To the parents/guardians of my ELL students

By way of introduction, my name is Helen Koster and I am one of your child’s ELL support teachers at Capitol Hill Elementary School.  This is my ninth year at Capitol Hill and so I have met many of you. I want you to know that I will continue to work with your child during these very different learning circumstances. Having experienced immigration three times in my lifetime, I do understand the some of the challenges of arriving and living in a different country/culture where another language is spoken, Also, I know how hard it is to not have extended family to support you during this time. Further, I have had the experience of home schooling 3 of my 4 children during the 8 years we lived in Indonesia. I know how difficult it is to be mom and teacher, even when you are supervising another teacher’s program. However, we did not have to endure social distancing as well. So, I can only begin to imagine the stresses and strains you may be currently experiencing. I want you to know that I am here to support your child with English language skills and academic learning in English as best I can. However, my technology learning curve is steep so it may be through emails and attachments to start with.

During this school year I have been working with 82 of the 120 ELL students. Some students I work with for 45 minutes per week and some students I work with for 3 or 4 blocks of 45 minutes per week. The time varies according to the language skills and needs of each student. Therefore, my current role is to focus my support on the newcomers, beginners and developing ELL students in terms of English Language Acquisition. I will also support the other ELL students who need help or guidance to complete the classroom teacher’s assignments. These students are usually able to access the classroom curriculum and can speak and understand everyday English but need support with academic reading and writing. I am communicating and collaborating with classroom teachers on an ongoing basis, but please reach out to me by email helen.koster@burnabyschools.ca. You can click the translate button for translation.

My best wishes to you

Helen

Arabic – يمكنك النقر فوق زر الترجمة للترجمة.

Cantonese – 你可以单击翻譯按鈕進行翻譯。

Chinese – 您可以单击翻译按钮进行翻译。

Serbian – Možete da kliknete na dugme “Prevedi” za prevođenje.

Korean – 번역을 위해 번역 버튼을 클릭할 수 있습니다.

Spanish – Puede hacer clic en el botón de traducción para la traducción.

Persian – شما می توانید با کلیک بر روی ترجمه دکمه برای ترجمه.

Filipino – Maaari mong i-click ang isalin button para sa pagsasalin.

Hindi – आप अनुवाद के लिए अनुवाद बटन पर क्लिक कर सकते हैं।

Punjabi – ਤੁਸੀਂ ਅਨੁਵਾਦ ਲਈ ਅਨੁਵਾਦ ਬਟਨ ‘ਤੇ ਕਲਿੱਕ ਕਰ ਸਕਦੇ ਹੋ।

Kannada – ಭಾಷಾಂತರಕ್ಕೆ ಭಾಷಾಂತರ ಬಟನ್ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಬಹುದು.

Gujarati – તમે ભાષાંતર માટે અનુવાદ બટન પર ક્લિક કરી શકો છો.

Ukrainian – Ви можете натиснути кнопку перекласти на переклад.

Bulgarian – Можете да щракнете върху бутона за превод за превод.

Japanese – 翻訳ボタンをクリックすると翻訳ができます。