The Fessenden ESL Summer Program

The Fessenden ESL Summer Program
250 Waltham Street
West Newton, Massachusetts 02465
USA
Telephone: 617.678.2978, 617.630.2318
Fax: 617.630.2317
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The Summer English as a Second Language Program at The Fessenden School offers rigorous academic instruction in English along with travel, recreation, and cultural exchange. For five weeks, from June 24th to July 27th, our boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 15, live with faculty members in a close-knit, multi-cultural community consisting of approximately 50 students.

What makes our program so special?

A blend of academics, cultural interactions, language projects, travel experiences, summer camp activities and total language immersion makes the Fessenden summer experience truly unique. Students attend classes during the morning, use language in a variety of projects in the afternoon, play together in the pool and on the athletic fields, travel around the Northeast Region of the United States, and learn how to work and to live in a global society. Students use their English language skills while learning to work as a team. We place a strong emphasis upon respect for the individual and the cultural differences that each student brings to the community. Our program provides an exciting and fun summer experience, as well as a solid foundation in the English language.

The Language Classroom

All of the morning classes emphasize the four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Classes taught by our team of language specialists are small enough to offer consistent individual attention to each student. Our student to teacher ratio is 7:1. In addition, we have teaching assistants who rotate throughout the morning classes providing individual assistance as needed. Our multi-level curriculum serves to enhance the students' understanding of the cultural events, excursions, and weekend trips that we take as a group while helping them to demonstrate progressively greater competence in English.

The academic objective of Fessenden's summer program is to make the learning of English language skills a positive and valuable experience for each student regardless of his or her prior knowledge of English. Students are placed in small classes based on the results of comprehensive language assessments conducted at the start of the program. Fessenden offers many levels of ESL instruction ranging from beginning to advanced. In order to provide for the individual needs of each student, teachers incorporate the specific linguistic goals and the pacing of each student's progress. The boys and girls leave the program with greatly improved skill in conversational speaking, listening, writing, and reading English. They learn a great deal from each other.

Afternoon Enrichment Program

Students also gain English skills while participating in less formal language settings such as planned afternoon activities. The purpose of the Enrichment Program is to integrate language learning into real-life situations as well as to have fun in relaxing and creative settings. Students are no longer grouped by language ability alone; teachers provide situations that encourage students to use English.

Some of these activities includes Computer Literacy and Language Lab, Drama, Arts and Crafts, Community and Special Projects, Hands-On Science, International Day, Photography and Photojournalism, and Video Production.

Trips & Events -- New York City and New England Camping

The ESL Summer Program offers a wide variety of learning experiences through field trips. Two of our biggest "traveling classroom" trips are the New England Camping Adventure and our New York Discovery Weekend.

Other activities include barbecues, fireworks and an American Independence Day celebration on July 4, professional baseball game, rollerskating, major league soccer game, movies, summer dances, whale watch and beach barbecue, International Day, and special group project presentations.

Residential Life

Community life at the Fessenden ESL Summer Program is also an integral part of the ESL experience. Dorm life consists of children of the same gender and similar age groups creating bonds through living with several different nationalities. Great friendships develop from living in a multinational, multilingual environment. Our family style dining encourages language development while sampling American and International cuisine. Each week tables rotate so all the students get to know one another as well as each teacher and staff member on a more personal basis.

We welcome you to visit our 41-acre campus which includes tennis courts, playing fields, swimming pools, gymnasiums, computer labs, and a new classroom building located just 12 miles from the cultural center of downtown Boston. We look forward to hearing from you and working with you to make your child's summer experience a fun, exciting, and positive one.

If you are interested in any of our programs and would like to request information, please contact us!

Visit the web site of The Fessenden ESL Summer Program.