LANSING, Mich. — Sixty-six languages are being spoken by families in the Lansing School District. These families represent 87 different countries and 1,746 out of the 2,041 bilingual students are English learners.
“I'm from Tanzania, but my parents are from Congo,” said Fatume Mukambilwa, an Eastern High School senior. “The first time I came to America it was a little hard for me because I didn’t know how to speak English.”
Mukambilwa pointed out that things like supermarkets might be totally normal for most people, but even those are completely different in Tanzania than they are in the U.S.
The language, however, is the most difficult barrier.
“When you really want to say something,” she said, “you have to think first and you have to be like, ‘If I say this, will it be correct? Will people be nice to me? Or if I say this, will it sound like a bad word to them?”
English as a Second Language (ESL) classes are designed to overcome initial insecurity. All three high schools in the Lansing School District have an ESL program. There are multiple teachers in the district who work specifically with English learners and teach classes such as math or social studies. In addition, the district offers 16 bilingual instructors who can build the bridge between teachers, students, and parents.
“We have translators, and we have what we call ‘cultural brokers,’” said Sergio Keck, the deputy superintendent for special populations of the Lansing School District.
Cultural brokers are members of the community who have a highly efficient language other than English. “They help us communicate with the families when we need to,” Keck said.
Claudia Cabrera Rodriguez, the Spanish family advocate of the Lansing School District, is from Cuba and came with her parents to the U.S. when she was two-years-old. At the time, the Lansing District did not offer today's extent of assistance and as soon as she was able to speak English, she needed to help her parents.
“Even at my young age, I had to translate paperwork and go to appointments and help my parents out with some of those things,”said Rodriguez. “It can get really complicated when you don't understand the language.”
She described the school system as extremely overwhelming for her family to understand and when the time came to apply for college, she felt overwhelmed and stressed. “I had a lot of trial and error. I had to learn the hard way in some areas, especially involving credit,” Rodriguez said. “But in that sense, I recognize that that was a big strain for bilingual students or students that have families from other countries. It's not only navigating the system for their parents but doing things on their own that the typical student would have family support for.”
Birungi Tibasaga, another Eastern High School senior and originally from Uganda, explained a similar experience with her parents. “When they get called, and they don't speak English, I have to talk and tell them what happened,” Tibasaga said.
She said sometimes people laughed at her when she spoke English, but she doesn’t mind because her English is getting better and better.
“We got to help them navigate, learn how to walk in the hallways, how to go have lunch, how to run from, literally from one classroom to another one, how to ask for help,” Keck said. “Our whole goal is to wrap around these families in a way that we can provide as much support as possible until they become more inclusive in our society.”
ESL classes are tailored to the level of proficiency. Keck said a student who is a newcomer and might not have any English skills receives a different kind of service than a student who has been in a Lansing school for two years. However, Keck said, research suggests that children catch up within two or three years.
This school year, the Lansing School District has already welcomed 378 PreK-12 students.
Sometimes, students from other countries worry where they belong. “As a kid growing up making friends, I didn't feel Cuban enough to relate to the Cuban people. I didn't feel American enough to fit into any group or racial group,” Rodriguez said. “So, that was a challenging thing for me, especially like in my middle school years, trying to figure out who I am. That identity piece of ‘who am I? Where do I fit in?' And just my peers not being able to 100% relate to me, no matter which direction I went.”
Rodriguez recognized that there were many families like hers. Seeing them struggle in similar ways inspired her to go into social work and specialize in international students and international populations. “We recognize that the family aspect can be a challenge for their education sometimes when they're needed in one place, and the school needs them in another place,” she said.
Rodriguez pointed out that the language barrier, along with being misunderstood and having an accent carries a lot of shame for many students. “There is a lot of discrimination and shame associated with speaking your home language. Sometimes in some environments,” she said.
Even though some parents might decide not to raise their children bilingually because of discrimination, Paola Sanchez from Peru insisted on raising their kids in English and Spanish. The library assistant at Capital Area District Libraries came to the U.S. with her two children.
“At home, we tried always to just speak in Spanish, so they won't lose it and they put up a fight. Not in the beginning, but when they were teenagers. They were like, ‘I can't, I won't talk.’” Now, that her son is older, she said, he is coming around and saying, “’I really appreciate you forcing me.’”
Capital Area District Libraries offers a variety of programs for bilingual families or people who would like to learn another language. First, they offer bilingual books and box, which comes with a little reader who reads out loud to you. Another option is learning another language with the program “Pronunciator.”
“There's over 164 languages,” said Marisela Garza, a youth services specialist at Capitol Area District Libraries. “You can use this program as detailed in a detailed way or just a really quick flashcard sort of way.”
Another service the library offers is Kanopy, a streaming service that offers foreign films and films in over 100 languages. All of these are free to people with a library card, which is free for people in CADL’s service area and $50 per year for people outside of the service area.
Garza said some branches offer English conversation and citizenship classes, which do not require a library card.
Dustin De Felice, the Director of the English Language Center at Michigan State University, said he is hoping for some changes. “We really need a more welcoming policy for not just immigrants in general, but for student populations, as well. We saw a lot of tightening of government restrictions over the last few years that have really impacted the numbers of students that arrive,” Felice said. When referring to political events over the last few years, he said, “We would also love to have more support and welcoming across the US. Currently we're not necessarily seeing a welcoming place for immigrants and students.”
Instead of feeling ashamed, the Lansing School District wants to celebrate the student’s ability to speak more than one language and to have a different cultural background.
With the Michigan Seal of Biliteracy, they embrace students’ bilingual abilities. The certificate can be put on their transcript to highlight their ability in college or job applications.
Want to see more local news? Visit the FOX47News Website.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox.
Select from these options: Neighborhood News, Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Daily Headlines, and Daily Forecasts.
