(Summer
2006)
Eastern Suffolk BOCES offers a Migrant Education Outreach
Program in the summer at the Aquebogue Elementary School.
Three days a week during
the summer about 50 students
from pre-kindergarten through sixth grade come to the Aquebogue
Elementary School to improve their ability to speak and
read English. Many of these students will be enrolled in
East End schools in the fall.
In spite of the obvious obstacles and barriers that they
face in their pursuit of an education, these students enthusiastically
embrace this opportunity. Many move easily between English
and Spanish, but need assistance with their reading skills.
Others are new to America and have little or no English.
One
of the teachers, Norma Perez, speaks enthusiastically about
their upcoming familias a la fiesta. Some of her students
have been preparing a cutting from Little Women.
"One of the little girls, who will play Jo in the play,"
she explains, "just arrived in the United States from
Guatemala. She doesn't know any English, but she has memorized
her part in English so that she can be in the play. They're
very excited about it."
The
children have received a book to "keep" today
and Mrs. Horton, the program's director from BOCES, has
brought them ice cream. They are also taking home Spanish
language coloring books and a box of crayons.
In
spite of the heat, their enthusiasm is infectious and their
smiles are wide.
