When the last day of school arrived May 26 for the 2015-16 New Richmond school year, at least two Monroe Elementary students weren’t celebrating the coming of summer vacation like many of their classmates.
Danish students Sofus and Tobias Kierkgaard can’t wait for school to begin again in August after their experience as English Language Learners (ELL) for one semester at New Richmond’s Monroe Elementary.
Sofus, a third grader in Jill Kennedy’s, knew a little English from his schooling in Denmark, but Tobias, a first grader in Pam Swan’s class, had no knowledge of English when their father, Thomas Kierkgaard, a SAP Hanna specialist, was transferred to the data solutions company Itelligence office in Blue Ash.
Mette Kierkgaard with her son Sofus, a third-grade student who came to Monroe in January knowing very little English.
They adapted well to the New Richmond Exempted Village School District’s full immersion model thanks to their mother, Mette Kierkgaard, who is fluent in English, and their teachers and the staff at Monroe.
“It is so amazing how kids adapt to things,” said Mrs. Kierkgaard. “Tobias came home after the first two weeks and said, “Mom, I don’t understand anything, I don’t know anyone and I don’t understand the structure, but it’s fun.”
It’s been a dream for the Kierkgaard family to live and work abroad, so they jumped at the opportunity to come to Ohio. Mette Kierkgaard began researching school districts around Cincinnati for her sons and picked Monroe as the ideal place for her family.
Mette Kierkgaard volunteered in Pam Swan's first grade classroom to help her son Tobias (right), who knew no English when he enrolled in Monroe in January,2016, with English to Danish translation.
“With the internet and Google, we could see that New Richmond was a nice place,” said Mrs. Kierkgaard. “We wanted to go to a local (rural) place because if you want to experience the local culture there is no better place than a local community.”
There have no regrets about choosing Monroe Elementary,
“I have never heard Tobias or Sofus once say they didn’t want to go to school and they are always happy when I pick them up,” said Mrs. Kierkgaard. “I am so happy that we made the choice we did to come to a local community like New Richmond instead of picking an uppity district closer to Blue Ash.”
Mrs. Kierkgaard volunteered in Pam Swan’s class to help with Tobias’ English, which improved to the point where he now only wants to read English books and talk English when the family makes car trips around the area.
“It’s been awesome how their teachers Pam Swan for Tobias and Jill Kennedy for Sofus and the other teachers around here take a special interest in Tobias and Sofus,” she said. ”It must be a difficult job for them because they have their routine and schedule and then suddenly they had a kid who doesn’t speak their language and don’t understand anything.”
Mrs. Kierkgaard has been impressed with how the New Richmond Exempted Village School District, which has 10 English Language Learner (ELL) students, integrates non-English speaking students into the class academically and socially.
Tobias Kierkgaard (right) reads in English along with his Monore classmates.
“In Denmark you would take foreign students out of class and teach them Danish and then slowly integrate them back into the class,” she noted. “Here you immerse them from the beginning and I think it is much more effective because socially you feel accepted. They have done a fabulous job and I have been very impressed how they integrate my boys into the class academically and socially and how they make sure they have friends to play with at recess. It’s really like a big family where everyone knows everyone and everyone takes care of everyone.”
Mrs. Kierkgaard also likes the structured school routines at Monroe.
“One big difference is here students go to the cafeteria and recess by grade level,” she said. “In Denmark, everyone has a break at the same time so you have all the grades together. In Denmark, students can walk on their own in the hallways but here you are in line and you have your spots to stand. But my boys seem to like it this way because they know what to do and where they are supposed to be.”
Thomas Kierkgaard’s assignment at Itelligence’s Blue Ash location was for only a year and would end in December at the end of the fall semester of the 2016-17 school year. But they hope to get an extensions to allow Sofus and Tobias to experience a full school year at Monroe.
“I think if they can be at Monroe for the full year they both will be fluent in English,” said Mrs. Kierkgaard.
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NREVSD schools had 10 ELL (English Language Learners) students in the past school year with Monroe Elementary having four (two Danish and two Hindi), Locust Corner with three (one Chinese, one Spanish and one Icelandic), New Richmond Elementary with two (both Nepali) and New Richmond Middle School with one (Russian).
“In New Richmond, student’s native languages includes: Icelandic, Russian, Danish, Spanish, Nepali, and Chinese,” explained John Frye, NREVSD director of pupil and staff services. “If a student has a language other than English spoken in the home, the student will be assessed for English Language Proficiency. If the student qualifies, he or she is then an ELL student.”
Once identified as being an ELL, principals and teachers develop individual plans to advance students in the acquisition of the English language. Those services will range from full immersion in the classroom or provide interpreter and tutoring services – which is the most intense.
Teachers modify instruction and assessment and allow the ELL student to show their understanding through pictures, labeling, using a word bank or having fewer questions. Translation computer programs like Rosetta Stone and Google Translate are provided to help with learning English and translating documents into native languages