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The new kid at Beacon Elementary School didn’t seem so new.
He whispered questions to his classmates at the Hilliard school, raised his hand when his fifth-grade teacher asked a question and joined the class in singing songs during the music lesson. He knew his way to the bathroom and what to order for lunch.
Ten-year-old Abdi Malow, a Somali native arrived in the United States a month ago. He has spent the time preparing for his first day at an American school, which came yesterday.
While two years of English classes in Ethiopia helped him interact with his teacher and classmates, it was not enough to guide him through his first language-arts lesson: compound words and short vowels.
“I can’t understand it,” Abdi told his teacher, Jason Godwin.
Abdi is the newest addition to Beacon this year, where about 80 of its nearly 490 students have limited English skills. Each new student is tested, and the ones who need extra help are paired with an English as a Second Language teacher.
The staffs at Beacon, J.W. Reason and Ridgewood elementary schools kicked off a new program last night that offers more help for students, and their parents, too.
“We have created an opportunity to reach out to our (limited English-speaking) families to involve them in their child’s learning process,” said Beacon Principal Craig Vroom. Thanks to a $4,000 grant from the Hilliard Education Foundation, the “Bring Cultures Together” initiative will provide weekly tutoring sessions for as many as 200 students and their parents. Students can get homework help as well as additional lessons on literacy.
Parents also will get English tutoring and lessons about other essentials of life in the United States, such as navigating a grocery store and obtaining a library card. Parents also will get a primer on the education system, including how to get a child on the bus or call in an absence, Ridgewood teacher Melissa Ruble said.
“A lot of times, they don’t understand how the U.S. school system works, and we’re trying to bridge that gap,” Ruble said.
Ridgewood opened this year with a new immersion program that gives students in need reading and writing lessons, and all their other lessons, in a regular classroom with an English as a Second Language teacher.
Principal Jennifer Wash said she has received few complaints about the program, which takes limited-English students from the district’s central and eastern areas.
“It has taken off very smoothly,” she said. “The children are delightful and eager to learn.”
Abdulgani Ali, who became a guardian for Abdi and his 15-year-old sister, Safiya, is excited about the after-school initiative.
“In the (school) day, (Abdi) may only understand 50 percent of the English,” said Ali, who moved with his five sons and wife from Somalia to Ohio five years ago. “After school, he can ask and get a greater understanding of what he learned.”
Abdi and Safiya, whose parents died during Somalia’s civil war, were living with their grandmother in Ethiopia before moving to the United States.
To bide the time before school while his paperwork was being completed, Abdi picked up bits of English from The Simpsons and Jackie Chan movies. He mastered video games and took on his new family in football. And while Hilliard students returned to school, Abdi watched the bus pick up and drop off his neighbors and brothers, waiting for his turn, Ali said.
After five years in the country, Ali’s five sons, who range from 11 to 19 years old, have adopted English, he said.
“I came here and helped them,” said Ali, who thinks the new Hilliard program will help him with his English. “Now they’re here and they help me.”
Ali predicts that Abdi will catch on quickly.
“After three months, he’ll be a different person,” Ali said.
Source: Columbus Dispatch, Sept 13, 2006
