Fairmont Elementary School is offering its young English Language Learners the opportunity to get some extra help over the summer.

This is the first year the school has offered a summer language immersion program, led by a group of teachers working toward getting their ELL licenses.

There are 25 students in grade 3 and under in the program. They meet four days per week for three weeks in June, three weeks in July and three weeks in August, for a total of 36 days.

“It’s all ELL students so they are relying on each other to be speaking english. They’re really working on the language immersion piece,” said elementary school Principal Michelle Rosen.

Over the past few years, the district has seen an increase of new-to-country students whose first language is not English. Last school year, 138 out of 907 students at the elementary school and 97 of 802 students at the high school came from Hispanic or Latino families. However, that doesn’t mean all the students are ELL students.

In 2017, there were 61 ELL students at the elementary school, with just one full-time ELL teacher. In order to better meet the needs of the students, several elementary teachers are working to obtain their ELL licensure though St. Cloud State University. The district is paying for the cost of the program.

The teachers began taking classes last summer and are expected to obtain licensure at the end of the 2019-20 school year. They are: Sara Warmka, Krysten Walters, Chelsey Haase, Ashley Olson, Camille Driscoll, Jennifer Freese and Cierra Thiesse.

“Kids that are new to the country just need more help. In the past, we would pull students out of regular classes in order to give them extra help, which doesn’t make sense because they need to be present to learn what everyone else is learning. This summer program gives them the extra help they need so that they can be successful,” said Superintendent Joe Brown.

Aside from working on speaking English during the summer program, students are working on math and reading skills.

The students get breakfast in the morning and lunch in the afternoon. Throughout the day, they undertake a range of both small group and big group activities, including sharing time, reading time and math time. Even play time is important because it gives students a chance to communicate with each other.

“We do some academics but a lot of it is the social piece and just talking,” said teacher Camille Driscoll.

“We try to make it fun because it is a good chunk of their summer. We try to keep it a laid-back environment so that they feel comfortable speaking. We have seen their confidence grow,” said teacher Cierra Thiesse.

She said that throughout the school year, she noticed some students hesitant to speak in their native language, so this summer the teachers are using some Spanish too. This give the students a chance to teach the teachers some new words.

“They think it’s so cool that they’re teaching the teachers,” Thiesse said.

“We want them to maintain their first language,” Driscoll added.

For the summer program, the school received a grant from the Martin County Youth Foundation to add a parent piece to it. Every month will have a different parent component.

Jessica Martinez, the community outreach coordinator for the district, has met with all of the parents and will be with them for the parent portion of the program, in order to help them better understand and get to know places around town.

This month, parents and students went to the Martin County Library. In July, they will go to the Fairmont Aquatic Park. In August, they will all go to the Martin County Fair.

“Jessica personally contacted all of the families about this summer program. Most of the parents speak Spanish so this way she was able to address them personally without just sending a note,” Rosen explained.

She said parents have been supportive and cooperative with the program, which has been helpful.

When asked why the school decided to offer the program this summer, Rosen said: “It’s a population that we haven’t done a lot of extra support with. If we can work on the language immersion part with them, it gives them more confidence. Hopefully they’re gaining, but we know they won’t be regressing like many kids do in the summer.”

The teachers have seen firsthand how far the students have come in just the first three weeks. Because most of the ELL students speak Spanish in their households, Thiesse asked, “If they didn’t have this program to come to, would they speak any English over the summer?”