S PRING 2017
T HE G REEN W AVE G AZET TE
Major funding for the Green Wave Gazette provided through a generous grant from the AEF
New Language, No Problem
For ELL Students, English is the Top Priority
Brianna Medeiros ‘17
Associate Editor
one to turn to or talk to. These
feelings are the same for most
new students, but ELL stu-
dents have trouble making
friends because they don’t
know how to make conversa-
tion. "You don’t ask to go to
the bathroom because you
don't know how," said Mon-
teiro. This is just one of the
Standing Leticia Ferreira '20, Jennifer Monteiro '19, Katheleen
many barriers they face upon
Carvalho Pinto '20, Maria Livia Henriques Pinto '20, and Rafael
arriving here. But, when they
Goncalves '20 Crouching Matheus Alvares '20 and Pedro Souza
'20 Missing Lucas Silva '18 and Stephane Felix '19
are asked about these difficul-
ties, they laugh instead of
getting sad. Having to wait to go to
student takes a test (WIDA W-
the bathroom has become an inside
APT) to determine what level of
joke to them.
proficiency they are at. Then, ELL
is combined into the student’s
The good thing is that the process is
regular class schedule. Students in
not all that bad, and it gets better.
levels 1 and 2 have ELL for two
The teachers become familiar and
periods a day or for one period a
supportive of them. Friends they
day if they are in levels 3 to 5.
make in school become a support
Abington is getting more diverse by
the year, and some students come
to Abington not quite ready to
jump into the classroom. The Bra-
zilian population in Abington has
grown in recent years, which may
be due to preexisting Brazilian
residents referring others to our
quaint town. As a result, Abington
High School has had a number of
non-English speakers, most of them
Portuguese speakers, enroll in the
English Language Learners program
(ELL). We interviewed several
students in the current program.
Lucas Silva '18, Leticia Ferreira '20,
Jennifer Monteiro '19, Katheleen
Carvalho Pinto '20, Stephane Felix
'19, Matheus Alvares '20, and Ra-
fael Goncalves '20 provided an
inside look at what non-English
speakers go through when they first Imagine being in a place where you
don't know anyone and you don’t
arrive at AHS.
understand what they are saying,
Most students may take going to
and they also can't understand you.
class for granted and working in
It is something that is hard to imag-
groups as normal class activity.
ine for English speakers in the Unit-
However, if you just arrived from ed States. ELL students have fears
another country it is not that sim-
of being put on the spot in class,
ple. On their first day at school, the and it seems to them like there is no
system and help them through the day
to day. Silva reminded us that change
is good. When he lived in Florida, he
only hung out with Brazilians, so his
English didn’t get much better. But
here, he joined the football team, and
his English improved significantly.
Seeing improvement in students that
came Continued on page three
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I NSIDE THIS ISSUE :
Cassie
Marando
Page 2
Lauren
Keleher
Page 4
Tyler
Perakslis
Page 4
Brianna
Medeiros
Page 6
HASKD!
Page 9
Mrs. Barry
Page 14
“Annie”
Page 19