News - Westview Hosts Back-to-School ELL Family Picnic

Published on September 23, 2025

English Language Learners (ELL) are those students whose native language is one other than English, and they are a valuable and vital part of the Avon Lake City Schools community. To celebrate the beginning of the school year, more than 40 English Language Learner students and their family members gathered for a picnic at the Westview Elementary Playground on Sunday, September 14^th. The balmy autumn weather was the perfect backdrop to their delightful company, welcoming conversation, and budding friendships. Currently, about 40 families are enrolled in the district’s English Language Learner program. The families speak a vast array of languages, including Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili, Italian, Romanian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Russian, Albanian, Gujarati, Japanese, Farsi, and Tamil. Avon Lake’s ELL immersion program strives to meet the educational, cultural, and social/emotional needs of its students whose second language is English by providing differentiated intense language instruction in collaboration with the students’ regular teachers. This program strives to provide ELL students with the tools to achieve academic success and ensure that they feel welcomed into the school community. Our ELL students bring an exciting cultural dynamic to the schools, and they enjoy sharing their cherished traditions with their peers. Their integration, through fun events such as the back-to-school picnic, is at the heart of the bond that unites families in Avon Lake. Thank you to Tonya Mohamed, District ELL teacher/coordinator, for organizing this wonderful outing for our ELL families!