ANOTHER APPROACH TO EDUCATING IMMIGRANTS

 Two years ago, Jean Ambroise and his family left Haiti in search of better opportunities after the earthquake in that country. Now 18, he’s finishing up his education at Newcomers High School in Queens. He recently talked about his adjustment to life in the United States.

 I start learning English in my country. I had been taking English classes and Spanish classes and also I used to come [to the U.S.] every summer for vacation.

 So when I first came here, I started seeing the difference between the English that I learned in my country and the way that Americans speak English. I started improving myself by reading more books and watching cartoons, stuff like that.

 I realized that I got to learn English first, and once I start learning English, then I can go and try to find myself a job and I will be able to go to an interview and to answer all the questions.

My first day at Newcomers High School was like, you know, a little bit strange.  Like when I first came, I was scared. I didn’t want to go to lunch, and like the only place I felt better was the library. There were many people from different countries, talking in their native languages, and like I didn’t really understand what’s going on.

Newcomers, actually it’s a high school for immigrants, like people who come from their native country and who don’t speak like English very well.  And we have ESL classes for them, where they start learning English, step-by-step. And we have also different programs for students so they have the ability to learn new stuff, like they can learn how to dance.

The teachers are really cool. They cooperate together with the students. You’re allowed to speak your native language. You only speak English when you’re asking the teacher a question or if you’re talking to somebody else who doesn’t speak the same language as you do.

My friend, he goes to a different high school, and he told me that everyone has to try to speak English. Students who speak English like a little bit, very little, they have the opportunity to hear more English and learn it, but not at Newcomers High School.

Like if you want to learn English [at Newcomers], you do your homework. You watch the cartoons and stuff like that and listen to English songs, but you’re not gonna learn English from other students – the Chinese people always speak Chinese, the Bangladeshi speak Bengali. And also sometimes the students are kind of shy. They only want to talk to people who are from their native country, so that’s a bad attitude.

Some teachers are there to help us. I can go after school and talk to the teacher, or I can send them an email. I also got my friends. If they’re better than me in some subjects, I can talk to them and we can work it out, figure out, see what to do.

So far, I enjoy school. I’ve learned a lot of stuff, like especially from the after-school program. I’ve had the chance to meet new students at school, to talk to them, and to get to know them. Sometimes we go on retreat.

I miss a lot of my friends. Sometimes when you go to a new high school, you don’t trust the people you see ’cause you don’t know them very well. That’s the only issue that I have.

In my little country, high school is different. We cannot eat inside the classes, so we have to wait until lunchtime. And I can say that the teachers are very strict.  If we don’t do our homework, you get punishment, like they send you home sometimes for two days.  If you do something bad, then sometimes you won’t be able to take the exam, like they cancel your exam or they tell you you’re gonna fail the class.

And also the difference is like in some high schools in New York City, like where you first go [affects] your character. Like people are watching you, they try to mess around with you, but in my country they don’t do that. If you’re a new student, you’ll see new people come around you and try to talk to you, help you, not really scare you.

Copyright 2012 Y-Press