Preston — When the issue of teaching English to newly arrived immigrant students is addressed, thoughts automatically turn to larger, urban districts with dozens of English learners speaking many diverse languages attending bilingual classes to help speed their grasp of the new language.

But Preston’s two schools are not exempt from the need to help students who arrive with little to no knowledge of English, although on a much smaller scale.

Ivy Davis-Tomczuk, principal at the Preston Plains Middle School and the district curriculum director, said Preston has nine students who are classified as English learners, ranging from kindergarten through sixth grade. Native languages include Persian (two siblings), Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.

Since the enrollment is so spread out, Preston doesn’t have an English for Speakers of Other Languages program, so the nine students spend their days in regular classrooms, assisted by the teacher, instructional assistant and by the district’s Spanish teacher for those whose native language is Spanish.

“It’s a true immersion program,” Davis said.

She said she realized earlier this year that Preston was seeing an increasing number of students with little to no knowledge of English. To help teachers and aides support the students, she contacted LEARN, the regional education agency, and added a professional development session aimed at addressing the needs of the English learners.

Hugh Birdsall, a retired 20-year English for Speakers of Other Languages teacher at the Regional Multicultural Magnet School in New London and now a consultant for LEARN, spent three days at Preston Veterans’ Memorial School and Preston Plains Middle School. He observed teaching and staff and student interaction with English learners in the classroom and in common areas.

Birdsall led two professional development sessions Nov. 7 and Jan. 29 for about 14 teachers and instructional assistants. He submitted a written report to Davis-Tomczuk on his school visits Jan. 17 and 18. Birdsall wrote a glowing two-page report saying Preston schools have fostered a genuinely welcoming environment for English learners, from administrators and teachers to fellow students. 

“In both schools I got a very clear sense of collegiality and an atmosphere that felt at once safe, helpful and friendly,” he wrote in a section on school climate. “Students, teachers and all staff that I came into contact with conveyed this impression. Both English speaking students and teachers seemed to treat the English learners in their midst with warmth and respect.”

His section on suggestions consisted of a series of questions about teaching techniques and approaches to teaching English learners. Questions included how to incorporate language learning into lesson plans, the use of visuals to aid their learning and “How to offer enough varied practice to help students develop facility without dulling their enthusiasm for the content?”

PVMS second-grade teacher Erika Rogers has two Chinese boys in her class: Jason Xu, who is more advanced in English, and Austin Sung. She sat them together so they can speak Chinese to each other and learn together.

“It’s hard to get them to share, because they don’t want to be different,” Rogers said. “We do a lot of cooperative learning with the kids.”

Rogers said Birdsall’s professional development session “was fantastic,” including information on how long it takes for new English speakers to become proficient in the language.

On Thursday, her class enthusiastically engaged in a science lesson on animals, their physical characteristics and adaptations to their habitats and food sources. Jason researched a bear, while Austin had a spider.

Jason frequently raised his hand to answer questions about his and other animals students described — an iguana, wolf, lady bug and others. She asked Austin to describe the spider.

“Jason, help Austin describe how a spider looks,” she said.

In English the two boys compared their animals, the tiny spider with eight legs, the large bear with four, the spider perched in a web to catch flies, the bear on the ground using its strength to catch prey. They were stumped on whether either animal has a tail. Rogers found a picture showing a bear’s short tail.

Birdsall said Preston is on the right track in helping the English learners, with teachers involving other students in group sessions and circles to foster learning together.

The typical classroom model of teachers asking individual students for answers to lesson questions or problems might leave out not only the English learners but other students not paying attention to the dialogue, he said. Rigid curriculum and student performance standards also can stifle flexibility teachers need to meet individual students’ needs, he said.

“I think that it’s very challenging in the current educational climate, especially for mainstream teachers and schools without an ESOL teacher,” Birdsall said. “It’s not like special education that’s so formally mandated. Special ed has all kinds of rules and regulations. ESOL is not nearly as formal. Part of that is they don’t have any advocates for them, because their parents have a language barrier.”

c.bessette@theday.com