The Challenge of Being an ESOL Student
ESOL students, here featured in Mr. Euceda’s class, face many obstacles in school, but many become high achievers
March 9, 2018
Miami High is a very diverse school with students and teachers from all over Latin America and the world. ESOL students face many difficulties throughout the process of becoming a fluent English speaker from being left apart from the activities to being bullied by peers because of their accent or even failing academically due to the lack of understanding and help from the teachers.
“ESOL students get insufficient help and are harshly judged by society because they are from another country,” said 10th grade counselor Ms. Blanco. “Academically they are referred to as ‘either swim or sink’. Thus, some pass and some don’t.”
Not knowing the language can be very tough, not only for students, but the teachers also. “At times when I am in class and I don’t understand what the teachers are saying, it’s difficult for some of them to explain it to me. To get help the teacher would have to ask my peers to translate for me, but when there’s no one to translate, I often get no help,” said freshman Luis Ruiz.
According to ESOL administrator Ms. Couzo, “At Miami High, some of the difficulties ESOL students are faced with are the need to learn the campus, memorize their class schedules, learn their lunch time, memorize their classroom locations, make new friends, adapt to a new educational system, understand instructions in English, and learn the grading system, etc. Furthermore, ESOL students who come from the Middle East and the Orient must learn a new alphabet and adopt a new way of reading and writing, left to right, as opposed to right to left.”
District and state tests are challenging for everyone, but imagine not understanding the language they are given in. “The tests are complicated sometimes, mostly the ones where you have to figure out what some words mean’” said senior Walter Nolas.
ESOL students, however, are provided with a lot of help to learn English. “The Division of Bilingual Education and World Languages, which oversees ESOL programs in our district, provides schools and teachers with instructional resources, professional development, and with supplemental monies to provide tutoring specifically geared to help ESOL students achieve academic success,” said Ms. Couzo.
Walter Nolas points out that ESOL students are also given extra time and a simple dictionary during state exams.
ESOL students are also assigned a variety of online programs and apps such as Khan Academy and Star Fall to improve their language. “Due to the lack of comprehension I have in class, because I don’t fully understand English, the Khan Academy program helps me more with understanding the lesson,” said 10th grader Roger Cuaresmo.
“When I first got to the U.S. I didn’t understand a single word of English,” said sophomore Nathalia Burgos. “I was quickly assigned to do ‘STAR FALL’. Although it is a little kids website, it helped me learn the words and how to pronounce them. I recommend the program to those who are going through the same struggle I went through. It definitely helped me on my English tests and, most important, the ESOL test.”
