English Language Learners

Vandenberg’s ELL Program supports all students

Learning Support

students working with teacher at table

Vandenberg administrators and staff respect, value, and understand cultural diversity and individual learning styles of English Language Learners.
New comers have the opportunity to fast track their learning in the content areas and immediately interact with other children speaking the same language.
All students are exposed to new cultures and languages at a young age as well as gaining a well rounded and thorough academic education.
Our program consists of a certified and endorsed ESL teacher who oversees the department as well as Paraprofessionals that work to support and reinforce English language acquisition and content instruction. The bilingual staff shares the responsibility with the mainstream general education teachers for ensuring that our bilingual students receive content instruction while learning English.
The following languages are spoken by our children and their families: Albanian, Spanish, Wolof, Mandinka, Ga-danbe, Twi, Yoruba, Fyu, Tagalog, Russian, Vietnamese, ASL language, Palauan, Haitian, Hindi, Panjabi, Sianhalese, Gujarati, Arabic, Chaldean, French, Japanese, Jamaican, Swahili, Nigerian, Igbo, Eflek, and Borabu.

Family Support

The bilingual staff serves as liaisons with the parents/guardians of our ELL students, their community and the school.
Bilingual staff contacts parents in writing or by phone to announce important school functions and events. Such as: parent –teacher conference or meetings, share students success stories, and supports the families in any way possible.
Parents workshops after school covering different topics to help adjust in their new environment.
School flyers, documents, letters, notes, individual assignments from the classroom teachers are translated into the three dominant languages that represent Vandenberg.
We provide buses for all bilingual and ESL students that register through Southfield Public Schools

Community Relations

Positive school community relations increase the number of volunteers and community resources to provide more opportunities for adult-student interaction.
We receive support from the following organizations:

Sam’s Club

Arab Chaldean council

Tim Horton

Area restaurants

Mother of God church

Senegalese association in America.

Many Languages...One Family

MEET OUR ELL STAFF

ELL Program: Mrs. Lisa Engelsman, Teacher

Paraprofessionals: Mrs. Kozmi, Mrs. Movsisyan, Mrs. Rivera, Mr. Samb, Mrs. Zaim

Celebrating cultures, we all smile in the same language. Vandenberg is the Bi-Lingual magnet elementary school in Southfield Public Schools.

Hi! My name is Mrs. Lisa Engelsman. I have been the English Learner Teacher at Vandenberg for 1 ½ years, and I have been with Southfield Public Schools for 4 years. Before that I taught at both the high school and middle school levels. Altogether I have 11 years of teaching experience. I was born in Michigan, and I have lived in Taiwan and China for 5 years. I received my Bachelor and Master degrees in education from Michigan State University . I am fluent in English and Mandarin Chinese.

In the ESL department we have five wonderful bilingual paraprofessionals that work daily with students and families. They are: Mrs. Suha Kozmi, Mrs. Irina Movsisyan, Ms. Brenda Rivera, Mr. Momar Samb, and Mrs. Samira Zaim.

Mrs. Suha Kozmi was born in Iraq and taught English at a secondary school in Mosul, Iraq. She has worked with Southfield Public Schools for 20 years. She is fluent in English, Arabic, and Chaldean.

Mrs. Irina Movsisyan was born in Ukraine, and she taught math in the Ukraine for 15 years. She has worked for Southfield Public Schools for 25 years. She is fluent in English, Ukrainian, and Russian.

Ms. Brenda Rivera was born in Brooklyn, NY and has family in Puerto Rico. She received her Bachelor degree from Oakland University, and she has worked 7 years in Southfield Public Schools. Ms. Rivera is fluent in English and Spanish.

Mr. Momar Samb was born in Senegal and he taught English in Gabon. He taught has worked 7 years in Southfield Public Schools. Mr. Samb is fluent in English, French, and Wolof.