to promote student’s achievements. Which allowed the students to not only strengthen their English language skills academically but socially as well.
I found this article to be very interesting in terms of teaching the field of ESL. Not many schools/districts are able to run Summer Camps or programs in order to support the academic and language growth of their English language learners throughout the summer months. I was impressed to see that the school had over 60 students enrolled in the program which demonstrates the parent’s involvement in their children’s education as well. I believe that implementing a program such as this one can not only help maintain the skills students learn throughout the school year, but it will help to advance those skills so that they have a greater chance of meeting state standards for their grade level. I would hope to see more and more schools providing additional support such as this to their English language learners in the future. As it would help to bridge the gap between our ELL students and their English-only speaking peers. Due to their language barrier, ELL students are at a greater academic disadvantage than their English-only speaking peers.

References
Morgan, S. (2017, July 4). Knollwood Elementary School hosts ESL Summer Camp. Retrieved July 6, 2017, from http://www.salisburypost.com/2017/07/04/knollwood-hosts-esl-summer-camp/

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