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A student’s road to success
ELL classes, also known as English Language Learning classes are designed to help students taking English as a second language learn the language. These classes are geared toward giving students the time to translate and understand the material.
Junior Habibo Abdi has been taking ELL classes since she came here as a freshman. She said that the classes have helped her a lot.
“Well I came here and I only understood a little,” Abdi said. “Then I started learning the language and it helped me a lot. The language is key here.”
Although Abdi said she does not mind living in America, she misses her home. Abdi and her family moved to America after living in a refugee camp for 13 years due to being chased out of Somalia by the war and her fathers death.
“Somalia, our country has a lot of war,” Abdi said. “My dad got killed and we went to a refugee camp.”
Abdi and her family then chose to move to America to have a better life.
“The life in the refugee camp was too difficult because everyone had to go there because we couldn’t stay in Somalia,” Abdi said.
Abdi said that she is glad she got to take the ELL classes here.
“It would have been harder without these classes,” Abdi said.
Math teacher Josh Griffith began teaching ELL classes this year. He said he thinks ELL classes are helpful to students with English as their second language.
“They’re for the student that has trouble understanding the language,” Griffith said.
Griffith said that it helps Abdi learn the material at her own pace.
“I think it gives her what she needs to make those translations possible,” Griffith said.
Griffith said the students in ELL classes are also more driven to learn than other students.
“A lot of them come from countries where education is a privilege,” Griffith said. “And because of that, education and money mean a little bit more to them.”
There are many teachers called aids who sit in the ELL classes with the students and translate for them as necessary
Griffith was chosen to teach these classes, but said that he would have volunteered to teach them anyway.
“I already know and have a relationship with many of the students,” Griffith said. “I really enjoy teaching these classes and now that I’ve got them I’d like to continue teaching them for many years to come.”
Griffith also said that Hoover offers more ELL classes than most surrounding schools.
“I think it gives them more opportunities to receive the support that they need,” Griffith said.
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