Modesto school program tackles culture, family, life

Learning algebra in English, before you know English, takes determination.

Learning both while battling flashbacks of bombings, midnight raids and other horrors takes true grit.

Students at Modesto City Schools' Language Institute at Davis High call such moments "Iraqi head," said history teacher Lindsey Bird.

The institute serves the complex needs of more than 150 recent immigrants, this year representing 26 countries and 14 languages.

Bird helped develop the institute's intensive approach to teaching English. The close-knit staff members soon realized they also needed to help kids navigate the culture, involve families in the process and offer practical help such as banking know-how and driving rules.

Now, she says, the team has turned its nurturing eye to mental health needs.

"Some of the kids wear it on their sleeve. Other kids are succeeding, you don't see it," Bird said. But then the stories come out.

Many Iraq refugees came to the Modesto area, which is home to the largest U.S. population of Assyrians outside of Chicago, said Lori Wentz of World Relief Modesto. Her agency, one of two nonprofits helping with resettlement here, tallied 391 Iraqis arriving since January 2009, Wentz said.

Davis Principal Lynn Lysko said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is conducting a study of mental health needs of the institute's Iraqi students and their families as they adjust to to their new lives.

The CDC Web site notes that most refugees struggle to understand the U.S. educational, health care and legal systems. Because of past life-threatening experiences and the difficulties of a life in exile, "refugees may be at particularly high risk for psychiatric symptoms," the site says.

English teacher Amelia Herrera-Evans said many of her students exhibit signs of trauma.

"There was one student who couldn't get on a school bus. He'd seen a bus blow up and he physically could not get on," Herrera-Evans said.

Lysko said survivors from war zones and other conflicts attend the school. "They've been under fire, hiding. There are some very, very tragic stories," she said.

Institute students attend history and a two-period block of English classes within the institute, as well as help with fitting in and getting settled. Students mix into regular classes as soon as their grasp of English will allow, Lysko said.

It helps them acclimate, offers them courses they need, and makes them practice, practice, practice their English.

Many finish with a diploma in hand. About three-quarters of the students last year went on to Modesto Junior College, Bird said.

However, for those far behind and nearing 19 years old, teachers scramble to help students gain a foothold, said Lysko.

"The goal is to graduate. But when we get them late and know we can't get them there, the goal is language acquisition. We give them survival English," she said.

Herrera-Evans said the first step for very basic language focuses on learning letters and sounds. Once able to make out simple words, the teens put on headphones and tune in Rosetta Stone.

Lysko said using computer programs lets students from all over the map, literally, work at their pace. "We've found using computers has an accelerated effect. Kids take to computers," she said.

Teens also work in small groups with Herrera-Evans and other English teachers, reading tiny primer books and making their way through the reading levels.

In Bird's class, recent Iraq arrival Mirna Esho struggled to put together sentences. "My country's … not good," she said. Basketball comes far easier, she said with a laugh — "I am tall."

In the next row, Fatima Quiroz, 14, from Honduras, said her favorite class was algebra.

Now helps others

Junior Ronza Sampuor came to the Language Institute two years ago. This year, she helps out as a peer tutor. Ronza had only six years of schooling before fleeing Iraq with her family but hopes to take Modesto Junior College classes part-time her senior year.

"I used to be scared to go into classes with Americans. I thought they were going to laugh and stuff, but now I have more confidence," she said.

Some students arrive with little or no formal schooling; others come ready for advanced math and physics classes as soon as they can understand the assignments, teachers said.

But fitting in with other teens takes more than math skills and English sentences. Lysko said the first time that institute students went to a pep rally, they were horrified. "They didn't understand why all these people were screaming and jumping," she said. So a lesson on cheers was added to the curriculum.

Herrera-Evans said some students come from countries where teachers beat them, and that those teens tend to tune out teachers who don't. "We can't hit you, but you need to pay attention to us anyway" is a key lesson, she said.

Working with parents helps get students on track behaviorally, she added. "Parents are so important. We have a tremendous amount of parent contact," she said.

Davis also offers classes to parents through its adult school. Helping families adjust, Lysko said, offers another avenue to help these students — with all their intense, immediate needs — succeed.

Bee education reporter Nan Austin can be reached at naustin@modbee.com or (209) 578-2339.