Riverhead Students Enjoy 'English As A New Language' Summer Program

RIVERHEAD, NY — It was fun and learning all in one great summer program in Riverhead recently, as students participated in an English as a New Language program.

Kids in the ENL program increased their English language skills in an atmosphere of shared learning and fun, the district said.

ENL teachers created innovative activities that engaged and helped these youngsters at various language learning levels improve their English learning, writing, reading and speaking skills.

For example, Donna Elmore's class invited the summer school community to visit their final reading/writing project celebration.

"Her students, decked out in hats and masks, were positioned in front of beautiful bulletin board displays reflecting the books they had read," as part of their program studies, a release said.

Books featured included: I Like Myself, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Duck on a Bike, The Grouchy Ladybug, and One fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss.

In addition, one of the New York State curriculum themes for lower elementary students is "community", "community heroes" and careers. At the end of the ENL summer program, two classes were engaged in building their own communities.

Erika Bauerenfeind's class created their own replica of the Riverhead community from farms to Main Street, Tanger Outlet and Splish Splash.

Her class invited the summer school community to "come take a walk through our classroom, where you will be presented with 'fun facts' about various building/landmarks in the town of Riverhead," the release said.

As part of the project, students constructed buildings, complete with signs, vehicles, employees, and animals.

A dog was visible behind the police department and popsicle stick animals, including cows, pigs, and horses, were placed on the farm.

Students who visited the read the descriptions written by Bauerenfeind's students about the buildings they had helped design and build. Visitors to their replica of Riverhead pointed out the businesses and sites that were included, including restaurants such as Taco Bell and McDonalds. Students also read short descriptions of their particular business, landmark or site.

One of the young visitors said, as he was exiting the classroom: "That was awesome."

Down the hall, Tami Koller's ENL class was involved in a social studies unit on countries around the world.

Keeping in line with the Summer Olympics in Rio, her class was divided into four Olympic teams, China, Mexico, Germany and Egypt.

The teams competed in Olympic events, games popular in one of the four countries, or contests that involved a particular item in a country, such as using chopsticks to pick up small, colorful wads of paper and depositing them in a cup.

Each of the events won earned the teams Olympic points.

In another classroom, students created paper mache masks they had created as part of their study of countries. The students researched various countries and wrote papers about the use of masks in their chosen countries. The masks depicted demons, birds, pandas, and the earth.

A reading of Dragons Love Tacos and Mud Tacos inspired snack time in yet another ENL classroom as students, reading small signs in front of each dish, chose ingredients for their tacos. The students had also studied and created nutritional plates with the five food groups displayed. Other displays included scientific studies of good health habits, such as how to take care of your teeth, and a demonstration of how the lungs work, using a bottle and a balloon.

ENL students were also able to choose four or five books they could keep to read with their families over the summer.