Student led ESOL mentorship program

According to data from National Public Radio (NPR), Spanish is the primary language for 80% of South Carolina’s English Language Learning (ELL) students. With student demographics changing and the increased need for English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) assistance, this presents new classroom challenges for teachers as well as students.

Since the fall of 2020, a group of Wofford students including Nefi Aguilar ’21, Grace Gehlken ’22, Hector Ortiz ’22, Marlen Ramirez-Alvarado ’24, and Jeanae Escobar ’24, have been collaborating to create a virtual ESOL mentorship program between Wofford students and local elementary students called WOCO CONECTA, which is set to begin in February of 2021.

The vision of this program is to create unity and intersectionality in the Spartanburg community by bridging and breaking down language barriers. 

“We want to build a better community by focusing on social inequities that undermine historically underrepresented communities through building cultural and linguistic competence”, said Ortiz.

So far, the program has created connections in both District 6 with Arcadia Elementary School and District 7 with Mary H. Wright Elementary School. Zach Fox, reporter for GO Upstate, found that “in Spartanburg County, District 6 reported the highest percentage of ESOL students, at just over 18 percent district-wide. The district also has the school with the highest percentage of ESOL students – Arcadia Elementary School, at more than 57 percent.”

Ashley Layne, an ESOL teacher for Mary H. Wright Elementary School and advocate for WOCO CONECTA, said, “Pandemic learning is a challenge for all students. The challenges for emerging English learners can be exponentially more difficult as content and language learning throughout an ever-changing learning landscape does not offer the consistency of best practices. With these challenges in mind, a mentor group geared to the academic and social needs of these students can offer that extra assistance and support that students may be lacking. To have someone other than the classroom teacher available to connect and understand the unique challenges facing emerging English learners could be such a beneficial and life-changing opportunity for many students.”

Marlen Ramirez-Alvarado said that being a part of the ESOL Initiative is “important to me because, as someone who comes from the Latino community and has seen the struggles that new immigrant families have when they first arrive here, it kind of hits home. I think that with this program we can make the transition from living in a Spanish speaking country to living in an English-speaking country a lot easier, and since we are aiming to build a mentor/mentee relationship with the kids, we hope to be able to connect with them and make them feel at home and welcomed.”