Word up to Heron Creek

Students for whom English is a second language at Heron Creek Middle School, North Port, Florida, are finding it easier to learn English because of the efforts of the school’s Builders Club.

“The Builders saw a need for special dictionaries to help those students who speak languages other than English,” notes William Haugh of the North Port Noon Kiwanis club, sponsor of the Builders Club. “They put in a request to the Thomson Heinle Co., publishers of the Picture Dictionary, which makes learning English a bit easier. They were able to get 30 copies of the latest edition of the book, which targets improving language skills of students learning and improving upon their English.”

Builders Club president Alexsey McCall and secretary Laura Borgerding presented the dictionaries to Oksana Petrenko, the school’s English as a Second Language instructor, who thanked the club and stressed the books meet an immediate need at the school. According to greatschools.net, about 10 percent of the school’s 1,800 students are Hispanic, with four percent multicultural, and one percent Asian.