Schools see more students with limited English skills

By Jennifer Hiller
Advertiser Education Writer

More than 100 years ago, Waipahu Elementary School opened to educate children of the mostly immigrant, plantation-worker families in the area.

Waipahu Elementary School teacher Heather Reynolds crowns Austin Aetonu, 7, for having a great day. Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser

In the past few years, the 1,100-student elementary school has seen a new rise in immigrant enrollment, with limited-English speakers surging from about 25 percent of the population in 2000 to 40 percent today. More than 400 students are enrolled in the English for Second Language Learners program at Waipahu Elementary.

It's a pattern that is reflected in many schools across the state.

The number of students with limited English skills has been on the rise in Hawai'i for more than a decade and has doubled since 1988.

That growth has meant major challenges for the public-school system in hiring ESLL teachers, bringing immigrant children up to grade-level standards with their English-speaking peers and in bridging a cultural gap with students. With a growing number of families from Pacific islands where school is not a requirement, some Hawai'i high schools are introducing immigrant teens to their first school experience.

And new pressure from the federal No Child Left Behind law also means that schools must push all students, including those with limited English skills, to meet higher academic standards.

"They all need to read and write," said Sharon Morisawa, curriculum design coach at Waipahu Elementary. "We can't say that because they're ESLL they can't learn. They all have to learn even if it takes a little longer."

Statewide during the 1988-89 school year, about 4.6 percent of the population, or 7,674 students, were enrolled in the English as a Second Language program.

By 2002 the number of English learners had grown to 8.7 percent of the population, or 15,981 students, according to the most recent Superintendent's Report, a compilation of statistical data from the public schools.

Thomas Gans, evaluation specialist with the DOE, said more than 30,000 of the state's 183,000 public-school children either are learning English or have recently graduated from ESLL programs.

One of the biggest trends has been a rise in the number of students from Micronesia, especially Chuuk. Compacts of Free Association for the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands have meant an influx of immigration from those areas.

A swelling population isn't the only factor that has made teaching ESLL a challenge in Hawai'i, though.

English as a Second Language teacher Juvy Cabanilla works with her fourth-graders at Lihikai Elementary School in Kahului, Maui. About 10 percent of the school's 1,120 students receive ESL services. Christie Wilson • The Honolulu Advertiser

More than 3.7 million public-school students in the United States are identified as limited English proficient, accounting for 7.9 percent of all students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. In California, one-fourth of all public-school students are in an ESLL program.

Market Data Retrieval, a group that keeps national education statistics, has counted about one ESLL teacher for every 100 students who require services.

Many immigrant students also have other special needs that can make learning more difficult, including learning or emotional disabilities or high-poverty backgrounds.

In Hawai'i, ESLL and other special-needs populations have been growing faster than the general student population.

Pohakea Elementary School in 'Ewa Beach has seen its number of ESLL students rise to about 80 of its 575 students, or 14 percent, at the same time its overall population has been stable. The influx has changed the cultural and academic landscape of the school.

"The more ESLL we have, the harder it is for us to meet (No Child Left Behind) requirements," said Principal Beverley Tasato. "The tests are difficult for them because of the language barrier."

Gwen Lee, principal at Kauluwela Elementary School where more than 60 percent of students are learning English, said the one or two years it takes most students to become proficient enough in English to exit the program isn't enough.

"They can pronounce all the words, but because the English language is so full of sayings and adages and code words, it takes them almost five years in this country before they are comfortable with all of the different peculiarities of the language," Lee said.

The transition to English is a difficult one for students, especially if they move to the United States in junior high or high school.

"You're never happy with what you've got," said Kim Nguyen, 20, a University of Hawai'i sophomore who tutors ESLL students at Farrington. Nguyen moved to Hawai'i from Vietnam as a high-school sophomore and spent two years in the Farrington ESLL program. Now she hopes to become a doctor, but still works on her English skills. "I still have the accent," she said. "I'm still not happy with where I am."

One of the students she works with, Thuy Thi Van, a sophomore who moved to Hawai'i from Vietnam, usually stays after school from 2 to 5 p.m. to work on her homework, practice reading the newspaper and other drills to improve her English. After one year in the ESLL program, Van is speaking and reading English well enough that her teachers marvel at her progress, but it hasn't been easy.

"I used to cry if I didn't understand," Van said. "I try my best. It's really hard for me." Despite that, she likes school. "I liked school in Vietnam," she said. "Here, too."

"I know how they feel," said Nguyen, who also cried after her first days at school. "You go into class and you just sit there without understanding. You're so used to the school back in your country. You can't make friends because you can't talk."

Rowena Napoles, 16, a sophomore from the Philippines, said she has had an easier time adapting. Because dozens of other students at Farrington speak Ilocano, Napoles has been able to find friends in her classes who can help out.

Van Hao, a senior at Farrington, said she was relieved to transfer there from another Honolulu district high school last year. Because no one spoke Vietnamese at her old school, homework would take hours as she looked up dozens of words in the Vietnamese-English dictionary. Now at least there are a few other students who speak Vietnamese and some tutors who can help her pick up English skills faster. "I still have to try my best," Hao said.

Waipahu High School Principal Patricia Pederson tries to hire part-time teachers who speak students' native language to help the 259 teenagers on her 2,303-student campus learning English. But they also help the school communicate with parents.

Principals say those types of services are growing more popular — and more necessary — as the state's immigrant population increases.

Kawananakoa Middle School developed a Parent Learning Center on its campus that is geared toward newly arrived families.

King Kamehameha Elementary on Maui plans to expand a popular program in which parents of ESLL students come in for computer lab once a week to learn English.

At Lana'i High & Elementary School, ESLL students are paired up with a "buddy" to help them find their way around campus.

The school usually has 65 to 70 students, mostly Filipino, who are learning English. "For students who have gone to school in urban settings, English is the language of instruction," said Principal Pierce Myers. "For others from rural areas, the schooling is real sporadic. They may be well into their teens" before receiving formal English-language education.

The rising ESLL population has been felt unevenly across the state. While East Honolulu, the North Shore and Kaua'i have fewer students requiring English as a Second Language classes, principals say, other areas have seen rapid growth.

Jefferson Elementary School teacher Dorothy "Dotty" Nitta said of the 500 students at the Waikiki school, more than 100 are in the ESLL program. Korean and Japanese students make up the majority, but there are 27 different dialects and languages on campus.

"Some come very proficient in their own language," Nitta said. "They have good school systems in Korea and Japan and can already read and write. They understand concepts of language. Learning a new vocabulary then can be quite easy. Some are from rural areas that don't have schools and they come with nothing."

And not all parts of the state are seeing the same kind of ESLL population.

In West Maui's tourism-dependent economy, Spanish-speaking immigrants are the largest and most rapidly increasing ESLL population.

At King Kamehameha Elementary School in Lahaina, Principal Lindsay Ball said 20 percent of his 640 students are in the ESLL program, with Spanish-speaking students approaching the numbers of Ilocano and Tongan speakers.

"We have seen a nice growth in our ESLL population, enough that we got another half-time ESLL teacher this year," Ball said. "It's definitely a trend that's going to be here for awhile."

Despite the strain on schools to quickly change or expand programs when new immigrant groups arrive, principals say the benefits of having a diverse population and bilingual students outweigh the challenges.

"We're in a transition right now," Waipahu Elementary Principal Keith Hayashi said. "But we think it's a positive thing."

Staff writers James Gonser, Suzanne Roig, Catherine E. Toth, Eloise Aguiar, Christie Wilson and Jan TenBruggencate contributed to this story. Reach Jennifer Hiller at jhiller@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8084.