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.”
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