Program helps students new to U.S. adjust to English

In her Fircrest Elementary School classroom, 7-year-old Yana Koroteyev is buried in books.

Her favorite, she says, pulling one from the stack on her desk, is “Elephant and Piggie,” a book series by Mo Willems. She flips quickly through an edition of the animal friends’ adventures, reading aloud as Elephant and Piggie prepare for a party.

“Party! Party! Party! Party!” she reads, running her fingers across the words on the page, giggling at the dancing animals.