BARBERTON CITY SCHOOLS ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAM

Welcome to the 2023-2024 school year! We are excited to work with our English learners to help them make progress in Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. We are also working with their teachers on a regular basis to ensure language development is incorporated in the classroom each and every day. Thank you for having your students at Barberton, we are looking forward to this year with you all! Go Magics!

All our best,
​
Mrs. DeCola (EL Specialist Grades K-5)
SDecola@BarbertonSchools.org
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Mrs. Shaheen (EL Specialist Grades 6-12)
RShaheen@BarbertonSchools.org

Ramadan is a time of fasting and reflection for Muslim students and families. This year, Ramadan starts at sunset on March 22, 2023 and ends on April 20, 2023.

Our EL program works to foster an inclusive and caring environment for all students of different backgrounds. Please see the information below on Ramadan and how it impacts our Muslim students. 

Mrs. DeCola and Mrs. Shaheen will be administering the the Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA) to evaluate our English Learners' (ELs) proficiency in Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. ELs  in the district will be tested from January 30th until March 24th.

Students have been practicing and preparing for this test and can also do so at home at this website: Take a Practice Test

The school will receive OELPA results on May 15th. Students who receive 4s or 5s in each domain, will exit the EL program. Please feel free to contact Mrs. Shaheen or Mrs. DeCola if you have any questions. Wishing all of our students the best of luck!

Sincerely,
Mrs. DeCola and Mrs. Shaheen

As we start this new semester, please welcome Mrs. DeCola as an English Language Specialist. She will be working with Mrs. Shaheen to serve our English Learners (ELs) at Barberton City Schools. Mrs. DeCola has extensive experience working with ELs in Ohio and California. She also served as a classroom teacher for several years, and most recently as the RTI coach at Barberton.

We are very excited to have her with our ELs with all of her accomplished experiences in teaching! She is an asset to our learning community. Welcome back to teaching ELs and helping them grow, Mrs. DeCola! We're grateful to have you!

Welcome to the 2022-2023 school year!
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Please reach out to me if there is anything you might need. Parents, please look for letters and forms that will be sent home with your child regarding the English Learner program for this school year. I am very happy to see you all again and I hope you have a great school year!

All my best,
Mrs. Nemer Shaheen

A new year is like a new chapter. We have a fresh start to the year and the opportunity to create resolutions (or goals) to work towards. As we begin this new year, we will work on creating goals that will help make progress with language and learning. 

We are also preparing for the upcoming Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA). All English Language Learners (ELLs) will take the OELPA during the testing window: January 31 thru March 25th. The OELPA evaluates proficiency in reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students who earn any combination of 4s and 5s exit the English Language Program.

​I hope this new year brings all the best for our ELLs and your families!
-Mrs. Shaheen

Welcome back to school, students & families, I hope you all had a relaxing summer! I am looking forward to seeing you! Last year was very different for us all, but it taught us a lot. This year will be "back to normal" but we are still taking precautions due to COVID. We will keep physical distance of 3 to 6 feet, masks are required as of 9/7/2021, and of course we will continue to clean surfaces and ensure our students' well-being. We will make sure that families are updated on the latest protocol to follow to keep our students safe and healthy.

I am sending letters and forms home with your student, please review the information and return the completed forms to school with your child. Please let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything you need. My phone number is: 330-753-1084, then dial 25325.

Wishing you all the best! I'm excited for this new school year to help enhance our students' English reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

- Mrs. Nemer Shaheen
​

Wishing all of our students and families a safe and fun summer! The past year has been more challenging than before, but it was also successful. Our students at Barberton received a quality education that minimized the gaps due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our students, teachers, and staff worked hard to do our job. We are proud of all the progress we made and we look forward to starting next school year off even stronger!

I encourage you to enroll your child in a summer program. Barberton City Schools is offering the Summer Extravaganza, and there are also other programs at the library and through community organizations. Continuing to practice reading, writing, listening, and speaking this summer through fun activities and programs will help your child be prepared for the 2021-2022 school year.

Here are organizations that have summer programs in the community (click on the link):

• Barberton City Schools - Summer Information
• ASIA - Summer Program Registration Form
• Project Learn - ESL Program
• Barberton Library - Kids

Wishing you all the best this summer and looking forward to seeing our students next school year!
- Mrs. Nemer Shaheen

Wow! I can't believe we're approaching the end of the 2020-2021 school year already! It has definitely been a different year, but we are hopeful that things are turning around for the coming school year. Some updates entail:

• Teachers and Staff Members (who chose to) received the COVID-19 vaccine.
• Students 16 and 18 have the option to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at the high school.
• We are underway with end of the year school testing.

We appreciate all your flexibility and understanding as we had to do things differently this school year in efforts of keeping everyone safe and healthy. Looking forward to our end of school year activities and the summer to relax! 

Please reach out any time if you have any questions or if there is anything you might need.
All my best,
Mrs. Nemer Shaheen
​rshaheen@barbertonschools.org

The Ohio English Language Proficiency Assessment (OELPA) will be administered to English Learners at Barberton City Schools between February 1st and April 23rd. Each student will take 4 parts of the test in the domains of 1) Listening, 2) Reading, 3) Writing, and 4) Speaking.

​Days and times will be scheduled for all of our students who are remote and face-to-face.

The OELPA will evaluate each students' English proficiency and determine whether a student may exit the English Learner Program. Please contact Mrs. Nemer Shaheen if you have any questions by emailing her at RShaheen@BarbertonSchools.org

Wishing all of our students good luck!