Interesting Read - Acceptance Through Shared Languages

Teacher pushes her students to be united, not divided, by language

By Public Radio International, adapted by Newsela staff

In Acacia WoodsChan's ethnic studies class at Castlemont High School in Oakland, California, students chat with each other in various languages. 

They speak Spanish and Mam, which is a Mayan language from Guatemala, as well as Arabic, a language from the Middle East and North Africa. 

The students have only been in the U.S. for a few weeks or months. Some are from Yemen, a country in the Middle East, and many are from countries in Central America — Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

Last year, WoodsChan became concerned when she started hearing the Spanish-speaking students laugh when their classmates spoke Mam or Arabic, making fun of how those languages sounded.

"You could literally look at the faces of the students who spoke those languages — Mam or Arabic — and just see the level of disappointment," she said.

Sharing Languages Made A Difference

WoodsChan decided to try something new, having students take turns teaching a little bit of their home language each day. Students taught classmates to count from 1 to 10, introduce themselves and say basic phrases or words like "cool." Then, they each recorded themselves speaking the language in short video clips.

WoodsChan says it made a huge difference.

"You could see a huge shift in the way that not only the Mam-speaking students regarded the importance of learning Mam and having it visible, but also in the way that the other students received it," WoodsChan said.

WoodsChan's classroom is just one of many across the country with an increasing number of immigrant students. In the last five years, Oakland's schools, for instance, experienced a jump in immigrant students from Central America. More than 200,000 youth under 18 years old have been detained after crossing the border alone since 2014.

When someone younger than 18 turns themselves in at the border without a guardian or is stopped by immigration authorities, they are turned over to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. They can later go live with relatives or friends while waiting for immigration hearings to see if they can stay. These students face formidable challenges getting through high school. However, they also possess powerful assets, one of which is the fluency in their home languages.

Retaining Home Language Is An Asset

Research has shown immigrants who retain their home language while learning English are likelier to graduate from high school than those who stop speaking their home language. They are also likelier to go to college and enter higher-paying careers.

WoodsChan saw the difference after her students started teaching. She said they grew more confident after seeing their own languages on the whiteboard and hearing it in videos. They started making friends with each other — across cultural lines. Other students who were not in that class would come in and see something written in Mam on the board and exclaim, "Hey, that's Mam! I speak Mam!"

Researchers from City University of New York say when students see their home languages displayed in class or the building, they feel more comfortable. It helps students feel like experts if they are asked to share their knowledge of their home language with classmates.

Expertise in other languages can help WoodsChan's students beyond the classroom, too. Mam is an indigenous language, meaning it's only spoken by a group of people from a particular region. It was spoken before settlers from Europe brought the Spanish language with them. 

Indigenous languages from Central America are becoming more common in the U.S. Several thousand Mam speakers are estimated to now live in Oakland, California, adding to a larger Mayan community in California's Bay Area. Some Oakland graduates have gone on to become Mam-English interpreters to help fill a lack of indigenous-language interpreters in all kinds of settings, from schools to hospitals to courts.

Students Are Happy To Learn

Fifteen-year-old Wilfido, from Guatemala, says WoodsChan's video project made him happy because "everyone wanted to learn Mam." He was also happy to learn some Arabic, remembering how to say "hala hala," which is a greeting like "hi."

He says now he's inspired to learn more languages and wants to be an interpreter.

The project also helped students who didn't speak Mam or Arabic understand their classmates better. Orlando, a 17-year-old student from El Salvador, said he never knew Arabic or Mam even existed before he came to the U.S. and heard classmates talk. Now, he thinks it would be good for all students in his school to learn a little of their classmates' home languages.

"When students first get here," he said in Spanish, "they think, 'No one talks like me. I'm the only one,' and they feel alone. This way, they won't feel so bad."

Drawing From A Personal Experience

For WoodsChan, cultivating her students' pride about where they come from is personal — she's African-American and Chinese-American. Her mother, who was born in the U.S., but spoke the Chinese language Cantonese at home, told her a story about being in kindergarten while learning English. She had a stomachache but wasn't sure how to say that.

"So, she raised her hand and said, 'Teacher, I have a stomach!' and she's like, doubled over in pain, her face is wrinkled and wrenched and just looking wretched," said WoodsChan. "And the teacher was like, 'Yes, of course you have a stomach.'"

That exchange was scarring for her mom, and WoodsChan keeps it close to her heart. She wants to be the opposite kind of teacher.

"When I see my students, I think of my grandma, and I think of my mom," WoodsChan said. "They're fighting when they're here every day. They're fighting for their education."