Multicultural event held during parent-teacher conferences

Photo by Susan Holland SangHyun (Joy) Kim, ESOL specialist at Glenn Duffy Elementary School and Gravette Upper Elementary, handed young Damian Olivarez a sopapilla to try at last Thursday’s multicultural celebration while his big sister Jasmine looked on. The Olivarez children, from Bella Vista, are students in the elementary ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) program. Ms. Kim cooked the sopapillas in the special ed classroom earlier in the day.
Photo by Susan Holland SangHyun (Joy) Kim, ESOL specialist at Glenn Duffy Elementary School and Gravette Upper Elementary, handed young Damian Olivarez a sopapilla to try at last Thursday’s multicultural celebration while his big sister Jasmine looked on. The Olivarez children, from Bella Vista, are students in the elementary ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) program. Ms. Kim cooked the sopapillas in the special ed classroom earlier in the day.

GRAVETTE -- When parent-teacher conferences were held at Gravette schools last Thursday and parents came in for scheduled appointments with their children's teachers to be filled in on each student's progress, at Gravette Middle School, down at the end of the hall in the cafeteria, another event was going on. Colorful signs greeted visitors at the door and welcomed them to Gravette Schools' annual multicultural celebration. A row of pinatas, made by students in the high school Spanish class, hung from the ceiling.

The multicultural event is put on each year by the English for Speakers of Other Languages program at Gravette schools, to help parents and family members celebrate other cultures, diversity and learning together. About 80 students are enrolled in the program, which is designed to help children who speak languages other than English to achieve academically at school and help them socialize better with other students. Many of the ESOL students primarily speak another language at home.

ESOL services include classes at the middle and high school, one-on-one or small-group tutoring, assessing English language proficiency levels, ESOL teacher classroom instructional support and academic enrichment activities such as field trips, guest speakers and cultural events.

An ongoing video presentation was shown on a screen at one end of the room. Scenes of foods, costumes and favorite vacation spots in various countries were showcased. The video was produced by students in Robin Morris' seventh grade social studies class. Students, grouped in teams of two and choose a country they want to study. Each Thursday is "country day" in the class. On Thursdays, students learn about a feature of their country, its culture, costumes, food or activities. The class is planning a "country day" event on May 11.

Students dressed in colorful costumes were on hand to host the event and show visitors around the displays. Tables were set up for different continents, Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia and Oceania and North and South America. Tables were covered with bright tablecloths featuring flags from various countries. Each table featured crafts and foods from that particular continent.

The Asian table had a very wide array of offerings and was a popular spot for tasters. Choices for sampling included red bean mochi and tiny mori maki arare (rice crackers wrapped in seaweed). One of the featured sweets was pepero, tiny biscuit sticks covered or filled with chocolate, almonds and fruit flavors. Africa's table offered tasty fresh pineapple and a variety of dried fruits and nuts. Sopapillas and honey were served at the North American table. The sopapillas were donated by the El Pueblito Mexican restaurant in Bella Vista and cooked in the special education room by SangHyun (Joy) Kim, ESOL coordinator at Glenn Duffy Elementary School and Gravette Upper Elementary. Drinks of tea and horchata, a sweet milky beverage made of rice water, sugar and cinnamon, were served.

Kim and her fellow teacher, Ruth Kennedy, ESOL coordinator for K-12 and a teacher at the middle school, were on hand to show visitors around the displays and explain the ESOL program. Kim was dressed in a lovely costume from her native South Korea and Kennedy wore a costume from El Salvador. Karina Tun, Spanish and ESOL teacher at Gravette High School, is the third member of the ESOL team.

Community on 03/23/2016