Bilingualism and Multilingualism at NLHS
Week Two Compulsory Blog Post: UIC Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language in Bilingual and Multilingual Contexts
October 19, 2022
Introduction:
New London, Connecticut is a diverse town. According to the town census, the largest racial demographic in New London is White. However, when looking at the actual racial breakdown of the school one can see that there are many more Hispanic/Latino students living in the town than are represented in the census. With immigration comes the introduction of more languages to a community and schools must learn how to adapt. In New London High School (NLHS) the largest racial demographic is Hispanic/Latino. This means that the primary language spoken at the school by students is Spanish. For this post I am going to focus on this specific group of students to reflect on bilingualism and multilingualism in the student body and among the education staff. As these are the people I work with directly every day giving a deeper insight into the dynamics of multilingualism at this school.
Census:
The first thing I want to discuss is the actual census in the country, this city, and racial breakdown of students, as well as educators at NLHS. The 2021 census of New London, Connecticut represented the racial demographics of New London as follows: 2.4% Asian, 15% Black/African American, 0.1% Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 33.4% Hispanic/Latino, 57.4%, 0.1% Native American, White, 16.4% other, and 8.5% two or more races. Compared to the exact breakdown of students at the high school: 1.2% Asian, 17.2% Black, 60.5% Hispanic/Latino, 0.7% Native or Indigenous, 0.1% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 10.7% two or more races/multiracial, and 9.7% White. To really see what this means we need to compare it to the racial demographic breakdown of the United States census 2021 which shows: American Indian and Alaska Native 1.3%, Asian 6.1%, Black or African American 13.6%, Hispanic/Latino 18.9%, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander0.3%, White 75.8%, two or more races 2.9%.
I made some pie charts to visually see the comparison between what is stated in the national census 2021, local census 2021, and the current numerical breakdown at the school among students and educators.
Bilingualism and Multilingualism in the school
NLHS definitely values linguistic diversity; there are three Bilingual Tutors, two bilingual secretaries, one bilingual security officer, one Bilingual History Teacher, one multilingual counselor, and one Bilingual Administrator. Not including the seven Foreign Language Teachers who are also multilingual. This staff speaks English, Spanish, French, Creole, Russian, Korean, and Japanese. This is great for a diverse school because there is a good linguistic role model for every student and students are exposed to people who come from similar and different walks of life than themselves.
I have found that my students who are native Portuguese speakers actually learn Spanish before they learn English. Regardless of the fact that they are in core classes in English and ESL classes and not taking Spanish classes. I believe they learn Spanish rather quickly because it is so closely similar to Portuguese and due to the social and academic need which in hand takes off some of the pressure of learning ESL. If a student is able to get by, make friends, and pass classes by learning Spanish, the need to learn ESL decreases.
Curriculum and class structure
In the interest of the large percentage of English Language Learner (ELL) students, there are several classes to help these students become accustomed to school in another country and language as well as some classes for them to shine. For instance: Sheltered classes, Bilingual classes, Spanish for native speakers, Latinos in Action, and resource classes. ELLs are placed into classes depending on their level of ESL.
Sheltered classes are core curriculum classes for ELLs. These classes incorporate language and content instruction. The goal of these classes is to provide the students with the same core curriculum material and help learn English. There is often a Bilingual Tutor/Interventionist in these classes with the teacher when the teachers are not bilingual. Their role is to help the students with the language in the course and comprehension of the material.
NLHS offers Spanish classes for native-Spanish speakers as well. These classes really depend on the level of input and output of the students in each class. As well as resource classes are to help the students keep up with the material in all of their classes and give them extra help with any class necessary. Latinos in Action is a course designed to empower the Hispanic/Latino students through community service, learning how to become a professional in their field, and social interactions within their own community and group of friends.
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