Cross-Pollination, Take Two

Though it was written with the soccer fan in mind, my review of the books Outcasts United and New Mainers over at the Pine-Scented Pitch is informative (if I may say so myself) about the increasing diversity in the Pine Tree State and the Paper City. To wit:

Indeed, according to statistics provided by the Westbrook School Department,
there at least twenty-one different languages spoken in the schools'
classrooms.* And the number of students participating in the school district's
English for Speakers of Other Languges (ESOL) program has steadily increased
over the last decade: A little more than twenty students were enrolled in the
program in 2000; today, there are almost 120 enrollees, a ten-year increase of
about 500%. The capability to view the school district's Web site in seven
different languages, after all, was not developed in a vacuum.

- John C.L. Morgan

Related: Cross-Pollination (February 5, 2010)