News release
April 25, 2011
For more information:
Larisa Shuvalova, 425-385-4800
Mary Waggoner, 425-385-4049
Seventh annual ELL Celebration Night honors student achievement and culture
English Language Learners to celebrate June 9, 6-8 p.m. at North Middle School
English Language Learners’ Celebration Night is an evening program where English Language
Learners (ELL) are honored for their academic achievements as they prepare for the next step in their
educational journey. Students who are transitioning from elementary to middle school, from middle to
high school, and graduating seniors receive certificates of achievement and are presented with
T-shirts representing the school they will attend next year. The 12th-graders receive “Class of 2011”
T-shirts. ELL teachers prepare a slide show of each student and his or her country of origin. Students
showcase their culture with dancing, singing and other performances. Families sample traditional
foods and visit with their student’s ELL teachers.
It is ELL instructor Larisa Shuvalova’s third year organizing this event. “The major purpose of the
event is to give ELL families an opportunity to celebrate their children’s education, and to feel
welcome and appreciated. We hope that families will feel valued and respected through the sharing of
different cultures in the slide show, performances, food and greetings in various languages.”
Shuvalova shares, “It is very important for ELL students and their parents to meet their future
teachers, administrators, as well as for me to meet my future students. Fifth-grade students who
attended ELL Celebration Night last year had a successful year as sixth-graders at North. They
started the year on a positive note.”
Shuvalova adds that when ELL students participate in the diversity club and prepare cultural
performances for ELL Celebration Night, they are “more likely to participate in other school events like
talent and art shows … they start to feel ownership for the school.”
About 200 people attended the event last year and Shuvalova says she expects the same this year.
The celebration will be held in the
North Middle School
cafeteria for students currently in grades five,
eight and 12 and their families.
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