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Conquering a language barrier
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
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Natalia Novicky, 8, practices use of present tense verbs as part of weekly tutoring. The third-grader is orginally from Ukraine and still learning English at Watson Elementary School.
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Patte Ulery, left, reads over a fable with Wendy Liu, a sixth-grader at Austintown Middle School. Wendy will be exiting the English tutoring program this year. She grew up in China.
By Kristine Gill
AUSTINTOWN
Natalia Novicky doesn’t remember much Ukranian, but she still has her accent.
“I know how to say ‘hi,’” she said. “I forgot how to say ‘goodbye.’”
The 8-year-old Watson Elementary School student was adopted from Ukraine when she was 3 and is now in third grade.
“I’m here to learn how to read and speak better,” she said.
Natalia is one of 47 students in the Austintown school district learning English as their second language. Forty-one of those students receive weekly tutoring, and many come to the district without knowing any English.
“They’re afraid. They’re terrified,” said their tutor, Patte Ulery, “Some of them shut down, and they don’t talk — especially to teachers.”
But eventually, they learn.
Last week, Natalia zipped through a Christmas-themed picture book pronouncing each word correctly and laughing as Santa rifled through ridiculous options to replace his missing red suit.
“Oh my God,” she said, pointing to Santa in a cowboy ensemble.
“Yes, I love to read,” Natalia said. “That’s one of my favorite things.”
Ulery said it can take years of tutoring before a student tests proficient in English and can exit the program. For Natalia, whose parents speak English, it’s been much easier.
“Some students can speak orally, and you don’t think there’s a problem,” Ulery said. “But they don’t have the vocabulary bank. They can read and not comprehend.”
Some students can speak a language fluently but struggle to read and write it. It takes an average of five to seven years before a student excels in all areas.
Wendy Liu, a sixth- grader at Austintown Middle School, was born in the United States, but grew up in China and was 5 years old when she moved to Austintown permanently.
“I was at preschool and during show-and-tell, I accidentally said a word in Chinese,” Wendy remembers.
She can still speak Chinese and said her father encourages her to maintain that fluency and to pick up more languages.
“My parents told me if you speak every language you can be really successful,” she said.
Wendy’s parents don’t speak English, but her older sister and younger brother do. That’s helped during her years of tutoring.
Ulery sees each of the 41 students once a week and said it’s been rewarding to watch them slowly learn the language and become more comfortable among peers. Often, students of the same native language learn together.
“You try to get a student a buddy, and then there’s a comfort level all of the sudden,” she said.
Wendy likely will test proficient this year and exit the program, and Ulery has been giving her more tricky assignments in the final stretch. Last week, they went over a list of common idioms and read a few fables.
“She challenges us with things even adults don’t know,” Wendy said.
But Wendy is up to the challenge.
“She’s so bright,” Ulery said. “She excels in that.”