By 2025, one in four students across the country will come from homes where multiple languages are spoken, writes Andrea Bitner, an English Learner (EL) teacher in the Interboro School District.

Interboro alone has more than 300 EL students speaking at least 25 different languages.

Bitner, with 23 years’ experience as an EL instructor, stresses the importance of supporting students learning English.

“EL students often experience isolation, unaware that there are other people in the school building who also speak multiple languages,” Bitner wrote in an article for The Keystone.

The Interboro teacher has dedicated a large part of her career to connecting with EL students and their families while helping other K-12 educators in the district and around the nation learn to do the same.

In 2021, Bitner wrote a book, “Take Me Home,” which chronicles the EL experience through the eyes of 11 of her former students.

“Educators don’t just fall into teaching. We are called into it. And for those of us lucky enough to work with EL students, we navigate not only students’ academic needs but their social and cultural needs, as well,” she wrote.

Find out more about Andrea Bitner and her work on behalf of EL students in The Keystone.