Jenna Maneri is an English as a Second Language Coach for the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District.
She has also penned content published in books by Dr. Andrea Honigsfeld, a renowned author who tells stories of multilingual learners and education.
And Ms. Maneri is a sound salesperson, too.
She notified Dr. Honigsfeld of an interesting story about a club out of Bridgewater-Raritan High School.
The storytellers were Jaime Bandel Vasquez and Delfina Ines Picchio, two English as a Second Language (ESL) Teachers at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, where they also serve as the Advisors of the I.N.S.P.I.R.E Club.
Those letters are for Inter National Student Program for Integration, Resources and Education.
The club helps students who are new to Bridgewater-Raritan and to the United States and are learning the English language. The club offers external resources such as campus maps and a buddy system to help them adjust. Also, the club provides deeper support within the school community, helping students communicate with teachers and build a social network and achieve academic success.
They collaborated to write a piece about their club that was eventually published in Dr. Honigsfeld’s recent book, “Wait, Don't Just Translate.” This book focused on multidimensional strategies for emergent multilingual learners.
“Jenna knows Dr. Honigsfeld from previous dealings, so she told her, ‘Hey, I got a story for you from Bridgewater-Raritan High School,” Ms. Bandel Vasquez and Ms. Ines Picchio reported about Ms.Maneri’s sales pitch last spring.
The two club advisors were determined to communicate the club's mission.
“We wanted to get the message across that our student leaders have great ideas and that it is very important that they have the space to express their leadership.”
Below is the important summary that is printed in the book.