Sheltered Program Exposes Greatness
As I began to talk with ESL students Cemariano and Rosa, speaking in what little Spanish I could muster, it dawned on me just how much I take my knowledge of English for granted. Language is such an integral part of the education process, and too often schools lack the resources to provide programs for students that otherwise are unable to understand or even begin to comprehend what is being taught in the classroom. Luckily, Enloe has conquered this problem through The Sheltered Program.
The Sheltered Program is a fairly new experiment, combining kids who are enrolled in the ESL (English As A Second Language) program with their English speaking peers. Kids like Rosa and Cemariano have gained a life-changing amount of knowledge from these classes, learning how to process the educational content in conjunction with the language. Instead of teachers automatically expecting kids to write down the definition of a set of vocabulary, for example, students will act out each syllable in the form of a skit or a song, in order to understand the word’s meaning. “Sometimes we have to present information not relying on printed words. We have to use visuals, demonstrations, act stuff out, think about how to present concepts without the definition,” says Mrs. Lee, a first year ESL teacher at Enloe. Mr. Hedgepeth, also a first-year English teacher, says that the array of different cultures and languages represented in the Sheltered classroom lends itself to hilarious situations that help relieve some of the students’ stress. Often students will attempt to speak each other’s languages in the class, ultimately resulting in a complete obliteration of the correct pronunciation. “It gives them a sense of acceptance and normalcy. They are not in some special separate reading class. They are in the class with all the other kids,” remarks Hedgepeth. This focus on language creates an immersive and beneficial curriculum, where students who are fluent in English are often forced to step up as leaders and sympathize with the various struggles of their peers in the process of learning English.
Most recently, the fruits of this new program were displayed in an “Engaging Equity” Showcase, held in the Media Center on April 27. For the past few months, Sheltered students have been working vigorously on projects that relate to either math, civics, or English, and were finally able to show them off during the showcase. One project compared the amount of time an average person spends on the popular video game Fortnite, while another project dissected Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey. Mrs. Rivera, an ESL teacher at Enloe, says this is the first year the program has had a showcase and hopes the event will help give greater attention to its impact.
Despite its recent success, the Sheltered Program has had to undergo various changes before becoming a solidified program at Enloe. For the past few years, it was unable to maintain a consistent curriculum year after year while adjusting and making various changes. “It used to be that if you needed ESL, and you were in this district, you were sent to Athens Drive or Broughton High School because we just didn't have a program,” comments librarian Mrs. Bowen, who has befriended several of Enloe’s ESL students and assists the program.
With the new addition of ESL-experienced teachers such as Mr. Hedgepeth, Mrs. Lee, Mrs. Rivera, and Mrs. Giglio, the program has been able to flourish, providing a much-needed boost for Enloe’s ESL students.
As I finished conducting my interviews, I was quickly hastened into a group photograph with students I had just met less than five minutes earlier. As Mrs. Rivera clicked the shutter on her Polaroid camera, I was struck with the realization that this moment—communicating with different students, both English and non-English speakers—is perhaps the purest definition of a better world, where we are accepting and understanding of those that are culturally and linguistically different from us. This is what the Sheltered Program strives to achieve: exposing students to different cultures and people, while enhancing their knowledge of English without the feeling of isolation.
