When English comes second

Edgar Lozanu, a senior at York Suburban Senior High School, has to juggle schoolwork with his job at the Outback Steakhouse. Because he leaves right from school to go to work, he doesn't have a lot of time to hang out with his friends.

This might sound like your typical over-stressed teenager, but Lozanu, 18, must learn English in addition to working a job and doing all of his schoolwork for his normal classes. Edgar and his family moved from El Salvador to the U.S. four years ago.

"It was really, really hard because when people started talking to me in English, I was lost. I didn't know what they were saying," Lozanu said about his first experiences in the U.S.

Lozanu is one of several English as a Second Language (ESL) or English Language Learners (ELL) students in York County. Many York County schools offer ESL or ELL programs, which are designed to teach students whose first language is not English.

According to Brenda Apple, an ELL teacher at Dallastown Area Middle School, there are five different levels for language proficiency, depending on a student's ability to speak, write and understand the language.

Despite the hard work on the part of the ESL or ELL teachers and students, there are always going to be areas that give students difficulty.

"The hardest thing to learn was the words that sound the same but they mean something different. I still have trouble with that," Lozanu said.

Thuy Nguyen, a senior at York Suburban who moved here from Vietnam three years ago, said the hardest part of learning English for her was learning the tenses and vocabulary.

Despite these obstacles, ESL students are willing to learn English. As Bernadette Schulte, an ESL teacher at Hanover High School and Middle School, points out, the students have to learn English to survive in school.

"The two biggest problems I find are a lack of understanding among native English speakers for what these students go through and a lack of funding by state and federal governments to help support the ESL program," Schulte said.

An ESL student's home life can also be an obstacle in learning English, especially if their parents do not speak English at home. Lozanu, who speaks only Spanish at home, believes his home life probably affected his learning English because he was not practicing the language.

"It is very difficult for students to learn English when it's not reinforced at home," Schulte said. "At school they are trying desperately to fit in and become more American while at home they are pulled back to their cultural heritage. They also have a lot more responsibility than their American peers. They often have to accompany their parents to doctor's appointments, meetings and interviews because their parents need them to translate."

In addition to facing many difficulties, ESL students have to adjust to a new country and handle the differences between their home country and the U.S.

"The biggest obstacle for me was the schools and the religions," said Mena Filib, a junior at York Suburban who came to the U.S. from Egypt.

For 18-year-old Nguyen, there were a lot of dissimilarities between the U.S. and Vietnam, especially in the schools.

"There are no student breaks or holiday breaks," Thuy said about school in Vietnam. "You go to school from 6:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and then have lunch from 11:30 to 1:30 where you can go home for lunch or take a nap. From 2 to 5 p.m., you go back to school. On Saturdays, you only go in the morning or afternoon."

Nguyen also found differences in clothing between the U.S. and Vietnam.

"In Vietnam, girls wore pants or skirts but no short skirts. Clothes are more modest in Vietnam and I had to wear a uniform to school."

Mena, 17, says one of the differences he discovered was the age that adults consider young people to be responsible.

"In my country, you can get a shop by 18. In the U.S., when you're 21, then you're responsible," he said.

Lozanu noticed the differences in food.

"The food in the cafeteria is nothing compared to my country," he said.

ESL students also have to deal with fitting in at a new school as well as adjusting to differences in culture.

"In general, the ESL students mix well with other students. Dallastown is very diverse and our school is very accepting," Apple said.

For many, other ESL students are their first friends.

"Initially, newer ESL students with lower levels of English will tend to stay with other ESL students because it is harder for them to mix in with the general population," said Sallie Spanswick, an ESL teacher at York Suburban. "But as they stay here longer and longer, they tend to go outside of ESL and have any kids as friends."

Mena found that it was easy to fit in with other kids at school while Lozanu had a little more difficulty.

"When I came here, it was kind of hard to talk to other kids because I didn't even know any English - I didn't even know how to say 'Hi,' " Lozanu said.

Nguyen says that when she first came to school she felt like she "stuck out."

Regardless of their reasons for coming to the U.S., ESL students adjust to living in a new and strange country. Although they may assimilate into the culture of the U.S., they will never forget the culture from their home country.

"If anything, I think living outside one's native culture makes one identify with that culture more intensely," said Judith A. Gorman, an ESL teacher at Dover Area School District.