Languages abound at Poland schools

By Denise Dick

A tutor is assigned to help the children learn English.

POLAND — At least eight languages flow fluently among the pupil population at Poland schools.

North Elementary and the middle school both started this year with pupils from other countries, some of whom don’t speak English at all or speak it very little.

North pupils Nancy and Justin Lin, 8, and 5, respectively, moved to Poland from China. Twins Elie and Joelle Abi Habib, both 10, are from Lebanon. Ramanpreet Singh, 8, is originally from India but attended school in New York City for a couple of years before moving to Poland this year.

“All of the kids have acclimated very well and are doing well socially,” said Michael Masucci, North principal.

Bobby and Christina Cole, 6 and 7, respectively, were adopted from Russia. Bobby is in kindergarten, and his sister is a first-grader.

Noah Lee, 9, a fourth-grader, has spent his entire school career at North. Noah is fluent in English as well as Korean, his father’s native tongue, and Japanese, his mother’s first language.

McKinley Elementary also saw an influx of pupils from around the globe this year, school district officials have said.

Those who need help with English are assigned a helper to instruct them in their new language.

Other Mahoning Valley schools, including Boardman and Youngstown, have had programs for limited-English-proficiency pupils for years, but it’s a relatively new offering in Poland.

Lori DeLisio has been working with Nancy, a third-grader, since she started in kindergarten.

“She knew very, very little English,” DeLisio said. “We started with the basics.”

DeLisio would show Nancy a picture of a letter of the alphabet or a color with the word written underneath.

Nancy, a whiz with numbers, is doing remarkably well, DeLisio said.

“I just practice,” said Nancy, who speaks Chinese at home.

Her little brother, Justin, just moved to Poland from China and started school.

“He doesn’t speak any English,” his sister said.

She’s helping him learn the new language.

Elie and Joelle are fluent in Arabic and French, and their family moved to Poland this year to be closer to other family members.

They say they’re learning the language and adjusting to a different culture.

Ramanpreet, a third-grader, said his family moved to the area from New York for business. He is fluent in both English and Punjabi.

When Ramanpreet and his family moved to New York from India about three years ago, he didn’t speak English and had some initial difficulty with the pronunciations.

You wouldn’t know that from talking to him. Masucci said Ramanpreet has become very popular among his classmates.

“He went around the first day of school, introducing himself to everyone,” the principal said.