Seven Howard public schools will provide free English tutoring to students of immigrant families from October to May, the school system announced Monday.
“The faster the children learn English, the better they can do academically,” said Roy Appletree, executive director of the Foreign-Born Information and Referral Network, an immigrant assistance organization partnering with the schools to provide the tutoring.
The Columbia-based organization will host Club LEAP, which stands for Learning English After-school Program, two days a week at Bollman Bridge, Bryant Woods, Hollifield Station, Laurel Woods and Stevens Forest elementary schools; Cradlerock School; and Oakland Mills Middle School. The schools were selected based on their populations of foreign-language speakers, Appletree said.
About 30 volunteers will work with students for an hour and a half on English literacy, either by reading books, playing games or finishing homework, he said. Most of the volunteers are retirees or Howard County Community College students.
“We want to supplemental English as a second language [lessons]. This will help accelerate the learning,” Appletree said.
Howard County has about 1,700 students who take English as a second language courses in kindergarten through grade 12, schools spokeswoman Patti Caplan said.
About 68 percent of limited English proficiency students in grades three through eight received the lowest scores of basic on the Maryland State Assessments last year, according to state data. FIRN has been working with schools countywide to support English as a second language for several years, said Diane Martin, director of Student, Family, and Community Services for the school system.
“Based on the feedback from the ESOL teachers, it?s been very successful,” Appletree said.
