A little bilingual help: CESL breaks language barriers

Adam F. Jarrold Arizona Daily Wildcat Mar-y-sol Sanabria, elementary bilingual education senior, helps seventh-graders Rafael Zauala and Maria Ruiz with a science project which shows how the orbits of Neptune and Pluto intersect, Tuesday at Townsend Middle School.

"They call our name and ask for help," says Valdez, an elementary bilingual education junior, who helps Spanish-speaking students at Townsend Middle School.

Today, Valdez is helping seventh-grade science teacher Nancy Webster's class perform an experiment on the orbit of planets. Students pencil orbits out of circles of string, but some of Webster's Spanish-speaking seventh-graders have difficulty understanding how the assignment works.

That's where Valdez comes in. He and about 20 other bilingual University of Arizona students have been translating for English-as-a-Second-Language students since August.

"This is a great opportunity for us to train as teachers," said Mar-y-sol Sanabria, an elementary bilingual education senior who, along with Valdez, helps out at Townsend Middle School on Tucson's northwest side.

Both are students of Sharon Brawner, a senior adjunct English Department professor, who organizes the 20-odd UA volunteers.

"I was beginning to think I was crazy until students began to thank me," she said.

ESL students began coming to Townsend Middle School in 1979 when desegregation laws went into effect, said Randall Smith, curriculum coordinator for the school.

Since then, the middle school has offered bilingual programs, but never had an official ESL program, he added.

"There is always the question, 'Is that the kind of program we want to set up?'" he said.

DeeDee Brigham, office manager at TMS, said there are 57 ESL students in Brawner's class. She said about 400 of 620 students are bussed in, about 205 of those from South Tucson.

The UA students work with whole classes, small groups within classes, or one-on-one with individual students.

"See what happens?" said Valdez as he helped a group of middle school students with their science experiment.

"ËQuÚeacute; pas÷?" Valdez said as he traced designs on a piece of cardboard paper. "You get a circle."

Beatriz Leyva, a bilingual education junior, said she spent her morning doing multiplication tables with a student who was good at math, but could not translate the concepts into English.

Another UA volunteer, history senior Dan Crews, spent part of the morning reading a story to Brawner's ESL class. He said the students did not understand all of the story, but were able to comprehend the moral.

Brawner made the middle-school work voluntary for her "Methods and Strategies for Teaching English in a Bilingual Education" class, which is required to obtain a UA teaching degree.

So far 20 out of her 25 students have participated in the program, including all her undergraduates.

Brawner said a volunteer student must spend 30 hours at the school, but said most have already worked more.

They talk about the children when they meet in their UA class, and say it helps them better understand teaching concepts.

Brawner added the students who do not participate are graduate students who already teach full time.

Comments from Townsend teachers and the students in her class have been almost all positive.

Teachers receive help in their classes, which are sometimes up to a third ESL students, who must receive individual attention and encouragement. UA students receive practical learning experiences, she said.

"Everyone benefits from this," Brawner said.

She added she would like to continue the program next semester, but would wait to hear what the UA volunteers think.

Crews said he supports the program's return, adding, "Kids think sometimes they can't do things. They need this encouragement."

Sanabria and Valdez agreed.

"It's exciting. We feel we are doing something," Valdez said.

Ramiro Andrade, a member of Webster's class, said he likes having the UA students in his class because they show him how to behave and do his work.

Deanna Montijo echoed his words with a nod, saying she learns more when Valdez and Sanabria, among others, help her.

"More and more students are more fluent in Spanish than English. The program was needed," Smith said.

"But it isn't just the language deficiency they have," he added. "They are not academically orientated. They need someone to encourage them."

"These kids need lots of role models," Smith said.