<Back

Town and college kids pair up for English lessons

Tutors in Grinnell's K-12 English Language Learners program help non-native speakers learn the local language

by Rebecca Taylor

"?Y este?"

"My ear."

"?Y este?"

"My mouth."

Daniela, a fifth-grader from Mexico who attends Grinnell Middle School, answered easily as her tutor, Hanna Hakim '08 pointed to parts of the face on an open workbook page.

Daniela is one of 15 students in the K-12 English Language Learners (ELL) program within the Grinnell/Newburg School District. Twelve Grinnell College students and six community members students act as tutors in the program.

The ELL program began in the 1970s in response to the arrival of several refugees from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

"At the time ? we had to get pictures and get books for younger children and just sort of wing it," Twila Rosenow, ELL coordinator, said.

Thirty years later, the program has more materials, more students and more tutors. Nine of the 15 students in the program this year are native Spanish speakers and the other students' primary languages are Cambodian, Chinese, Japanese and Russian.

According to Don Longhurst, business manager of the Grinnell-Newburg School District, the district receives additional funding from the state for each ELL student who has been in the program less than three years.

Rosenow said funding has never been a problem. "It seems like when I've needed funding, I've received it," she said.

No formal lesson plans guide the tutoring sessions, but often teachers will give tutors a list of things they want them to cover with the student. Two weeks ago, the tutors began using a notebook to record what they covered that day with their student.

"It's pretty frustrating," Emily Kugisaki '09 said. "Sometimes I don't know what I'm doing."

Kugisaki recalls disapproving of teachers that put on the backburner students whose first language was not English. "Now I'm wondering how you can balance all the backgrounds and find a common language," she said.

Rosenow works closely with teachers. She said that they are enthusiastic about having ELL students in class, and teachers who have had Spanish in the past have refreshed and used their skills.

Chris Coffman, who has an ELL student in his third grade class at Davis Elementary School, agreed. "It seems kind of scary but it's been rewarding and you see progress daily, which as a teacher is great," he said.

Rosenow has been tutoring for over 25 years, but the Grinnell College ELL tutors do not receive much training. In an effort to hone the tutors' skills, this Tuesday Doris Knight, ESL tutor and activist, and Barbara Dinnen,

pastor of the Spanish Speaking congregation in Des Moines, conducted a workshop in the Forum.

To help ELL students learn, Rosenow creates repetitive musical chants and makes picture books out of photos of the student, the school and the student's teacher so that students can read something "that has meaning for them."

In addition to homemade materials, all of the tutors have access to a picture dictionary, which Hakim said is very helpful."The good thing about the picture dictionary is that we can build on what Daniela has been learning in each session and we can review what we've done in the past," she said. "It also comes with a workbook which also helps so she can learn how to write the words she's learning."

Henry Reich '09 works with Jerry, a third-grader, for two hours each week. Reich uses both English and Spanish to teach age-appropriate skills such as addition of large numbers and place-holding. "I think Jerry should be learning everything in context," he said. "Not just learning English by looking at pictures."

Rosenow said that a student's progression depends on whether he or she was able to read and write in another language, their williness to learn and how much emphasais the student's family places on education.

Sometimes everyone, including teachers, are unaware of a student's true language ability.

"There are some kids who've been in the United States for three years. They know conversational English quite well but when it gets in to academic subjects they have trouble," Rosenow said. "Teachers say, ?Oh, he knows English,' but then when the students gets in science they've never heard those words."

Hakim said that Daniela is a fast learner and picks up on vocabulary quickly, and while she is shy around English-speakers, once Hakim started talking to her in Spanish, she was very outgoing.

Susan Hildebrand '08 also tutors Jerry. "He's in a classroom most of the day listening to a language he doesn't understand and I walk into the classroom and say ?Hola, ?como est?s?' and he just lights up," she said.

Amy Graves, Community Service Center coordinator, said that there are many requests for opportunities to speak Spanish. According to Graves, students returning from abroad want to use their new language skills, and students seeking post-grad ESL jobs desire teaching experience, she said.

Kugisaki said she enjoys using Spanish and it helps her connect with Daniela.

"I'm surprised at how much comes out of my mouth," she said. "Daniela kind of giggles when I mess up and it encourages me to stick with it."

Hildebrand said she has gained more than just teaching experience.

"It is not just me teaching a language," she said. "I learn a lot about culture and I think people forget about the reciprocal aspect."

<Back