High schoolers face a dizzying array of challenges every day. However, some students juggle another challenge that doesn’t cross other students’ minds: learning English.
Five students—Kevin Lizarazo, Nicolas Martinez-Codoba, Alexa Melendez Zuniga, Joffre Mendoza-Macias, and Alex Naranjo—were recognized with the Rising Scholar Award at the World Languages Honor Society Ceremony April 14.
The award celebrates students who maintain an A or B in English, as well as jump up a whole point in their composite score for ACCESS, an English-language proficiency test. Yet the students faced with this task, such as Lizazaro, don’t see language as a main issue.
“I don’t want to say just the language barrier because that is simple to say because after a long time, a few months and years, you get used to it,” said Lizarazo, a senior. Rather, he points to the “daily problems that just happen to any student.”
The English-language learning program at Oak Park and River Forest High School has about 80 students with languages ranging from Spanish to Mandarin to Ukrainian. Participation in the program is required until a certain composite score mandated by the state of Illinois is reached on the ACCESS test.
Certain subjects have classes aimed towards English-language learning (called multi-lingual learning), while others courses lack those classes, history teacher Jacqueline Torres said.
“We don’t have ML classes in every area that students are required to take these courses,” Torres said, “for example, driver’s education or math, even.”
In the multi-lingual learning classes, students aren’t separated by grade level, Torres said.
Yet despite these barriers, community building has been key.
“We had Spanish speakers, Mandarin speakers and Ukrainian speakers all sharing the same space,” Torres said. “I think that uniquely formed a really beautiful community among us, so we could take opportunities to ask each other questions, like what’s the weather like where you’re from, what holidays do you enjoy, how are they celebrated, what word would you use to say ‘cool.’”
Erik Renteria, an English-language learning teacher, emphasizes the role of community building and being able to share one’s culture in education.
“I think people get the misconception that I’m only teaching them English, English, English, English,” Renteria said. “Yes, but I’m also trying to show them confidence and being able to explain what their culture is.
“If I’m only going to teach English, in English only, these students are not going to feel appreciated,” Renteria continued. “They want to be able to share what their favorite dish is. They want to talk about their culture. They want to be able to share what they do over the weekend. Because that’s what we are as human beings. We want to create that social interaction, that social connection.”
Renteria focuses on the students being able to express themselves, rather than being able to pass the ACCESS test, which he says focuses on school-related activities.
“I’m not trying to only prepare them for school because they only have four years, sometimes two years here,” Renteria said. “English proficiency will be getting them ready to answer questions for interviews, getting them ready for outside of school because that’s the main goal is for them to be able to thrive here in the U.S.”
Renteria has had a visible impact on his students, including senior Melendez Zuniga.
“Thank you for Mr. R.,” Melendez Zuniga said. “If the school knows about us, it’s because of Mr. R.”
Renteria’s impact can also be seen on his students for their dreams for the future. Lizazaro, a senior, after graduation, said he is enrolling in the army to help pay for college to become an aerospace engineer.
