Morgan Hill Unified School District helps Russian child learn
English with new computer education program
Morgan Hill – Young 9-year-old Russian emigre Masha has learned enough English to clearly state her favorite food is “ice cream.”
Jay and Joyce Maskell adopted the sparkly-eyed brunette this summer, after spending a month in the former Soviet Union. She was born in Kharbarovsk, a city with a population of approximately 800,000 in the eastern part of the country.
Now Masha lives in Morgan Hill with her new parents and attends Jackson Elementary School.
School life has helped her with her English, Jay said, and a special computer program she uses there called CompassLearning has also broadened her language skills.
Arlene Machado, the district’s director of technology, said the district piloted the software program for free for the last half of the 2005-06 school year, then purchased the program in September.
Masha has experienced a variety of new situations since arriving in Morgan Hill in July. Prior to being adopted, she had spent her whole life in an orphanage, Joyce said, so she’s adjusting to a new country and a new language and being a part of a family.
“It’s things like sleeping in a bed in a room by herself, versus sleeping in a room with many other girls,” she said. “Things that we do together as a family, compared to the lack of family-type activities she was used to.”
The orphanage where Masha lived for most of her nine years was “very unpleasant,” Joyce said.
“It didn’t smell very good, a lot of the children had fetal alcohol syndrome,” she said. “You could see the despair in their faces. Masha was much thinner than she is now and quieter. I believe she’s opening up. She has some friends at school now.”
Masha visited the U.S. once before she was adopted, with a program called Bridges of Hope, which is part of a larger program called Cradle of Hope, to assist older Russian children in finding homes.
“Because it is sometimes difficult for older children to be adopted, this program tries to find families for them,” Joyce said. “Many of them want babies.”
As a result of Masha’s visit to the East Coast in 2005, Joyce added, she and Jay learned about her, though they didn’t meet her during her stay in the U.S., and decided to adopt her.
“This is a huge adjustment for her, so much to adapt to, so much to learn,” Joyce said. “But it’s also an adjustment for me. I’ve never done this before. Having a child suddenly in your live changes your views about everything. Having a child from another country changes them even more, you have to consider not only how she is adjusting to you, to family life, but also to so many cultural differences all at once.”
Although the adoption moved relatively quickly – they began the process last December – the Maskells didn’t just swoop in and scoop up Masha.
Jay and Joyce took some classes to prepare for the adoption and spent a month in Russia to increase their fluency of the Russian language.
“We did have people lined up that could help us with the language, if necessary,” Jay said.
However, they have been relieved that Masha is progressing so well.
“It’s such a great program,” Joyce said of CompassLearning, the software program the district purchased last year. “When Masha heard the Russian, she was thrilled.”
Machado said the software is used by many students, though she did not have an exact number.
“It’s meant to be a very fluid program, with many applications,” she said. “It’s very targeted instruction. We have some students who are using it as an intervention program, we have GATE students using it to extend their learning. Our ELL students are using it, students like Masha and others.”
The program is Web-based, she added, and can be used at home as well as at the school sites.
Marilyn Dubil covers education and law enforcement for The Times. Reach her at (408) 779-4106 ext. 202 or at md****@*************es.com.
