Last year, sophomores Jason and Michael Yang, who are twins, struggled with English pronunciation, fluency and vocabulary when they moved from Shanghai, China, to Saratoga. Based on their own experiences, the twins formed an English Language Development club this year to help other non-native speakers feel more comfortable and offer them a chance to improve their speaking without fear.
The club’s ultimate mission is to support non-native speakers in building confidence when speaking English, as well as work on skills to improve their grades and reduce the anxiety of falling behind. Jason and Michael hope the club will positively impact the lives of other foreign students.
To build students’ confidence and improve their language skills, Jason and Michael will show short videos and hold group discussions during meetings. They will also conduct activities and games that involve vocabulary, sentence completion and creativity. As of now, there are no plans to bring in a trainer, as this club is solely based on student conversations and peer support.
Like most new students last fall, Jason and Michael’s first goal was to fit in with the crowd. However, as new students from a completely different country, their inability to speak fluent English stood as a barrier. They looked for other students who were also struggling, but the twins were unable to find many other students who were willing to be open about language challenges.
“When I started school here, my classes were very hard to understand, even with my translator,” said Jason. “I got low grades on tests, but there was little I could do to bring them up.”
As freshmen, Jason and Michael took the school’s English Language Development (ELD) class for five hours per week. They quickly realized it was barely enough to catch up to the level of native speakers, and they desired more time to practice communicating and engaging in conversations with others.
Other foreign students have said that they struggle to keep up with the fast-paced lessons taught during class. Unfortunately, since there is so much they don’t understand, many students don’t know how to ask for help.
“When I listen to the teachers’ lectures or watch a documentary, it is sometimes very hard to understand anything,” sophomore MengJiao Li said.
Like Jason and Michael, Li moved to Saratoga from China this year.
“I wish I had more time to learn the information, because taking tests is very stressful,” Li said.
Li looks forward to meeting other students who walk in similar shoes, and she feels that this club is a great opportunity.
The club’s meetings will be held in English teacher Meg Battey’s classroom, but they have yet to decide which days of the week to meet.
Jason and Michael are excited to see the turnout of their club, and both anticipate a great year to come.
“We started this club not only to help ourselves, but more importantly, to help others as well,” Jason said.
