FDL Morning Rotary Gives a Boost to Bilingual Education

For years, members of Fond du Lac’s Morning Rotary have observed teachers struggling with accommodating the needs of their widely varied students, especially growing numbers of students whose English comprehension was marginal or non-existent. Part of this challenge was a general limitation of reading materials that could assist ESL students to work on their English skills. When the FDL School District added a director of bilingual education early in 2024, club members checked in to see how Rotary could assist with this challenge. Communications between Rotarians and Dr. Joseph Moylan, the District Director of English Language and Bilingual Education, indicated that contributing bilingual and foreign language books to the school libraries would be a good place to start. The funding mechanism used to support this effort was the Rotary district grant, which allows qualifying clubs to apply for grants up to $3,000.

A total of 337 books were provided, including some bilingual books, Spanish versions of popular English books, and some graphic novels for older students with pictures and simpler language. Staff from one of the middle schools gave the following feedback:

“The picture support and simplified language in the graphic novels allow our students to understand the text and provide access to the curriculum that would otherwise be impossible to have.”

FDL Morning Rotary has maintained a strong history of supporting literacy in Fond du Lac, including gifts of books for birthdays and back to school, the addition of diverse-themed books to classroom libraries, a first grade Read-4-Life program and a variety of other programs focused on Fond du Lac’s youth literacy.