Students from five Anne Arundel County high schools created self-portraits and accordion books as part of an AACC summer course for bilingual students and displayed their artwork at an exhibition on campus on August 8.
The 17 students were enrolled in two five-week courses, ELL 319 – a course for English learners – and ACA 100, an orientation for new college students.
“I want them to understand that multilingual English language learners belong at AACC … and that they can produce brilliant, creative work as well as the more traditional writing assignments and academic work that they have to do,” said Owen Silverman Andrews, an instructional specialist for AACC’s English language learner program. “And that we want to celebrate them and not just say, ‘Oh yeah, great job, pat on the back, here’s your grade.'”
This is the third time Andrews has partnered with public schools to offer instruction to students whose first language is not English.
He said few multilingual students take advantage of a state program that allows some high school students to take courses at AACC for free.
“We created this summer program specifically for them,” Andrews said. “They take an English class that I teach and a seminar on college success. But in addition, we’ve added art to both of these courses because it’s a way to learn languages and learn about college.”
Bilingual high school students exhibit works of art
