This is Us: The Story of ESL Students
A Documentary About New Students
Students and teachers from Abington High School’s Language Buddy Program enjoy time together during their Escape the Mystery Room field trip to Kingston on November 30, 2018. Front (left to right) are Brooke Callanan ’20, Sthefany De Paula ’21, Samantha Johnson ’20, and Vianne Shao ’20. In the second row (left to right) are Ms. Despres, ELL teacher, Valencia Bernard ’20, Shaam Nasser ’20, Faith Kramer ’21, Hudson Arujo ’21, Mayra Hidalgo ’20, Ms. Scofano, ELL director, and Aiyana Matthis ’21. Middle (left to right) are Ms. Nunes, ELL teacher, Bryan Dias ’21, Helvecio Junior ’22, Pedro Souza ’21, Haikela Araujo ’22, Samuel Carvalho ’20, Sabrina Medieros ’21, Luciano Da Silva ’21, and Yousef Elhannawi ’21. Standing in the rear (left to right) are Rafael Goncalves ’20, Mikayla Littman ’20, and Carolyn Doherty ’21.
The Language Buddies program at Abington High School is run by ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher Ms. Viviane Freitas. The program pairs English Language Learners with native speaking peers.
In 2019, a video idea was created by Ms. Freitas and then filmed and produced by juniors Matthew Lyons and Aaron Johnson, both members of the Green Wave Gazette. Several Abington students are featured in the documentary, discussing the challenges of learning a new language while at the same time learning new academic material.
Matthew Lyons is a member of the class of 2021. He joined the Green Wave Gazette in his sophomore year, but his first article was as a contributor his...
Aaron Johnson is a member of the Class of 2021. He is a member of the newspaper's Digital Team, and also the co-host and co-creator of the Weekly Wave....