Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511270056
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
For Dau Ly, some words come easily. He knows "measles," "mumps," "rash," "itch" and "spots." He struggles a bit with "contagious," "immunization" and "infected."
Ly reads a passage aloud from a health care workbook at the request of teacher Roy Martin. When Ly stops on a word, Martin quickly helps him pronounce it correctly.
A sophomore at Patrick Henry High School, Ly came to Roanoke from Vietnam 13 months ago. High school is tougher for him than it is for American students: He must learn English at the same time he takes the usual math, science and social studies classes.
He is eager to improve his English. He speaks up often when Martin asks the students a question. "The class is helping me in English and other courses," Ly said.
Martin's class is part of the school system's English as a Second Language program, which has expanded rapidly in recent years as more foreign-born children have moved to Roanoke.
On one level, the class is designed to teach the students about health care. But it also is a language class to help them improve their English.
Martin has all six students in the class take turns reading from a health care workbook. This lesson focuses on childhood diseases: their causes, symptoms and treatment. He discusses chicken pox, measles, mumps and other illnesses with them.
Each chapter deals with different health issues and includes sections on grammar, reading comprehension, vocabulary and crossword puzzles with health-related content.
Regular health classes can be hard for these pupils, because the vocabulary and terminology are difficult, Martin said. "We try to give them a leg up on the material."
Freshman Zlatan Stambol has been at Patrick Henry eight months, having come from Bosnia-Herzegovina. He had four years of English in his homeland, but he is still learning. He is quiet and does not say much unless the teacher asks him a question directly.
Suzette Maurice is a sophomore from Haiti, where she studied a little English. She has lived in Roanoke a year and is improving in the language quickly.
"I do OK in my other courses," Maurice said. "This class has helped me do better.''
This year, 75 students in the city's middle and high schools are taking ESL classes, which are taught at Patrick Henry. Students from William Fleming High and the middle schools are bused to Patrick Henry daily for classes at the ESL Center.
Depending on the courses they take and their proficiency in English, the students spend two to four hours a day in the language classes and the rest of the day at their home school.
The students can take beginning or advanced ESL classes. "We get students at all levels of competencies. We try to put them in the proper level class, but there are so many levels, you can't always be sure," said Martin, the program's coordinator.
Beginners are taught grammar and basic English skills. The center also offers separate reading, writing and lab classes for students who need more work. Most students have two classes a day.
Some classes combine reading with American history, literature and other subjects, similar to the approach used in the health and English class, Martin said.
At the middle school level, some classes use an "Everyday English" workbook, which focuses on the days of the week, months, seasons, parts of the body and other basic vocabulary.
In the elementary schools, the city provides English classes for nearly 175 foreign children in their home schools. Two teachers travel among schools to teach them the language.
Many foreign children are settling in the Roanoke Valley through the Refugee and Immigration Services office for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond.
The number has increased rapidly in recent years. Five years ago, Roanoke had fewer than 75 children in its ESL program. This year, there are 250, in all grades.
Roanoke County has similar classes for foreign students. It has 14 students in middle and high schools who are bused daily to the Arnold R. Burton Technology Center for English classes. The county has 30 children in elementary schools who are taught English by two teachers who travel among schools.
Salem has 18 foreign children who are taught English by tutors instead of being placed in separate classes. "We have had an increase in the past few years, but they are scattered in all grades, and we teach them individually," said Joe Kirby, director of instruction for Salem schools.
In Roanoke, the students in the ESL classes come from Bosnia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Haiti, India, Iraq, Japan, Laos, Mexico, Rwanda, Russia, Spain and Vietnam.
Roanoke County's students come from Bosnia, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, Venezuela and Vietnam.
Pat Baril, education liaison for Refugee and Immigration Services, said the number of immigrants and refugees coming into the Roanoke Valley is likely to keep increasing.
"The schools are very caring. The teachers really put themselves out to make the students feel good," Baril said.
"We take them at any level," said Mary Branisteanu, the county's ESL teacher for students in middle and high schools. Some students have studied English before coming to the county, but others have not, she said.
Jorge Morales, a freshman at Northside High School, had taken no English when he came to the county from Venezuela 10 months ago to live with his brothers.
"It was my dream to come to the United States," he said. "When I got the chance, I took it."
He has one brother who works for ITT and another in the real estate business. They have helped him with English. Morales said Branisteanu's classes have helped him do better in his other courses.
Branisteanu said she uses the same approach for all nationalities. Like Roanoke, the county combines the teaching of English with history, geography and other material, she said.
"We try to mainstream them in their home school English classes as quickly as possible," she said. "This is just a temporary stopping point."
County schools have an ESL Festival Day each year so foreign students can share information and customs from their countries. They display books, clothes, flags, newspapers, music cassettes and videos from their homelands.
Chinh Phan, a sophomore at Cave Spring High, said the English classes have enabled her to keep up with her work in other courses. She had taken no English when she came to the Roanoke Valley from Vietnam three years ago.
Martin, the ESL coordinator in Roanoke, said teaching English can be frustrating, but also satisfying.
In some cases, there are family and discipline problems that can hamper students' progress, he said. And there are cultural differences that take time for the students to learn.
"Education is different in some other countries. Some students expect teachers here to be harsher and more demanding. It takes time for them to adjust," he said.
Albertha Albergene, a sophomore at Patrick Henry from Haiti, doesn't know if she will go to college. But without the ESL classes, she said, she would have no opportunity to finish high school and consider higher education.
"I love it here in this country, and the classes have made it easier for me," said Cris Sodre, a freshman at Northside High from Brazil. "My English was poor when I came to this country 21/2 years ago."
Said Branisteanu: "They are good students, very sincere. They just need some help, and we try to do that."
by CNB