Summary of Project Findings

The community in question for my project has been West New York, NJ. I was led by the following:

How does the English-Spanish language barrier affect student-teacher relationships, particularly with Spanish-speaking students who do not speak English as their first language? What are the implications for classroom learning?

As I've surveyed the city and the high school, many findings of interest have come about. First off, West New York is a vibrant, urban environment with an unequivocal hispanic flare. That's no shock; its population is about 80% hispanic. In walking just one block through the city, this fact becomes unmistakably apparent. Signs, restaurants and billboards all boast writing in Spanish (and sometimes leave out English altogether). I found it interesting that posted on one store window was a notice with versions in English and Spanish. The Spanish one was placed above the one written in English, signifying a greater need for customers to read the sign in Spanish. Examples of this were abundant throughout the city.

It's clear that Spanish is immensely important to the population of West New York. It's only natural that I found the school environment to be a reflection of the community. As I toured the building of Memorial High School, I heard just as much Spanish spoken as English. The students, the staff and the teachers all seemed to have at least a basic knowledge of Spanish, if they were not completely fluent.

While I interviewed Mariluz Garcia and Nila del Rio, both English as a Second Language (ESL) teachers, they effortlessly switched from speaking to me in English at one moment and speaking in Spanish to students and parents in another.

As both teachers came to the United States as immigrants from Cuba, they have an understanding of what some of the Memorial High students go through. Mariluz Garcia told me that many of her students come from poor Central American countries. Added to the fact that they have the pressures of school to think about, some have gone through hell to come to the U.S. Garcia told me that it's important to understand that many of her students have struggled through experiences many Americans couldn't even dream of. It's incredibly important to keep things like these in mind when teaching to these particular students.

So, what inherent qualities does a teacher need to possess in order to teach these types of students effectively? Kathy DeKranis, the English teacher I interviewed, said she doesn't know how to speak Spanish. But that doesn't stop her from trying her best when teaching her classes. While she sometimes has to threaten her students with extra work if they don't stop speaking in Spanish during class, she knows that these students can't help being who they are. Although DeKranis faces many difficulties with the language barrier in the classroom, she still loves her job and comes to accept the good with the bad.

In the case of urban communities similar to West New York, I'm learning that its a definite advantage if one knows how to speak Spanish. But this is not the end-all to becoming a successful teacher to students with limited English abilities. Above all, the ability to relate to your students is the most important factor.

Each teacher I spoke to knew where there students were coming from. The difficulties that stem from the language barrier - like poor standardized test scores and low school rankings - can definitely be discouraging to any teacher in this environment. However, my interviewees preached patience and, above all, a real understanding of one's students to facilitate classroom learning.

Online Class Assignment 4/13

1. Review the families in Unequal Childhoods, and see if you can create a chart that reflects the following demographic and cultural information.

See chart.


2. Turn to the NJRCL report and pay specific attention to the information provided about Essex County, and the concerns, challenges, and recommendations in the report. Review the six families in Unequal Childhoods, and make connections between the NJRCL report and the realities these families might face if they lived in Essex County, NJ.

Considering the annual self-sufficiency wage in Essex County, NJ is between $39,299 and $40,413, only four of the families described in Unequal Childhoods would be able to live comfortably: the Tallingers, the Williams, the Handlons and the Marshalls. The rest of the families described make significantly less than this amount and would face formidable economic constraints if they were to live in Essex County.

The Williams family could survive comfortably in certain suburban neighborhoods of Essex County. Likewise, the Marshalls and the Tallingers, who make about $100,000 annually, would fit in well with many suburban Essex communities. Although with the prices in some communities, even they could find money constraints to complain about.

Families like the Yanellis, who cannot afford health insurance of roughly $339 per month, would certainly be struggling daily to make ends meet. While the NJRCL factors in childcare in its calculations, families like the McAllisters or the Taylors would probably have to forego this expense altogether. For transportation, these families would be limited on where in Essex County they could live. The suburban communities, which tend to have the better school systems, lack adequate bussing and train systems. Most of their residents own cars. Because the cost of owning and maintaining a car is so expensive, families like these are really limited to living in city environments.

The cost of living inevitably goes up with more children, so families like the McAllisters with four or more children, would ultimately fall into poverty in Essex County.


3. Look at the two reports from the LSNJ on living in poverty. What further information can you glean from the reports regarding the struggles the poor families in Unequal Childhoods might face if they lived in NJ?

Health care, transportation, food and home maintenance are all daily issues that families like the Taylors, Brindles, McAllisters, Drivers and Yanellis struggle with on a daily basis. Although the federal poverty level is $17,600 per year, the self-sufficiency wage in Essex County is between $39,299 and $40,413.

The Taylors, who have only one source of income from the mother, would have an extremely difficult time making ends meet in any community of Essex County. Although both parents are working and bringing in money, would have to face significant cutbacks if they were to settle in Essex County. Food, while in ample supply in the community they live in, might become more expensive. Their three-story home may need to be swapped for another living arrangement that is only half as nice as the one they live in. Because they don’t have any vehicles, the Taylors would have to rely on public transportation and would almost certainly be limited to living in a city environment.

The Drivers, whose family income is about $40,000 annually, would also have to cut back on expenses. Although they are within the annual self-sufficiency wage for Essex County, they would still have to sacrifice many “luxuries” like extra-curricular activities and creature comforts to make ends meet. Although life family already faces economic constraints, they would face even greater difficulties if they chose to live in Essex County.



4. Finally, turn inward and think about who you are as a budding urban educator. In what ways is this information useful (or not) for you? In terms of better understanding a community? What do you need to learn, or what skills and dispositions (frames of mind) do you need to develop related to demographics and economics to be a successful urban educator?

As an urban educator the most important thing to keep in the back of my mind would be the realization that each and every student comes from a different background. It is difficult to really know the hardships that all students’ families may face on a day-to-day basis. Because of that fact, it’s impertinent that I maintain a certain degree of understanding and compassion for where my students may be coming from.

For example, teachers regularly deal with students who do not do their homework. Many times the student is just being lazy. Other times parents allow their children to skip doing their work. Yet in other circumstances, homework may be the least of some children’s concerns. Unstable parent relationships, a lack of a clean or safe home, and even the absence of food could all force schoolwork to the back burner. It’s important to truly understand why or why not a student is not achieving academically as they should. I’ll really have to get to the root of any classroom related issue and understand the reasons

Another important – and often forgotten – fact is that students, just like teachers, do have lives outside of school. Children have numerous after-school activities, family functions and religious obligations to attend to in addition to their schoolwork. Pressures from school officials, parents and community leaders ultimately fall on these students, sometimes making the goal of “success” a stressful and difficult one to reach. Teachers in an urban environment, as in any schooling environment, must be wary of these dynamics and take them into consideration with their own students.

Inquiry Project Introduction

As the Hispanic population of the United States continues to rise, issues regarding language differences and consequent conflicts are also becoming a major concern. As of July 1, 2006, the number of Hispanics living in the United States totaled 44.3 million, making up 14.8% of the entire population. It’s only reasonable to assume that as the demographics of many American communities are changing, so are the environments of their public schools. (United States Embassy, 2007)

This project focuses on the city of West New York, New Jersey, where 79.1% of its residents are Hispanic and another 79.3% speak a language other than English. As a hopeful future teacher, I aim to find how this staggering majority of Spanish-speaking individuals has affected the city’s public schools. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2006)

In gathering data for this project, I was guided by the following questions:

How does the English-Spanish language barrier affect student-teacher relationships, particularly with Spanish-speaking students who do not speak English as their first language? What are the implications for classroom learning?

A city like West New York, which is a Hispanic enclave, was an ideal environment to try to understand it’s lingering effects on the city’s schools. I hoped to discover more in-depth information about where exactly these students are coming from.

My research took me to West New York’s Memorial High School, where I was able to interview a student, Esther Rodriguez, and three teachers with more than 30 years experience at the school: Mariluz Garcia, an ESL teacher; Nila del Rio, an ESL teacher; and Kathy DeKranis, an English teacher. Through their stories and experiences I was able to gain a great deal of insight into teaching in a school where the majority of the student body speaks Spanish.

Through last year’s school report card narrative from the New Jersey Department of Education, Memorial High School principal Robert Sanchez addressed the school’s need to accommodate “the individual needs of our diverse, urban student population.” While recognizing the varied needs of the students, Sanchez also touched upon the “alternative programs for our at risk population [like the] English as a Second Language students, who have had limited formal education.”

As I gather more information about these programs, the students, their backgrounds and the teaching atmosphere, it will shed light into the type of work and effort needed of a teacher in this environment. Urban issues like poverty and crime inevitably come into play, but with the added stress of a language barrier, it will be interesting to find out what sort of strains are being placed on public school teachers.

This project aims to discover what is required of a teacher to successfully teach in this type of environment and ultimately ascertain the implications of the English-Spanish language barrier.