On June 12, the District's English as a Second Language (ESL) Department concluded the ESL Parent Workshop series with an end-of-year celebration. The parent participants concluded a 10-week course to enhance their English skills. The adult students concluded the ceremony with sentimental English accolades dedicated to their respective teachers.
Earlier this spring, Montclair Public Schools offered families a series of ESL lessons. Thirty-four families attended the program held at the Charles H. Bullock Elementary School and taught by district teachers Otilia Castillo, Monica Curry Grimm, Mariacristina Fuentes, Miosotty Martinez, and Janet Villalobos. The program was devised to provide childcare by district paraprofessionals, Lesly Chicoma and Patry Whitelaw.
The families were welcomed by guest speakers from Essex County Schools of Technology, Director John P. Dolan, Vice Principal, Anibal Ponce, and Justin Bevilacqua, Mathematics Teacher Leader, introducing them to summer ESL opportunities at Essex Vocational Technical School. Ms. Angela McKinney, Director of Continuing Education presented the families with a plethora of summer student enrichment as well as continuing career education possibilities.
Interim Supervisor of ESL and World Languages, Teresa Petracca, commended the families for their dedication and future success while Director of Humanities, Mr. Marcos Vargas commended all the people involved in organizing this valuable initiative. "We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Principal Nami Kuwabara for hosting the workshops at Bullock as well as the generosity of Toni’s Kitchen for providing the snacks throughout the entire workshop and dinner and dessert for the celebration," said Petracca. "Due to the overwhelming success of the program, we hope to continue it for the fall session."
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