Reported on Aug. 22, 2009

Lizehydi Tomay, 10, waited patiently for the standing room only crowd to settle.  If she was nervous she didn’t show it.

Only once she was sure that all eyes were on her did she begin to read the poem she had written for this very special occasion; a poem about the most universal of all subjects, titled “Love.”

Lizehydi is one of the 28 students, grades K-7, who graduated this Thursday from the Brighton Neighborhood Association’s summer English program.  The ceremony was held at PS 225 in Brighton Beach, in a classroom painted a bright and happy yellow.

Lizehydi Tomay and her proud mom, Claudia Cuenca on graduation day, Aug. 20, 2009, in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Photo: Rio Slaven.

“We are very proud of you,” said Pat Singer, the association’s executive director, as she addressed the students. “And you should be very proud of yourselves.”

Singer founded the free program in 1980 in an effort to help the then mostly Russian-speaking children learn reading and writing skills in preparation for the school year.

“Back then there were no summer-school programs and they really needed us,” she said.

More than 1,000 students have graduated from the program to date, and while the demographics of the graduates have changed over the years – all but one of the children in this year’s class are Spanish-speaking – the mission remains the same:  Give kids for whom English is not their native language the best possible chance of success.

There are 440,412 students in New York City schools who speak a language other than English at home, according to the New York City Department of Education. That is more than 40 percent of the city’s 1.1 million students.

When a parent enrolls their child in school, the child is required to take the Home Language Identification Survey. If it is determined that English is not the primary language spoken at home the child must take a test to gauge his or her English proficiency.

If enrollees score below proficiency they are deemed to be English Language Learners, or ELLs, and become eligible for state-funded services such as the English as a Second Language program.

Last year there were 38,183 ELL students in Brooklyn, according to the education department, and while more than 75 percent of them participate in English as a Second Language programs, many – like the students in Singer’s class – need additional help.

“They spend all of this time during the school year learning only so they can forget over the summer,” said Claudia Escoto, 43, a teacher’s aide. “They fall behind if they don’t practice.”

Given limited funding, the program can only afford two part-time instructors and all of the students are taught in one classroom.  This allows for group-learning activities as well as more focused, grade-appropriate instruction.

The six-week program runs from 9 a.m. to noon and focuses on the basics in reading, writing and pronunciation. Math skills are taught during the last half hour of class.  Much of the learning is done through interactive activities such as singing and storytelling.

“We sing, we dance, we have fun.  But it’s all academic,” said Escoto. “It’s learning through play.”

Maria Nieves, 57, who has been teaching the class since it began, agrees. “They learn how to express themselves in here. They have so much inside of them but not the words to express it,” she said.

Having finished her graduation poem to a thunderous round of applause, a beaming Lizehydi said, “I really like this class because we learn reading and math and we get the training we need for when school starts in September.”  She added that she didn’t mind having to spend her summer mornings in a classroom.

“It’s worth it,” she said.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: Sept 18, 2009

In an article published on Aug. 29, 2009 Lizehydi Tomay’s and Claudia Escoto’s names were misspelled. Both names now appear correctly.