Norwich – Norwich Free Academy teacher Amy Correia had to keep a secret all summer from her colleagues, students and friends in the Norwich area.

On NFA's opening day, Correia, a 2001 NFA graduate, was named 2015 Teacher of the Year, but since that carried an obligation to give the staff opening day speech, she was told quietly in May.

“I found out in May, and I was not allowed to tell anyone,” said Correia, who was honored Tuesday at the NFA Board of Trustees meeting. “The only people I told were my husband and parents.”

Correia, the academic team leader for NFA's English Language Learners program, had a busy school year leading up to her award. The ELL program launched the school's New Arrival Center at the start of last school year, an effort – led by Correia – to improve services to newly arrived immigrant students who speak no English. Some, she said, have limited literacy skills in their home language as well.

“If you read in your first language, it's easier to learn to read in English,” Correia said, “because you already have that foundation.”

The New Arrival Center doubled the number of hours of beginning level English lessons from four to eight hours per week. That move, along with other supports the center provided, helped students learn English faster. By the end of the year, seven of the 15 New Arrival Center students had learned enough English to leave the program for mainstream classes, while continuing in beginning English classes, she said.

Correia thanked the NFA administration, the Board of Trustees and her fellow ELL teachers for supporting the program and ensuring its success. ELL teachers, she said, have to be flexible because they never know when new immigrant students will arrive at NFA and from what countries.

“They have to be so flexible,” Correia said. “There's no way we can have teachers who speak every language. They just have to work with it. Right now, we have four different languages (by students) in the center.”

The challenges ELL teachers face sent Correia back to the NFA administration and the privately funded NFA Foundation again this year seeking support for a new program.

Correia, who has undergraduate and master's degrees in English and secondary education, received her certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages from Sacred Heart University. TESOL training is available to Connecticut teachers but the program is based in Hamden. Correia approached NFA Curriculum Director Denise Grant and Head of School David Klein about starting a branch program at NFA.

They agreed, and Norwich Public Schools joined the program that started last week. Seven Norwich public school teachers and 14 NFA teachers are enrolled in TESOL classes from 4 to 8 p.m. every Monday. By the end of the school year, they will be eligible to take their certification test.

“We have now an army of trained people to work with ELL students, and they can teach their teachers how to work with ELL students.”

Correia said NFA has changed a lot since she was a detail-oriented student and editor of her class yearbook, with many more college credit courses and a much more diverse student population. But, she said, the excitement and joy of being part of “the NFA team” remains strong.

“I didn't realize until I got older how much goes into a program, to be part of a team,” Correia said. “That was the essence of my speech. We're all in this together.”

c.bessette@theday.com

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