ESL program offers skills, 'family' to English language learners at Allegheny Valley

Though Maria Cosme’s Allegheny Valley students speak more than half a dozen languages from four continents, one tongue unites them: English.

Cosme is one of the most recent additions to the district, where she teaches ESL — or English as a Second Language — courses to elementary students through high schoolers.

Those ESL courses allow immigrant pupils or non-native English speakers to remain in a normal schooling environment as they work on their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills.

“Some of them come not knowing any letters or sounds and barely speaking English, to now being able to sound out words and to read whole sentences, to write whole sentences,” Cosme said.

In all, Cosme instructs about 20 students of various ages and language proficiencies.

Though it’s her first year as a district staff member, she’s no stranger to education or the district. Cosme previously served as a third-grade teacher for nearly a decade before joining the Allegheny Intermediate Unit (AIU) as an ESL instructor.

She had served at Allegheny Valley through the AIU for the past two years before joining as a full-time teacher in the district this fall.

School districts are mandated by state and federal law to provide ESL programs for non-native English speaking students, something Allegheny Valley Director of Pupil Services Melissa Holler said has been in higher demand in recent years.

That’s because the district — which includes Harmar, Cheswick, Springdale and Springdale Township — has seen families migrate to the region from locations throughout Latin America, Asia and elsewhere, Holler said.

Though foreign-born residents don’t number more than 5% in any of the district’s municipalities, the increase in non-English speakers was enough to hire Cosme full time.

Many districts in the area contract with the AIU, which employees about 45 ESL teachers, for their English development programs. But some districts with higher numbers of non-English speakers such as Baldwin-Whitehall, Chartiers Valley and Pittsburgh Public Schools maintain their own programs, often with several teachers.

A majority of Cosme’s students are native Spanish speakers, hailing from countries such as Venezuela, Peru and the Dominican Republic, she said.

But others come from nations farther afield, including Turkmenistan, India and Ghana.

Cosme said she enjoys using interactive methods, including songs and games.

“They don’t know that they’re learning and practicing English, but I can see the growth in them,” she said.

The students are divided into smaller groups based on their proficiency, with older, more experienced pupils often stepping in to help their newer peers, Cosme said.

Cosme spends about half of her day at Acmetonia Elementary School, where the majority of her students are located, before heading to Springdale Jr.-Sr. High School in the afternoon.

Each year, the students take a standardized English test. Eventually, students can graduate out of ESL courses altogether. But Cosme said graduates still come by to say hello and help out their classmates.

Outside the ESL room, the students participate in the same courses as other students.

Allegheny Valley spokeswoman Jan Zastawniak said Cosme also helps her teacher colleagues provide resources for the students as they wrangle subjects like math and history, which are liable to rankle even native English speakers.

“It is a very collaborative program,” Zastawniak said. “The teachers have a role, and (Cosme), not only does she support the students, she supports the teachers.”

One sixth grader isn’t learning English as a second language — he’s learning it as a fourth.

Originally from Turkmenistan, the student, whose name is not being used, already speaks Russian, Turkish and his native Turkmen. He likes learning Spanish phrases through his peers from Latin America.

He said Cosme has been supportive of him and other ESL students as they hone their English proficiency.

“She always helps in hard moments,” he said.

Though Holler said the students generally have made friends and integrated well into Allegheny Valley, Cosme is proud of the space she has created in her classrooms.

“It’s kind of a small family. That’s one of the things I love the most is that they’re so comfortable with each other, and they’re comfortable with me,” she said. “They know that when they walk in my door, they can just be themselves.”