Students in the Hightstown High School ESL program face the difficult task of adjusting to a new culture while planning for college or a career.
By: Chris Karmiol
Note: This is the third in a series chronicling the English as a second language program in the East Windsor Regional School District at various grade levels.
It’s no secret that high school can be a difficult time for students. It’s the final leg of their primary education, it’s wrought with social and physical challenges, and it introduces a whole new set of demands to meet while trying to sort out a solid plan of action after graduation.
While average American students weave their ways through the complex universe of high school, they may not realize that there is a subculture within the school doing the same, but with an additional set of unique challenges.
Students in the English as a second language program also take advanced placement courses and prepare for college admissions, but they must do so while simultaneously driving themselves to gain mastery of English and dodging misconceptions from both faculty and the mainstream student population.
Educating ESL students at the high school level may be the most unique educational challenge the East Windsor Regional School District faces. The students are one of the most distinctive groups as well. They bring with them cultural depth and a unique perspective on the American way of life.
The sheer number of ESL students at Hightstown High School has allowed that school’s program to grow and evolve it continues to be a work in progress.
"The program as a whole is, we believe, excellent," explained Mary K. Miller, an ESL teacher for 20 years in the district. "The idea is to continue content-learning while learning English, especially in high school where the number of years they have before graduation is limited."
Ms. Miller is the high school’s original ESL teacher. She began working just a half-day to meet the scant ESL needs of the time. Today there are four full-time ESL teachers in addition to a full-time Spanish bilingual teacher and a part-time Punjabi bilingual teacher at the high school.
"Last year all of our senior ESL students graduated and a majority went to either a two-year or four-year college, or a technical school," said Kbecky Escribano, ESL teacher.
The ESL students are striving, just like other students, to graduate, to attend college and to create employment opportunities. Unlike other students, however, they lack the advantage of not only mastery of the language, but mastery of the culture as well. Part of the culture, at least at the teen-age level, includes an understanding of slang.
Jose Delgado, a senior who recently left the ESL program, came here from Colombia two years ago.
"I knew how to write some English," he said. "I didn’t know how to speak it. When someone would talk to me I was lost. I started working at ShopRite, listening to people. In ESL you learn proper grammar. It was difficult because you’re used to speaking formal English, then (at work) you hear all those weird words like, ‘what-up?’ Because you’re new here, you don’t understand the way they think."
That’s why, Ms. Escribano said, the ESL program teaches more than just language.
"We teach cultural holidays why we celebrate, why it’s important. The kids have a lot of questions about the day-to-day, what’s going on in the news," she said. "Sometimes we show movies to acculturate them. In the first and second levels acculturation is important."
Families come to this country with their children from India, Turkey, Brazil, Korea and a host of other countries for disparate but somewhat common reasons. It’s the same reason that families have settled in the United States since its inception opportunities, both educational and employment, and to flee a less-than-ideal situation, either politically or economically.
Ms. Escribano explained that she has students who are political refuges from Sierra Leone, as well as others who are economic refugees.
"Ecuador’s dollar was devalued," she said. "There are families who have money, a home, everything there. But with the devalued dollar they can’t make a living."
Jose, whose brother also came through Hightstown’s ESL program, understands the reasons families come to the United States.
"I think that one of the main reasons people come here is poverty or violence or war," he said. "I don’t think the people who come here think of going back."
Instead, like many others here, they remain and become part of the American fabric. But the weave into that fabric is not as seamless as they might hope.
"People would look down on me just because I didn’t know the language," Jose said, recalling his arrival. "You come here with some expectations. You want to learn the language and you want to get along. Some people make it hard for us."
The social pressures of high school can be tedious enough, even without the extra hurdle of communication, but foreign students do the best they can.
"I always talked to everybody," said Renuska Papalexiov, a junior who is trilingual, speaking Portuguese, English and Greek. "It was pretty hard to make friends. It was closed groups so it’s hard to get in groups."
There are cultural considerations and adjustments that must be made too.
"With a Spanish guy you talk about soccer," Jose said. "With an American guy you talk about football."
Many of the Latino students also commented on the perceived coldness of Americans. They come from a culture that communicates much more physically than Americans do. Their social and family circles are also generally more extended.
Cultural differences aside, students new to the country consider themselves fortunate to be in East Windsor Regional’s ESL program. "It’s helping," said Ferrah Cakir, a senior who came here from Turkey and is itching to graduate. "My friends (in other districts) don’t have ESL. It’s really hard to do other skills with no ESL."
Ms. Escribano explained that students in Cranbury get about an hour of ESL a day, while HHS students get a full three periods. The attention to these students’ needs in the district offers opportunities for achievement they might otherwise have missed.
"Over the years we’ve had excellent administrators who understand the needs of the population," said Ms. Miller. "We care a lot about our students. We hope to not just teach them, but help them go on to other schools.
"We’re advocates," added Ms. Escribano.
The advocacy of ESL teachers has been put into action recently, when it was realized that many students who may not have been language proficient were still well beyond their placements in subjects like math. Although Edwin Hurtado, a sophomore, is still coming through the ESL program, he is already taking pre-calculus.
"That wouldn’t have happened before," said Ms. Escribano. "There is a growing awareness among teachers and guidance counselors that these students come having already taken classes even if they don’t have the language yet."
"When I came here from Colombia I was supposed to be in pre-calc," Jose said, "but they put me in geometry. It was too easy. You get bored. The teachers knew, but there was nothing they could do about it."
Although some students may be advanced in certain subjects, without English language skills they often must retake classes. Now, Ms. Escribano said, teachers can present students case-by-case for advancement, if they believe the student is prepared for a higher-level class even before complete language proficiency.
"It’s a leap of faith," she said. "Sometimes ESL was synonymous with easier classes. A lot of kids chose to get out of ESL to get harder classes."
New Jersey law states that parents can request their children out of ESL regardless of their level of language proficiency. Ms. Escribano said that many do.
Jose, who has exited the program, is now taking pre-calc, advanced placement physics, and C++ computer programming language. Where math is concerned, many ESL students feel they can excel regardless of language barriers.
"Math is math," Rachel Papalexiov, another ESL student, stated matter-of-factly.
"We work hard to get the placements for the kids even if they don’t have the language," Ms. Escribano said. "We can’t follow all the kids in the program. Sometimes they can move up, sometimes they cannot. Some could be in honors, but are put in standard. It’s all based on teacher recommendation."
The ESL kids of Hightstown High School are not unlike an average American-born student. They are working toward college and eager to learn. They are learning of the challenges that life will toss at them and preparing to meet those challenges head-on.