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Friday, October 25, 2013

NYC Educator: Someone Loves Us

NYC Educator: Someone Loves Us:

Last night we had parent-teacher conferences. I always like to meet parents face to face, even if I don't speak their languages. As an ESL teacher, I spend half my time frantically searching for translators. I can speak Spanish, but that's about it. Our school hires them, but some are in great demand and I drag students or anyone I can find to help.

Yesterday I was pretty lucky. One of my new students speaks a language I don't, but her mom spoke perfect English. She told me she was born here, but moved to another country.  Her daughter grew up there, but last year they moved back here.

She enrolled her daughter in a religious school run by people from her national background. But she claimed her daughter spent a whole year there and learned nothing. I found that hard to believe. I asked how that could be. Apparently, almost all the people in that school were American-born. The teachers said, "Oh, she doesn't speak English," and pretty much dumped her in a corner by herself.

The girl was miserable. She cried every night, and begged Mom to take