Orcas School held an English Language Learners family dinner on Feb. 13.

Families ate together in the cafeteria, then principals talked with them using an interpreter.

The K-12 ELL program has 27 students, most of whom are Spanish speaking although there some Thai and Bahasa students as well.

Kyle Freeman, 7-12 principal, talked about graduation requirements and end of course tests that students must pass in order to graduate.

Kathy Page, K-6 principal, shared results of reading assessments that are done three times a year.  Parents had a chance to ask questions directly to both principals.

Then came the fun part.

For the K-6 families, parents were led into the middle school commons area where the students were set up at tables to teach the parents games they had learned that practiced skills. The students then taught the parents how to play the games. Once the games were taught, families got to take the games home to practice. Everything from sight word BINGO to multiplication games.  We chose games that could bridge the language gap and practice skills in a fun way.

For families of high school age students, there was a demo of how to access the school  website that links to lots of information including grades, attendance, etc. Individual teacher’s web pages where assignments are posted were also shown.

In addition to ELL staff of Catherine Laflin, Robin Freeman, and Natasha Meskew, interpreters (Heidi Bruce and Faith Heath so that families could communicate ideas, concerns and questions directly to attending teachers and principals.

Other school staff in attendance were Susan Stolmeier, Kari Schuh, Marny Gaylord, Lorena Stankevich and Greg Books.