Imagine you are in a classroom and the bell rings, signaling the start of class. The teacher goes up to the calendar and says, “Its time to add today’s date to the calendar.” She places the date on the calendar and then you and your classmates read the date out loud. The last time this probably happened to you would be back in first or maybe second grade. For these students this is just the start of their day in the ELL Math class at Park Center High School. This may seem fundamental to you and me, but some of these students have never been in a school before, let alone been exposed to math concepts. A life without school may seem very strange(hopefully not appealing) to you, but after hearing some of these student’s life stories, school was probably one of the least of their worries.

There are ten students taking level one ELL Math and others in higher levels. However these students come to America and to Park Center at different times during the school year. This oftentimes makes it difficult for the students to stay at the same level. Not only are their learning levels diverse, at times, their cultures can be just as dissimilar. The student’s cultures range from Liberian, to Oromo, to Guinean. Some of the students have even spent up to 5 years of their lives in refugee camps across the world. With life experiences such as these, it is easy to understand why ELL students are just learning the benefits of school. Although the math and reading is close to that taught in first grade, the students still have fun and enjoy school.

Mr. Edward Dillon teaches one of the ELL math classes. Although he has received amazing training from SIOP, Structured Instructional Observation Protocol, he still feels he is lacking in the skills required to teach this class. Whereas the math is beginning level math, the teaching techniques needed at that level are typically taught to elementary education majors, not aspiring secondary math teachers. The Park Center math department is investing in some hands-on models and manipulatives to meet the needs of this type of learner. Another big problem he faces is the language barrier and the student’s unfamiliarity with our system. Since most of the students are new to America and the culture here, teaching can be difficult.

In a typical school day, the students begin with the calendar exercise. After this the students add another paper clip to the chains hanging on the wall. This signifies another day of the school year passing by. This exercise teaches the students how to use the “1’s”, “10’s”, and “100’s” place values. They begin by hanging the paper clip on the current chain in the “1’s” place. If the chain has ten paper clips on it they move it to the “10’s” column. If they get ten chains of ten paper clips in the ten’s place they move all of the chains to the “100’s” column. This basic exercise teaches them how to carry over numbers from the one’s place to the ten’s place and so on. When they finish with this they move onto the daily activity. On the day I was interviewing them they were working on puzzles. The puzzles taught them the basics of spacial relationships. They learned the edges always went on the outsides, and also how to fit pieces together. When the students finished their 20 piece puzzle, they moved up to 100 piece puzzles. The 100 piece puzzles lasted them till the end of the class period.

Over the course of the year the students will be learning 2 digit addition and subtraction. They will learn how to spell out numbers one through one-hundred; as well as work on their basic reading skills. Apart from reading and spelling, basic geometry, patterns, and shapes are taught as well. Reading a clock and learning how to tell the difference between two given times are all part of their curriculum as well.

Although ELL Math is down a few notches from the typical high school curriculum, the same underlying themes are present in their class. The lessons are made to be as enjoyable as possible while everyone is still able to learn the most that they can. Although some of these students have been through difficult times, they are here now trying to get an education in the place and time they are on their journey.