14 • COMMUNITY ADVOCATE • Friday, January 29, 2021
COMMUNITY | Schools Westborough student selected for 2020 All-National Honor Ensembles WHS senior Tyler Kinsky
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yler Kinsky, a senior at Westborough High School (WHS), was recently selected to join the “best of the best” for the National Association for Music Education 2020 All-National Honor Ensembles (ANHE). Held virtually for the first time ever on Jan. 7-9, the AllNational Honor Ensembles event included several rehearsals with the 2020 ANHE Conductors and workshops with renowned clinicians. Each ensemble will create a final, recorded performance that will be premiered online during the National Association for Music Education’s Music In Our Schools Month® in March 2021.
Kinsky was selected as one of only 18 students nationally to be part of the ANHE Jazz Ensemble, and is participating playing jazz trombone. After graduating from WHS, he plans to pursue a degree in Jazz Performance and Music Education. The All-National Honor Ensembles performers represent collaboration and creativity in its highest musical form. The
All-National Honor Ensembles consist of a concert band, symphony orchestra, mixed choir, jazz ensemble, guitar ensemble, and modern band (now in its second year). Students were chosen through an audition process. The concert band and symphony orchestra each have 120 instrumentalists, the mixed choir contains 241 vocalists, the jazz ensemble has 18 instrumentalists, the guitar ensemble has 45 instrumentalists, and there are 13 performers in the modern band. Names, schools, and states, as well as music directors, of the 552 2020 All-National Honor Ensemble students are available now at: nafme.org/ ANHE.
Northborough English Learner Education program accommodates 21 languages By Liz Nolan Contributing Writer NORTHBOROUGH- There are 21 different languages spoken by students in the Northborough Public K-8 schools. Director of English Learners and Equity Rhoda Webb presented on the English Learner Education program at the Jan. 6 Northborough School Committee meeting. An English Learner (EL) is a student whose first language is not English and is not able to perform ordinary classroom work in English. Currently, Northborough K-8 schools have 107 ELs, a
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steady incline from 32 students in 2004. Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic are the three most prevalent languages in the District for these students. All families complete a home language survey. When another language other than English is the first language at home, the English Language Development teachers set up a family interview. This is the first step to building a relationship with the families. “We truly get to know the uniqueness of every family,” said Webb. “This information is shared with the classroom teacher and all teachers work-
ing with that student. It’s important to get to know the students really well.” A language proficiency screening is state mandated and helps to assess the level of language proficiency. A twocomponent program model is used for instruction. The family and school partnership is strong “We always want our families to deeply understand how their children are doing at school, and we also want to hear from our families how the children are doing at home,” said Webb. Translation services are
provided to assist families with communication. It’s also a growth area recommended for the Fiscal Year 2022 budget. School Committee member Kelly Guenette commended the District for accommodating translations of electronic communications for the EL families so it’s not another obstacle for them. “It shows the diversity of the District and where we have come in the past 15 years and where we are going,” she said. School Committee Chair Keith Lebel was pleased to hear that the District has a good understanding of “the fine line of sorting out English language
learning and the subset of children who also have other educational needs that go beyond just learning English as a second language.” In a typical school year, an international night is held. Webb said it needs to be expanded because there are so many families. “It is a wonderful opportunity to see… the whole family come together and just enjoy each other coming from such diverse backgrounds,” she said. “We are all so grateful to have them enrich our lives as educators in our District,” said Webb.
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