By Noah Saragoza
Valley Voices staff writer
It’s easy to imagine that anyone who comes to the United States from another county, without speaking English, would have a hard time.
For students, the problems can be intense.
The Hamilton County student population has an ethnic breakdown of 60 percent white, 33 percent black, 5 percent Hispanic, 1 percent Asian and 1 percent Pacific Islander, according to the Hamilton County Department of Education’s website.
Educators such as Karen Phillips, an English for Speakers of Other Languages teacher at Ooltewah High School, help students break through their language barriers.
That isn’t always an easy task, Phillips said.
“It is difficult for them to leave their home culture, family and friends, especially if the parents did not prepare them for the move,” she said. “They are not usually excited about learning English and can even fight against it for a time.”
Students who learn quickly, however, can serve as a great help to family members who have yet to learn English, Phillips said.
“Sometimes they are also the person in the family with the most English and have to translate for the other members of the family,” she said. “That gives them a greater incentive to learn quickly.”
Gustavo Vasquez, a 16-year-old junior at Ooltewah High School, moved to the United States from Peru in January 2004. Learning to speak English and using it as often as possible has been a tremendous help to him, he said.
“I have a lot of friends that are white, black and Hispanic,” he said, adding that his school’s student body includes students from Spain, Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala. “I get along with every person that’s from a different culture.”
Assimilating may present difficulties for speakers of foreign languages, but learning a new language and coming into a new environment can have a positive effect on many students, Phillips said.
“Many times immigrant students are quite popular and have even been voted class representatives,” she said. “They also sometimes outperform their English-speaking peers and rank in the top of their classes academically.”
Noah Saragoza is a student at Soddy-Daisy High School.