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About Hermiston herald. (Hermiston, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 26, 2018)
A16 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM “You need to affirm the students’ culture and lan- guage,” Fitterer said. “I’ve tried to learn a few words of whatever language the kids I’ve had at that time speak,” she said. She recalled a student many years ago —he was hardworking and learned quickly, but one day he broke down in class. “One day he came in at recess, just put his head down, and cried,” she said. “He said, ‘in (my home country), my teachers loved me. I knew every- thing. Here, they think I’m stupid.’” She said she makes sure to tell students that it’s not a matter of lacking knowl- edge, but developing the language to communi- cate what they may already know. That comes into play when teaching students math and science — espe- cially with a range of third- to eighth-graders in the same class. “To account for grade lev- els, we are teaching the lan- guage of math across grade levels,” said Muldowney. “So students can access the content they’ll see in sixth, seventh grades.” InterMountain Educa- tion Service District also has several programs for migrant students, including summer school, tutoring, migrant preschool, college assistance and school-to- home support. They provide these services in Boardman, Hermiston, Irrigon, Mil- ton-Freewater and Umatilla. As students finished up their lessons and lined up for lunch, one continued to recite the numbers she had just learned. “How do you say ‘one million?’” she asked in Spanish. Muldowney said she’s happy with the progress she’s seen as a result of the more specialized class. “I think a solid year of language across curricula will help them this year and beyond,” she said. CLASS continued from Page A1 little to no experience with the language. Though the district had a Newcomers program about 10 years ago, it rebooted a more comprehensive pro- gram this year to accommo- date the growing number of students coming from out- side the U.S. The Hermiston School District has seen an influx of students who speak indige- nous languages in the past few years, according to dis- trict staff that teach in the Newcomers program. Some of the most common lan- guages those students speak at home are Mayan lan- guages such as Mam, Q’an- job’al and K’iche’, which are all spoken primarily in Guatemala. The languages are all distinct from Spanish and from each other. According to data from the district office, there are currently 21 third through eighth grade students in the Newcomers program, and 22 at the high school. Those students spend part of their day learning vocab- ulary for math and science, as well as English grammar. Colleen Muldowney, who teaches the younger students in the program, said the goal is to have them spend about one year in the program before moving into a mainstream classroom. Fitterer said while many of the students speak an indigenous language at home, most also speak some Spanish. “For probably about half of my kids, English will be their third language,” she said. Fitterer said she has seen an uptick in indige- nous speakers in the past four or five years. Accord- ing to Jonathan Shaklee, an immigration lawyer in Ken- newick, the reason for the influx of families coming from Guatemala — as well as El Salvador and Hondu- WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2018 FROM A1 STAFF PHOTO BY E.J. HARRIS Instructor Colleen Muldowney works on comprehension with students, clockwise from center, Pamela Ambriz Ponce, Senisse Diaz Loza, Edgar Diaz Loza and Cristopher Monales Trejo on Monday in the Hermiston School District’s Newcomers Program at Highland Hills Elementary School. ras, known as “the North- ern Triangle” — are differ- ent than those coming from Mexico. Generally speak- ing, he said, they are not fleeing just poverty. “I can’t point to the spe- cifics of (Hermiston),” he said. “But most kids (from the Northern Triangle) are fleeing real horrific violence in their home countries. There are really high homi- cide rates, gangs and trans- national crime organizations — and those countries are not able to protect women and children.” Fitterer said the big- gest factor in student suc- cess with English is if they have attended school in their home country. “The concept of reading, forming sentences — all of that transfers to the second or third language easily and quickly,” she said. Fitterer said there are no district employees who speak indigenous languages. Most interpreters or transla- tors communicate with fam- ilies in Spanish. Cathy Keeney and Ale- jandra Maldonado are home liaisons for the Hermiston School District. They said there may be one parent in a family who doesn’t speak any English or Spanish, but they are usually able to communicate with another family member, or get someone who can translate from Spanish to the family’s native language. Home liaisons serve as interpreters for school events, make phone calls on behalf of teachers for disci- pline or attendance issues, and help parents understand the paperwork that comes home from school. While both Fitterer and Muldowney are fluent in Spanish, and interact with students in both languages, all their instruction is in English. They rely heavily on pic- tures and physical learning, as well as drawing connec- tions to cognates, or words that are similar in both languages. Fitterer has been a bilin- gual teacher in the district since 1993, and said it’s important to acknowledge the schooling that kids have already had prior to coming to the U.S. MARKET continued from Page A1 developer Mitch Myers had originally hoped to hold this year’s market after the city approached him about taking the event over. At the beginning of the summer Myers announced he would have to can- cel the market after a dis- pute with the city’s build- ing department held up permits for the site and a stop-work order was issued. But after the city offered to hold the market on its new festival street instead, Myers changed his mind and said he could make it work on a property he owned across the street using a temporary canopy. The building permit has since been issued, and work has begun again on the pavilion, which is expected to be complete in time for next year’s mar- ket. Brown said they may be able to talk to the city about blocking off a road or doing something else to create more room for the market. In the meantime, this year’s market drew more vendors than years past, and bigger crowds. Offerings last Thursday included fruits, vegeta- bles, honey, fresh bread, salads, meat, cheese, jew- elry, soaps, rugs, fresh flowers and other locally sourced items. Jonathan Tallman was manning a booth for his parents’ small family farm, selling eggs, watermelon and a variety of vegeta- bles. He said they hadn’t participated in the old Hermiston farmers market but there was more incen- tive with the larger crowds and the fact that there was no fee for vendors. “It didn’t cost any- thing,” he said. “That was the number one factor.” Kevin Engelhart, who was selling produce from his garden, said this was also his first year partici- pating in a farmers market. He and a buddy from high school have a “giant gar- den” on about half an acre of land. Usually Engelhart just gives away the results to family and friends, but this year he planted extra. “I needed a place to market stuff,” he said, touting the opportunity to buy local, organic, vine-ripened, hand-picked produce. Teenager Katie Brink was selling soaps under the business name Mercy Bee Soaps. She said she started making and sell- ing scented soap to raise money for a church camp. Early in the summer, when there were still a few spaces left, she and a friend saw the market and decided to stop. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is a perfect way to get my stuff out there,’” she said. Her mom, Stacey Brink, said she felt that placing live music, tables and places to buy din- ner outside of the canopy helped draw people in. “People can sit and eat and enjoy the evening,” she said. Tamara Warrington said she was a big fan of farm- ers markets and goes to others, including Echo’s. “I would rather go to one of these than go to the grocery store for fresh vegetables,” she said. She said she missed the trees and grass of when it was at McKenzie Park and had preferred having the market on a Saturday, but she did like the large range of vendors that the Max- well Market had drawn in. Mallory Bark, buying nectarines at the market with her young children, said the kids loved pick- ing out produce and sitting and listening to the music. “I think our commu- nity needed this,” she said. “I’m glad it got worked out to do it.” 5 , 000 OFF $ ALL NEW 2018 TUNDRA’S IN STOCK! Applies to New 2018 Tundra models in stock. $5,000 off MSRP includes Toyota Customer cash and is exclusive of other offers. On approved credit. Plus tax, title and $75 doc fee. See store for details. Offer expires 10/1/18. NEW 2018 RAV4 ’S 2 , 500 $ CUSTOMER CASH 0 OR % UP TO 60 MONTHS On approved credit. NEW 2018 HIGHLANDERS IN STOCK 4 , 000 $ OFF WITH STANDARD SAFETY SENSE! New 2018 Toyota Rav4’s In stock. 0% offer not vaild with any other offer. $2,500 customer cash provided by Toyota Financial Services. On approved credit. Plus tax, title and $75 doc fee. No security deposit required. See store for details. Offer expires 10/1/18. 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