Teachers adjust to life in foreign land
Schools embrace educators hired from Mexico and Spain, helping the ease into a new culture


August 24, 2008Recommend (2)

By CATHERINE ANN VELASCO cvelasco@scn1.com
PLAINFIELD -- When Teacher Feliciatas Lopez arrived from Mexico three weeks ago, she just had two suitcases of clothing.

Now, she has an apartment, a car and essentials for a home. In an extreme makeover of sorts, Plainfield School District administrators have embraced their three teachers from Mexico, helping them set up their homes by donating furniture, cruising garage sales and car shopping, as well as getting them ready to teach the district's booming Hispanic population and other English language learners (ELL).


Plainfield School District hired three teachers from Mexico and Troy School District hired two teachers from Spain for up to three years as part of an agreement between those countries and the Illinois State Board of Education. The number of ELL students is on the rise and there is a shortage of people who can teach them. In one year, the state saw an increase of 26,000 ELL students. In 2006, there were 166,000 ELL students compared to 192,000 ELL students in 2007. The state board of education estimates that in the next three years, 1,226 bilingual teachers will be needed statewide.

Plainfield School District hired 23 new ELL teachers for this school year bringing up their total to 92 ELL teachers for their 2,300 ELL students.

Last year, Troy School District had 97 ELL students out of about 4,300 students. This year, the district has four ELL teachers.

State law requires school districts to create a transitional bilingual classroom when there are 20 or more students in one school who speak the same language. They are taught in their language while learning English as a second language so school districts like Plainfield and Troy had to leave the U.S. to find teachers for their students.

And, once the teachers got here, it was a learning experience for everyone. Nan Ochs, director of curriculum and instruction for Troy School District, had to explain what a tornado was as she hustled teacher Xell Martinez Vilajosana into the basement during a storm soon after her house guest arrived.

"She was like 'what is this, a tornado?'" Ochs said. "I was like, 'Xell come on. We have to go to the basement.' She was like, 'What is this, a tornado? What is this, a tornado?' I said just come with us. We grab the dog. We go downstairs and turn on the TV and she says, 'Do you have these often?'"

Dan Thorse, director of administration and personnel for Plainfield School District, showed the teachers how to use a dryer, dishwasher and other kitchen appliances.

"They don't have dryers in Mexico. It's not a typical household appliance. Showing them how to use the typical things we take for granted has been helpful for them," he said.

Shopping 101
Thorse, Oralia Guzman, district family liaison, and Hilda Rivera, director of ELL, helped their teachers through the red tape of getting their social security numbers, getting car insurance, finding an apartment, opening up a bank account and then shopping for items for their new homes.
On Aug. 16, they led the way through Naperville's Great American Yard Sale near Fox Valley Mall.

"We have to have them ready to start school without worries of 'I don't have a bed. I don't have this.' They need to be ready," Rivera said.

"I'm getting contact people to support them because it's not easy. It's stressful. I had that experience when I came to Albuquerque, N.M., from Guatemala. I came in 1989 and I know the culture shock," Rivera said. "First, it's the honeymoon. Everything is new and exciting. Then, comes the depression when you realize you have to spend money on insurance and this and that. It's a lot."

Plainfield School District has relied on its employees and community to donate items, such as a dining room table, a couch, kitchen appliances and other items. They have also donated money and gift cards.

But the teachers still needed items so they cruised the different tents looking for cribs, lamps, desks and chairs.

"Do you have any satin hangers?" asked Sheila Thorse, Dan Thorse's wife who helped the teachers get situated in their new community.

"What do you need satin hangers for?" Dan Thorse asked.

But Lopez agreed she needed the hangers, choosing ones with a lilac pattern as well as a white hamper and matching basket.

Dan ended up staying mum on shopping needs and instead hauled all the items to his van so he could drop them off to the teachers' homes.

Sheila Thorse offered advice on brand names and thickness of crib mattresses as she cruised the yard sale with the teachers.

"Rafael said you have to tell me if it is a good deal or not because I don't have a comparison," said Sheila Thorse, who is a social worker at a middle school in Wheaton.

Lopez, who teaches biology in Spanish and English to ELL students at Plainfield East High School, was impressed with the yard sale because people weren't throwing away their items.

"It is good to recycle," she said. "It's nice to see the American culture. ... I can see all the races that are here -- all the diversity."

Lopez said she received more help in Plainfield compared to San Jose, Calif., where she taught for three years. Plainfield schools will be her second job in the United States.

Her goal is to help ELL students pass their Prairie State Achievement Exams which includes the ACT.

"I'm excited to begin the school year," she said.

Math matters
Eduardo Nenez spent three years teaching at San Jose High School where more than 50 percent of the students were Hispanic. Last year, he taught in Tijuana, Mexico, and shared his experiences of the U.S. with his fellow teachers. He had to go back to Mexico for one year before participating in another 3-year program with either California, New Mexico, Utah or Illinois.
At the yard sale, Nenez found a computer desk that even his 15-month-old son, Eduardo Katz, enjoyed. On the side were bars that became a mini jungle gym for his son who climbed up and giggled. His wife Erika, who held their two-month-old son, Emiliano, looked at child-size chairs for her sons.

Nenez appreciates the help from district leaders who helped him find a home with a backyard for his two sons. He will teach algebra and geometry in Spanish at Plainfield South High School.

"I like calculus. It's my favorite subject. I would like to teach calculus some day, but most of the Hispanic people are at the levels of algebra and geometry," he said. "In California, students need to take two math courses, but in (Plainfield) they have to take three courses. That's great because they need to pass algebra II or even pre-calculus."

Teaching math in Spanish is a confidence builder to many Hispanic students, Nenez said.

"They say to me teacher, 'They think I'm a fool because I don't speak (English), but I understand all of this (math),'" he recalled. "I tell them, 'Don't worry about it. I'm here to teach in Spanish. You are great. Good work on improving your English skills, but you are good in math.'"

Sharing cultures
Rafael Ramirez left his wife, Dulce Maria, and their daughters, Dulce Samantha, 2, and Abril, 1, in Tlaxcala, Mexico, until he got situated in Plainfield. He relied on Sheila Thorse's advice on furnishing his new apartment.
"I had to leave all my things. The transition has been incredible," he said. "The people here are great. I think I have a family here."

Sheila Thorse agreed, saying Ramirez was now part of their family.

"Rafael brought information from Tlaxcala and gifted me with movies and maps. We talk about the two cultures -- their similarities and differences," she said, adding she has also brushed up on her Spanish.

Ramirez said many people think Mexico is a big Cancun, but it's not.

Ramirez has been a teacher for five years in Mexico, but this is his first time teaching in the U.S. He will teach social studies at Heritage Grove Middle School.

"The district is very worried about the children. They are getting resources and options to make students successful and we are only one option," he said.

The three teachers pretty much have everything they need now, which is good because school started Thursday.

"They can focus on the classroom and focus on students," Thorse said. "It has been a win-win for anyone who has helped them and for them as well."

From Spain
Troy's teachers, Martinez-Vilajosana and Oscar Alonso-Alvarez, both taught English to students in Spain and now will teach English to ELL students.
Alonso-Alvarez, of Barcelona, taught seventh and eighth grades at Rachel Carson Elementary School on the Southside of Chicago for three years to children mostly from Mexico. He will teach at Orenic Intermediate and Troy Middle schools.

"The message that I always try to give them every single day ... the most languages you know the more advantages you will have in the future," he said.

There were some differences between Spain and Mexico.

"We were talking about food. A student asked me if we ate tacos in Spain," he recalled. "I told him we don't eat tacos in Spain and he looked at me '"like what do you eat then?"

He remembers settling in three years ago.

"You are in a country you have never been in before. You are on your own," he said. "You have to do everything. You don't have anything at all. You don't have a place to live. You don't have things to cook."

Alonso-Alvarez wanted another opportunity to teach in the U.S..

"I feel like I'm at home," he said.

Martinez-Vilajosana, who arrived two weeks ago from Barcelona, stayed with Ochs. She found a housemate, who is a bilingual teacher at Bolingbrook High School. So while other teachers needed a lot of items, she was pretty much set.

She can drive for three months with her International driver's license and now is studying to get her Illinois license. She will teach at Heritage Trail and Craughwell schools. She studied for a year in Germany and speaks five languages.

"Knowing Xell is such a linguist. This will certainly assist in her ability to help students learn English because she is truly a linguist," Ochs said.

Martinez-Vilajosana is getting used to the culture.

"The food is different. There is a lot of fast food. You drive everywhere. You have to get used to it," she said. "It's just the first impressions. It will probably be normal in half a year."


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