To help some of the students in their district, Niagara Wheatfield Central School District purchases the services of three ENL/ELL (English as a New Language/English Language Learners) educators. The teachers are employed by Orleans/Niagara BOCES and specialize in helping students whose first language is not English to learn to read, write, listen and speak the language.
Katie Leven and Joyce Shear are two of those dedicated educators and their work with Niagara Wheatfield students was recently included in a new book entitled “Wait, Don’t Translate” by Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld, Dr. Carrie McDermott Goldman and Dr. Maria G. Dove. “It is so exciting to see our work supporting multilingual learners highlighted in this publication,” says Leven, “We are very proud to have our collaborative work and both districts’ commitment to multilingual learners featured!”
Leven started her 20-year career as a Spanish teacher outside of Orleans/Niagara BOCES and in her 9th year she found her calling to be an ENL teacher for Orleans/Niagara BOCES. She has taught at West Street School for four years now. Her students’ first languages include Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Urdu and Arabic. “I was really drawn to working with children. I saw such a need for extra support for that population and I just love being able to watch them grow year after year in their knowledge and their language skills.”
Out of her 12 years working for BOCES, Shear has been at the Niagara Wheatfield High School for 11 years of that time. “I have a bachelors in French and studied abroad and it brought me to this career. I remember a mother talking about her frustration of not being able to speak English and having to have her daughter translate everything to her and I wanted to do my part to help. I feel like if you are in this country, you should have the resources to learn the language and continue your education. It is the only way to be successful here.” Shear’s students speak Russian, Arabic, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Spanish, French and Haitian-Creole. “It is hugely rewarding to me to help these students graduate.”
Leven worked with educator, author and consultant Dr. Honigsfeld for many years. Dr. Honigsfeld mentioned to her that she and her co-authors were working on a book on strategically using students' home languages or alternative strategies for emergent multilingual learners and to please share any strategies that she found helpful with her learners. Leven, who wrote a blurb that was featured on the flap on one of Dr. Honingsfeld’s books, viewed some strategies that Shear posted on a ENL teacher listserv and encouraged her to share them for the new book. “I thought Joyce’s work was great and connected her to Dr. Honigsfeld.” Shear says she was honored that her strategies and the words of one of her students were featured in the book. “I like to do side-by-side translations particularly with lower proficiency students who need help with their writing. Students need to understand the objectives of their writing in a clear and concise manner, so I will often use an annotated exemplar in both languages in a side-by-side fashion to really clarify what components should be present in a particular essay and why."
Both teachers expressed their gratitude to the Niagara Wheatfield Central School District and Orleans/Niagara BOCES for the support they receive. “I want to emphasize how wonderful, supportive and collaborative all the administration, counselors, teaching and office staff are,” says Shear. “They are a big part of why our ELL students succeed to the extent they do. They are deeply supportive of our students and, as issues arise, they are always proactive in devising workable solutions so that these students can overcome hurdles and maximize their results in and out of the classroom.” Leven adds, “Niagara Wheatfield has the best environment of all the buildings I have been in. They are so respectful of teachers and I absolutely love my students!”