Multilingual Learner Services

Welcome to the Office of Multilingual Learner Services

Contact Information

Joanna Rodzen-Hickey

Coordinator of ESL and Bilingual Programs

Hackettstown Public School District

315 Washington Street

Hackettstown, NJ 07840

[email protected]

Program Overview

The Hackettstown Public School District Language Instruction Educational Programs (formerly English Language Learner Programs) support Multilingual Learner (ML) students in developing English proficiency while ensuring meaningful access to rigorous grade-level academic content. Currently, the Hackettstown Public School District serves nearly 250 ML students in grades K-12. Our program comprises Sheltered Instruction, High Intensity ESL, Bilingual Education, and Newcomer services.

Our Philosophy

Research on second language acquisition, including the work of Stephen Krashen, emphasizes the importance of providing comprehensible input. At Hackettstown Public Schools, we believe that language is best acquired when instruction provides input that is just beyond a learner's current level of English proficiency. Krashen also argues that the affective filter (variables such as anxiety, fear, and lack of self confidence) can impede the process of acquiring a new language. At Hackettstown Public Schools, we believe that increasing comprehensible input while reducing the affective filter creates the conditions that help ML students thrive both linguistically and academically.

We in the Hackettstown Public School District understand that teaching a new language is best done in a holistic way, using conversation and reading engaging texts while ensuring an appropriate level of language input. We understand that language is a social phenomenon, and create an environment in which students learn through social interaction and authentic and meaningful contexts. We foster a love of language and learning, and believe that all students can learn and grow, but they don't all learn and grow in the same way. Therefore, we tailor our instructional practice to the different styles of learning present in our classrooms.

In the Hackettstown Public School District, we provide our students access to rigorous grade level content while honoring their ways of knowing and being, and drawing upon their cultural and linguistic assets as well as their funds of knowledge. In other words, we embrace our students' cultures, knowledge, and unique qualities, as we understand that students learn best when they feel valued and emotionally safe. Additionally, our goal is never to replace one culture with another, but to create an additive cultural environment where every student's first language (and culture) is viewed as an asset and continues to be developed along with English. Ultimately, we want our students to use their cultures, knowledge, and bilingual skills to better the community in and out of the classroom.

In the Hackettstown Public School District, we encourage students to become lifelong learners who appreciate and celebrate diversity. We believe that in order to prepare our students for the future and help them build the foundations for success in college and career, we need to focus on the quality of their experiences in the present.