Reaching Foreign Students, Breaking Word Barriers
Schools face new challenges with students who don't speak English - or Spanish


Paige Hewitt
Houston Chronicle
Monday, December 4, 2000

Martha Vardeman, an administrator at Jersey Village High School, says there are so many languages spoken in schools today that barriers pop up in the most unexpected ways.

A few weeks ago, Vardeman was summoned to one of those scenes that can send panic through an educator - a girl was unconscious on the cafeteria floor.

School nurses and paramedics dashed to the cafeteria to assess the girl's condition. Even though the girl was able to speak, officials were unable to communicate with her. A recent immigrant, she spoke only Korean.

"We were pulling in kids so they could try to help us," Vardeman said. "Every one sort of jumped in. We didn't know what was going on."

Responding to a tip from a teacher, officials found the girl's cousin, a classmate who speaks Korean.

They learned that the girl, apparently suffering from love trouble, had hardly eaten for three days. She was taken to the hospital, and her cousin called her parents.

Vardeman said there would have been no problem communicating if the girl had been a Spanish speaker, because the school has many students and staff who speak Spanish.

"But we didn't have anyone who spoke Korean," she said.

As thousands of young immigrants and refugees from all over the world come to Houston, dealing with more exotic languages - such as Korean, Swahili, Urdu, Arabic, Bosnian, Vietnamese and Chinese dialects - is a growing issue for area schools.

Among some 50,000 immigrant and refugee students in the Houston Independent School District, more than 60 different languages are spoken, said Jacel Morgan, director of multilingual programs.

Of those students, 94 percent are Spanish speakers from Latin America, while the remaining 3,000 or so come from such places as China, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Pakistan and Bosnia.

The number of students in the district's Limited English Proficiency program has soared in recent years.

Most of that increase is attributed to youngsters from Latin America - about 5,000 new students per year.

But the number of non-English speaking children from regions other than Latin America also has soared - to 1,945 in the 1999-2000 school year, up from 1,135 the year before.

Trends over recent years show an increasing number of refugees from countries at war, like Bosnia and various African nations, Morgan said.

The number of Chinese immigrant students has climbed to 200 this year, up from 125 last year. The number of French students soared to 74 from 10.

The situation is similar in Alief ISD, where nearly 67 languages are spoken by approximately 12,000 immigrant and refugee students, about half of whom speak a language other than Spanish.

"It's not uncommon to have eight to 10 different languages in a classroom," said Beth Harris, coordinator for Alief's bilingual and foreign language department.

Of all Texas school districts last year, Alief had the third-highest percentage of students speaking little or no English.

Educators say teaching children who speak a foreign language, particularly one other than Spanish, is challenging.

Although there are a handful of campuses in the Houston area that offer bilingual education for Vietnamese speakers, most programs are limited to Spanish. The state mandates that school districts offer elementary bilingual education when there are 20 students in the same grade who speak the same foreign language.

And even when a district fits that criteria, schools find it virtually impossible to find teachers for the job.

"It could turn out to be Russian," said Carolyn Spillane, director of secondary curriculum and instruction in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. "But how many teachers can you find who speak Russian and who are also certified in bilingual education?"

So children whose native languages are more exotic typically are enrolled in such classes as Limited English Proficiency, or LEP, or English as a Second Language, or ESL, which are federally funded.

Those courses are usually taught in English by teachers trained in specific methodology.

At Hastings High in Alief, where some 300 students speak foreign languages other than Spanish, ESL teachers try to tap into the knowledge students have in their native language, and they use technology and visual aids to teach math, science and language.

Faye Flores, the ESL department chair at Hastings, said teachers also rely on peer honor students who speak various languages.

"A lot of them have been through it before," she said.

Teachers urge students to make vocabulary flash cards, and they have to be patient and pay close attention to student behavior.

"When you ask them a question, you have to give them time," Flores said. "A lot of times the kid is sitting there thinking, 'I know the answer, but how do I say it?' And sometimes they get frustrated. Can you imagine sitting in classes all day where all they spoke was Arabic? You have to watch the body language. When you see a student looking around, they're frustrated. So you have to be very demonstrative. You're always moving. If you're talking about walking, you're going to walk."

Schools also place foreign students with the general student population in such ancillary classes as physical education and art so they don't feel isolated. Schools also offer free summer English classes to foreign-language students and their parents.

Family services are a big part of student success.

"There are not only language problems, but cultural problems," said HISD's Morgan.

HISD offers outreach services to help students and their families navigate through the various social programs and to learn about social protocol.

Shirin Herman, a refugee case worker who speaks five languages, said families are incredibly grateful.

"Life is very difficult without language," said Herman, a native of Tanzania who was forced to flee two countries in her childhood. "But it's more than just language. Some of these families have been living in a refugee camp. I have seen a large family arrive here with only one suitcase. Many of them are very happy to be just safe and have food. But education is also very, very important to them."

Like all Texas students who have lived in the state for at least a year, immigrants must take the Texas Assessment of Academic Skills test.

Spillane, from Cypress-Fairbanks, says the test can be especially challenging for foreign students.

"These kids live with a dictionary," she said. "They literally translate everything. They spend an inordinate amount of time studying. Their parents make it a priority. I've seen kids who are struggling with English pass physics. They often learn the language quickly. But the biggest problem we have is that the Legislature thinks these kids can learn it in one year. It's a very unrealistic expectation."