Upon entering the secondary schools, non-English speaking
students are forced to confront a new culture, language and
educational expectations in the United States.
Upon entering the secondary schools, non-English speaking students are forced to confront a new culture, language and educational expectations in the United States. They find themselves lost and confused with ill-preparation, poor English skills and frustration, which ultimately leads them to no other choice but to drop out of school and to seek a minimum wage job.
Underachievement in school is a common reality of migrant and immigrant non-English speaking students. Classroom and standardized test performances are relatively low, and students are less likely to take college preparatory courses which ultimately leads to a low participation rate in post-secondary education.
Because many of these students come from homes where their parents, who usually have little or no education, speak predominately their native language, makes it even more difficult for non-English speaking students to do well in their classrooms.
This year, I was given the privilege by my high school counselor to volunteer in helping non-English speaking students in an Algebra 1A math class on campus.
Because the teacher had a difficult time in communicating with them, it made it a lot easier for the students and the teacher to have me as a translator.
The first day I walked into the classroom I was scared, but curious, because I didn’t know what to expect. As I entered, I stood watching the students; noticing those who where struggling the most. The class was relatively average ranging from 25 to 28 students. Half of the class was non-English speaking. At the far back of the classroom there were those who tried to hide from any participation or class assignments by not getting involved. They sat with blank faces while the teacher would give out the week’s math lecture.
I felt like I was in a completely different environment; and I was. I was always used to the A.P. and C.P. courses with students always questioning, answering teachers and everyone in the classroom participating in all class activities. But here students were not motivated or involved. They sat in their seats listening to their CD players or writing notes to friends, or sometimes even talking with their backs facing the teacher while she gave a lecture.
I know that being a high school teacher can be quite exhausting and stressful but this teacher was experiencing a tougher challenge than many others.
During the beginning of the semester many of the students were getting below average grades because of their poor English skills. I sat next to each student one by one. By doing this I figured I could help each student who was having difficulty understanding the material and translating the questions in order to do the problems. But it became a challenge to me to help all students when there were so many who needed my help on different problems, so I decided to ask a friend to help me.
After a few weeks, I noticed how students felt a lot more confident and improved in their learning skills. Their test and quiz grades rapidly improved and many were now actually participating in the classroom. Even though many of them only knew a little or no English, they tried with their best ability to answer the teachers and questions.
Nationwide, about 3 million public-school students don’t know English. Many are entering school for the first time; others are older and may or may not have attended school in their homeland.
Earlier in this century, such children would have been expected to learn English practically by osmosis, either sinking or swimming on their own. Of course, millions of children did learn this way, but many others failed, falling further behind each year or dropping out of school altogether. Teaching English to poor, non-English speaking kids isn’t always easy, that’s why it would be helpful if teachers understood and spoke the native language of their students. School districts with large non-English speaking enrollment should set up after-school and summer programs to provide extra time for English learners to master skills they missed during the regular school day or year.
Since most school districts don’t have extra money to fund such programs, local businesses and community groups should pitch in to help. Teachers unions should encourage their members to volunteer their own time, or at least allow outside volunteers to teach these classes if regular teachers won’t. Every year we have thousands of immigrants coming to the Unites States looking for a better future, which also brings a lot more non-English speakers to public schools; therefore, much help is needed!
Cindy Hernandez is a senior at Live Oak, is ASB commissioner of diversity in ASB and features editor on the student newspaper, the Oak Leaf. She will alternate writing for Teen Perspective with Yasser Elassal and Courtney Gavin. Contact Cindy at ed******@*************es.com
