farragutpress

Three of Choi’s FMS students get worldwide pub

Works by students from Russia, Honduras, South Korea published by famed international author

May 1, 2024 by Rosaria Carlson, Correspondent

Three students from Farragut Middle School and their teacher, Elizabeth Choi, have been featured in the latest textbook by Andrea Honigsfeld, an esteemed contributor to the field of multilingual education recognized worldwide.

The book, “Growing Language and Literacy; Strategies for Secondary Multilingual Learners,” includes examples from 60 educators around the world and is published globally.

In her books, Honigsfeld focuses on current teaching strategies with an emphasis on what actually works in practice. “She knows that the good work is happening inside the four walls of the classroom,” Choi said when asked what she likes about the author’s work. “She wants to see what teachers are doing. She wants to see what’s really working, not just a theory.”

To that end, when gathering examples for her latest text, Honigsfeld sourced work done by students in the classroom from educators across the globe. Of the submissions sent in to her, six from Farragut Middle School were chosen to be published: four from the students in Choi’s English Language Development class and two from Choi. According to Choi, Honigsfeld’s books help her to see into other classrooms and share strategies and insights with fellow educators.

When asked how they felt about having their work published, the students expressed pride toward both themselves and their teacher. Dahyun Ahn, an eighth-grader from South Korea, said, “I’m glad that my work was recognized … I’m also proud of Mrs. Choi and myself.”

Maria Romanova, a seventh-grader from Russia, expressed a similar sentiment of pride for her teacher. “I’m really proud of Mrs. Choi for helping me learn English … because when I came here, I couldn’t speak any English, and I couldn’t understand anyone,” Maria said. “I think she helped me a lot.”

“I think the cool thing about this is that the students didn’t create these for the book. This is their everyday, high quality work,” Choi said. “I think it’s very affirming that the good work they do every day … was worthy of being recognized and shown as exemplary work in the field of multilingual education.”

Allan Dubon Lopez, an eighth-grader from Honduras, had a little bit more to add. “I feel a sense of pride. For me, her class is pretty hard, because we have to learn words (of which) we don’t know the definition,” he said.

Choi went on to explain that the students in the English Language Development program have to learn not only English listening, reading, speaking, writing and vocabulary, but also the language of science, social studies, math and language arts.

“So really, they are doing the most work in the school because they’re carrying that double load,” the teacher said.

Brimming with pride, she went on to add the students are intrinsically motivated to put forth their best effort because they know that if they do their best, they will get the best results. In reference to their recent publication, she said, “This is proof of that.”

The understanding and mastery of the language these three students already show is both impressive and a testament to Choi’s passion for teaching.

While Dahyun began learning English in the third grade, she only moved to the United States two years ago and feels that since starting the English Language Development program at FMS, the learning process has sped up significantly. Before moving to the United States, neither Dahyun, Allan (six years ago) nor Maria (a year-and-a-half ago) spoke the language at all.

All three students expressed feelings of positivity toward Choi’s class, both about the content they are learning and the way that it is presented to them. The students learn through a variety of methods, including games aimed at strengthening what they’ve learned.

The students also emphasize how much they enjoy learning about different cultures around the world.

They aren’t the only ones learning from this experience, however.

When asked what she enjoys most about teaching English Language Development, Choi said she enjoys learning from her students because “they are always expanding my ideas. They’re giving me new experiences by telling me their experiences.”

She also found it rewarding and “very impressive” to watch how quickly they grow.

The students in this program are around 12 to 14 years old and already learning a second, or even third, language — in some cases more than many of the adults in their lives and even many of their teachers.

The English Language Development program sees students from 18 countries speaking 13 languages. There are 33 languages spoken at FMS, representing 28 countries.