The sound of Hispanic music and laughter wafted down the ground floor. Upon further investigation, the sounds belong to the room of English as a Second Language teacher Eunice Rivera’s room.

Students from a variety of backgrounds were simply dancing the hour away with each other to a fanfare of unique cultural songs.

Rivera has been an ESL teacher for over a decade and has learned much over that long period of time.

‘I’ve been working here for ten years, I love ESL,” Rivera said. “I love it because I’m in contact with diversity everyday. Not just with students who speak my first language, which is spanish, but with Arabic students, German students, Chinese students, Korean students. I get to learn from other cultures and I love that.”   

For students whose primary language is other English, being introduced into a school that is predominantly English-speaking can be intimidating. Thanks to the ESL program, foreign students won’t have to be alone as they are surrounded by likeminded peers.

“I don’t feel like I’m pressured to do everything perfect,” senior Ahmed Mohammed, originally from Egypt, said. “That’s important for people who can’t speak English well.”

ESL doesn’t just help in a school environment, but in home life as well.

“If I have homework, I do my work here before I get home because I have a job afterwards,” Mohammed said. “So that is how it helps me, but I can see how people who don’t have help at home, their parents don’t speak English, can get help here from the teacher.”  

The hardest part about being in a school that doesn’t predominantly speak a student’s language is finding friends. ESL provides an environment of open-mindedness and acceptance for all students involved.

“It helps me learn other ways of living and other cultures,” sophomore Maria Sanchez, originally from Mexico and a beginning English learner, said. “It helps students get more comfortable and meet other people, [we get] to know their cultures and it just helps us feel good.”

Rivera has helped make sure the atmosphere of the room remains this way.

“It helps the students by having a more inviting and more accepting environment of their diversity,” Rivera said. “In the ESL classroom we will listen to people speaking Spanish, speaking Arabic, speaking French, speaking German and we will welcome the diversity. It is allowed for them to use their first language anytime because that’s going to help them to acquire the second language. If they are fluent in their first language, the transition to the second language will be much easier.”

The ESL classroom is not just a place for foreign students, however. Some students participate in the class to help others learn English.

“ESL means to me that we just get together and practice our English and share each other’s cultures,” junior Jasmine Sickels, a Spanish speaker, said. “It’s made me a lot of friends, and most of my friends are Asian and Hispanic.”

Credits to opinions editor Erick Echegaray for translating interviews from Spanish into English