By KEVIN YOUNG
GLASGOW — While learning a second language can be difficult, if needing to know that second language is essential for daily life in a new country, it can be downright overwhelming for some. Students learning English as a second language need to look no further than the services offered by Glasgow and Barren County schools and elsewhere. Programs for school-age children and adults alike allow for those seeking to learn a new language to feel the comforts and compassion of home while adapting to a new country.
Rosana Padgett, an instructor for the Barren County School District’s Adult Education program, teaches English as second language classes several days a week. She said she uses her bilingual skills to work slowly and thoroughly with her students.
“I think that’s important because then I can give them the information they need in Spanish first and that helps them understand. Then as they become more comfortable with the language I can relate longer explanations in English,” she said.
Padgett and her husband Mike, pastor at Glasgow Bible Church, spent some 11 years living in Costa Rica before coming to Glasgow. She said she didn’t know any Spanish, other than what she remembered from her own high school days, before moving to Central America. She said that the experience of living in a country where she initially did not know the language is much like those of countless immigrants coming to live in the English-only culture of south central Kentucky, and it helps her with her teaching today.
“I’ve been there and done that, so I think I have a little more patience with the students because I know how they feel and what they are going through,” she said.
The joy Padgett receives while helping Spanish speaking individuals learn their new language and adapt to a new culture is a feeling that is second to none, she said.
“I enjoy what I do and it’s not a bother to me. I would hate to get up in the morning and go to a job I didn’t enjoy and I don’t feel that way with this. I love what I do,” she said.
Local school districts have seen a steady increase in the number of Hispanic school-age students over the past several years. Glasgow Independent Schools released a report at a recent school board meeting detailing a 120 percent rise in the number of English as Second Language students since the 2004-2005 school year, from 24 to 53 students in 2009.
David Vance, librarian at Glasgow Middle School, attended the school district some 15 years ago and said he has seen a noticeable increase in the number of ESL students in Glasgow. Vance, who also teaches Spanish classes at the school, helps out Hispanic students and their families by attending and interpreting for some parent-teacher conferences if he is requested.
He said that he has noticed Spanish speaking students feel more at ease when they hear the native English speakers using Spanish in the hallways between classes.
“It can be really overwhelming for them, but I think the students feel much less out of place if they hear Spanish spoken in the hallway. I’ll be standing in the doorway while students are going to class and one of our English speaking students might say ‘hola’ or ‘como estas’ to me, so I think that really helps,” he said.
And he said the school’s library has added resources to make the students feel more included.
“We don’t have a lot, but we have seen Spanish speaking students increase, so it’s important for the school to keep up with that and have resources available for them,” he said. “Here in the library we are getting more books printed in Spanish. We have Harry Potter books in Spanish, and we have a few other books written by Spanish language authors.”
Vivian Hudson, the district’s head of special services, which includes ESL instruction, said it is important for the teachers as well as the families of students to be able to communicate just as easily as the native English speakers can, so the district tries to accommodate them whenever possible.
“Our district has really stepped up to the plate to help these students and families come into our community and our culture and succeed,” she said. “A lot of the parents are wanting their children to learn English so they can help out at home or at the store, and we know that.”
Glasgow Middle School students Carlos Torres and Kevin Baltazar, both aged 13, said they have learned the language quickly since each moved to the United States from Latin America, and the school helps make that transition possible. Each of them also participates in numerous extra-curricular activities such as soccer, and Torres acts in the school’s drama productions.
They each have a remarkable understanding of the English language, even after just three years of experience apiece with the new language. Torres’ family moved to Glasgow from Ecuador when he was 10 years old, and Baltazar’s family moved from Acapulco also when he was 10. They say they help out at home when their parents need to translate Spanish words into English, or the other way around.
“We came here when I was 10 years old, and probably by when I was 11 I knew how to speak English. I thought it would be harder but I was able to think of the word in Spanish then think of it in English,” Torres said.
Baltazar said his favorite class is Vance’s Spanish class, because he can feel most confident with his understanding of the language.
“It is fun to be able to speak and write it,” he said.
Laura Klein, Glasgow Schools ESL instructor, works with Torres and Baltazar along with the other new English learners in the school. She said she has noticed a specific order in the learning process for the students with whom she works.
“For students learning English, the order of comprehension is almost always listening, speaking, reading, writing. It’s very consistent,” she said.
She added that she sees a helpful tool in a child’s understanding of English in familiar television programs.
“A lot of the younger kids watch TV shows in English, shows like Dora or Diego for the younger ages, and then usually Spongebob or someone else for the older kids, and they pick up on those words,” she said.
With the increase of Hispanic students in area schools continuing, Vance said it is a positive educational experience, especially for native English speakers.
“The kids that grow up here are going to be exposed to so much more. The students are going to be exposed to a world out there and that will spark their curiosity about having contact with people from other countries.
“They are seeing just so much more of the world, and that’s a good thing. I think it’s great,” he said.
