Newcomers Get a Handle on School

Nghi Tieu, an ethnic Chinese from Vietnam, speaks mainly Cantonese and a smidgen of English. But on Friday, the 16-year-old stood before a crowd of parents, peers and others and sang the opening lines of a Brazilian folk song--in Portuguese.

It was only fitting.

In an auditorium festooned with balloons, 220 students from a dozen countries--most of whom had arrived in the United States only a few months ago--celebrated the end of their first session at the Newcomer Center. The center, located at Crenshaw High School in Southwest Los Angeles, is a special Los Angeles Unified School District program to help newly arrived immigrants adjust to the U.S. education system.

The master of ceremonies was from El Salvador, the pianist from Nicaragua and the choir from Vietnam, China and Mexico, among other places. Some students performed humorous skits to show off their newly acquired English, such as one about eating in a restaurant and finding a fly in the soup. One group of Chinese students offered a stirring dance symbolizing the struggle for democracy in their homeland.

“A lot of these kids are from troubled countries,” teacher Guillermo Pasillas said, “yet they’re able to forget about that here. I see a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of respect for education. They’ve been great to work with.”

Open since July 3, the Newcomer Center is one of two special schools for immigrants to be opened this year by the school district. The Crenshaw High center, which started with a six-week summer session, will enroll up to 450 high school students in the fall for a yearlong program to help prepare them for regular high school classes.

Instruction will be delivered in the students’ native language for mathematics, language arts and U.S. history and culture. They also will receive intensive English instruction and physical education.

About 200 elementary pupils are expected at a second Newcomer Center opening next week on the site of the former Bellagio Road School in Bel-Air.

The schools were the brainchild of former Board of Education member Alan Gershman, who proposed the program two years ago because he believed that the district needed to do more to ensure the success of the thousands of immigrant students entering its schools.

“They were dropping out in huge numbers,” said Maria Olmos, who directs the Crenshaw center, “and we wanted to make sure that they would continue on in school.”

Most of the newcomer students live near downtown Los Angeles and have taken a district bus to Crenshaw each day, Olmos said. More than 80% of the students are natives of El Salvador, Mexico and Guatemala. But others are from Hong Kong, China, South Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand.

Although most of the students emigrated with their families, about 10 left their country without kin and are supporting themselves, according to school psychologist Brad Pilon.

Some, like 17-year-old Rosa Saucedo from Mexico, said they find the U.S. education system confusing and more difficult than schools back home. But others, such as Ambi Bangis, 15, from the Philippines and Bussarin Kiewkram, 15, from Thailand, said they find the classes much easier.

“I don’t have to study,” Ambi said.