Fox Lane High School is proud of its comprehensive program to support its English Language Learners, who come from all parts of the world. The Fox Lane philosophy is that the first language is a strength to build on, not a weakness to be overcome.
Fox Lane High School offers a rich program of courses in English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) that develop academic content skills in concert with literacy and language development. The school’s ESOL teachers offer courses through the ESOL department, in addition to co-teaching with members of the other academic disciplines. Students work on literacy development by, for example, analyzing graphic novels so that visual cues can promote understanding.
Students also work in collaboration with others on authentic and relevant project-based tasks. Fox Lane embeds cultural competency for all by, for example, calling on immigrant students to celebrate and share their cultural heritage with the rest of the school through dance. A graduation speaker, chosen by her peers, delivered her address in both English and Spanish. (While the students speak many different languages as their primary language, Spanish is the predominant language.)
A Native Language Arts Program meets the needs of those students who are native Spanish speakers and heritage Spanish speakers, but who have had little or no formal education in the Spanish language. Among the courses offered are: Introduction to Spanish Language and Literature, Latin American Studies, Iberian Studies, Advanced Placement Spanish Language, and Advanced Placement Spanish Literature.