Blazer speaks at government conference

Senior Abhishek Sinha represented Blair's English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students on a panel before a subdivision of the U.S. Department of Education on Nov. 1 at the Hilton in Washington, D.C.

Sinha, who was enrolled in ESOL through last year, joined two other local students in a meeting hosted by the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA). The panel discussion took place at the end of a three-day summit for ESOL teachers and administrators from all over the country.

At the conference, which focused on strategies to close the achievement gap between ESOL students and on-level students, Sinha urged educators to hold both groups to equally high academic standards. He said that ESOL students can become proficient in English and ultimately succeed in school just as on-level students can. "Never underestimate an ESOL student," Sinha said.

Jose Palacios, a 1998 Blair graduate, served as the moderator for the event. He asked the students on the panel to discuss the importance of technology as a tool to raise ESOL students' achievement levels. Sinha answered that access to technology is especially important to English Language Learners (ELLs) because computer visuals can guide them through lessons. "I would say that especially for ESOL students, they are more willing to learn visually," Sinha said.

Palacios also asked the panelists to explain how they overcame the challenges they faced as immigrants. Sinha described initial difficulties in improving his English after immigrating to the U.S from India in 2004. "When I used to speak English and answer the questions in [classes other than ESOL], sometimes I used to be laughed at," Sinha said.

But with the help of the ESOL program, Sinha now speaks like a native speaker. He was placed in Honors English after completing the ESOL program, an accomplishment that is almost unheard of, according to Joseph Bellino, Blair's ESOL resource teacher. "I give full credit to the ESOL department in Blair High School," Sinha said. He also singled out Bellino, who nominated Sinha to represent Blair at the conference.

When Sinha immigrated to the U.S. at age 18, he was placed in 10th grade. Even though he was confident in his ability to speak English when he arrived in the country, the Rockville-based International Students Admissions Office told him that he would be pushed back two grades because of his transcript and score on an English exam he took upon his arrival in the U.S. Sinha, now 20, is currently a senior at Blair.

Sinha and the other panelists were named "rising stars" by the OELA, an award given to former ESOL students with commendable achievements. The other two students honored at the conference were Maritza Martinez-Garcia, a senior at J.E.B. Stuart High School in Fairfax, and Karla Rivera, a senior at Bell Multicultural High School in Washington, D.C. Palacios, who was enrolled in ESOL in kindergarten, received the same award at the 2002 summit.

Kathleen Leos, assistant deputy secretary and director of the OELA, presented the awards. Leos praised ESOL, saying that through the program, "every student acquires language that gives them assets high up in their achievement."
The OELA has hosted conferences for ESOL teachers over the past five years, according to Petraine Johnson, an education program specialist for the OELA who organized the event. She said that the annual conferences introduce to ESOL teachers new ways to help ELLs learn. "They can reflect on successful practices and take information back to their states and districts," Johnson said.

In the days before the student panel, the ESOL educators attended seminars to learn strategies for teaching ELL students. Lectures given by several education experts covered boosting literacy, teaching math and implementing family literacy programs to benefit ELLs.

Many of the presentations focused on helping ESOL students meet annual progress requirements under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Since the law took effect in 2002, ELLs have scored closer to on-level students, but an achievement gap between the two groups still exists, according to Leos.

At Blair, less than eight percent of ESOL students passed the English 2 HSA this year, according to the 2006 Maryland Report Card.

Johnson said that, although NCLB has presented challenges for some ESOL students, it has also helped them by prompting their teachers to work to boost the students' test scores. "I think it's the best thing that has happened for English language learners," Johnson said.

Johnson added that by holding schools accountable for the progress of ESOL students, NCLB has called their needs to the attention of educators. "The population of those that we serve - the English language learners - is now on the forefront," she said.

In an interview before the summit, Palacios praised the ESOL program. "The final products of ESOL are successful students," Palacios said.

Sinha, Rivera and Martinez-Garcia received applications for the Gates Millennium Scholars (GMS) program at the summit. The program, founded in 1999 through a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, offers scholarships to minorities, according to the GMS web site. Palacios was named a GMS in 1999.