The journey of a thousand miles ends with a brunch

Covert Elementary School Principal Darren Raymar feted second and fourth grade ESL students for their accomplishments this past school year with a June 21 sit-down brunch in his office. The five students were honored with certificates of achievement for their involvement in school activities and participation in a state-wide TESOL contest.

“Raymar and the Covert School are very proud of their ESL students’ social and academic progress throughout the 2009-10 school year,” said Virginia Stamatakis, an ESL teacher at Covert who also attended the brunch.

The TESOL contest — which only the fourth graders participated in — required students to submit essays based on Chinese Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu’s quote, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” Participants were asked to write about their own journey in learning English.

Like many of his peers, fourth grader Freddie Paguada addressed the topic creatively, well-expressing the challenges and merits of learning a new language. “My journey feels like 1,000 miles sometimes, but most of the time it feels like walking in water. I can see the shore but getting to it takes a long time… Learning English has been hard, but I still have hope.”