Struggling With Language Barriers : ...

Paul Rooney looks over his English-as-a-second-language students and sees a mini-United Nations every day: 25 teen-agers from 10 different countries gathered in a circle.

Rooney’s third-period students at University City High make up the most nationally diverse ESL class at any San Diego County high school, a mix of recent immigrants and temporary U.S. residents.

Many of their parents carry out research at nearby UC San Diego or pursue international business ventures in the adjacent Golden Triangle area--and all of them are attracted to the strong academic reputation of the area’s high school.

Because of their parents’ high expectations, the students are eager to learn as much English as possible, as quickly as possible, to get out of ESL and into University High’s regular academic program.

“My parents want me to get as much immersion as possible in English,” said junior Christina Arroyo, whose family is here from Monterrey, Mexico, for six months while her mother pursues research at UCSD.

There are the more animated students in the class, like Gustavo (Guto) Andrade of Brazil and Phetsamon Ratsachak of Laos, who banter back and forth with teacher Rooney, trying to pick up as many of Rooney’s inflections and colloquialisms as possible.

And there are more reflective students like Ghasson (Jason) Sawath from Syria, who says that English is difficult, but who impressed Rooney with an introspective essay--in English--on looking out of a bus window at his childhood friends one last time as he left Syria to come to America.

In addition to Mexico, Syria and Brazil, there are students from China, Israel, Japan, Poland, Laos, Austria and Korea.

“Sometimes the students want to be so much a part of regular school that they show enough survival skills (in English) to exit ESL” even though they still have difficulty mastering academic English, especially in writing, Rooney said. Students can leave ESL classes by scoring well on standardized language exams.

He finds little difference in motivation between students who are temporary residents and permanent immigrants. “Both (groups) put a lot of pressure on themselves as well as having a lot of parent pressure,” Rooney said. “You don’t find that as often with students who are comfortable staying in ESL.”

For those reasons, despite having 10 different nationalities, Rooney says he teaches the class no differently in terms of language technique than if the students were all from the same country. In some ways, Rooney is at an advantage because the students must speak English to one another in order to be understood--in contrast to a class with students from only one or two countries who could easily switch to their native language.

“You try to give them as much English as possible, talking to them all the time, using body English when necessary,” he said. “The key is not always saying it more often or saying it louder, but to use a gesture, or an activity, that sometimes will go with a word and key the recognition for them.”

Because of the international composition, however, Rooney uses examples from all the various cultures to make his points, in contrast with a more typical ESL class where he would emphasize American culture and the predominant native culture of the students.

“It’s more of a variety,” Rooney said. For example, he brings in music from different countries once a week to play in the background while the students practice speaking in a “read-around,” where each reads aloud from an assigned novel or poem.

The students are currently reading “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry,” a book by Mildred D. Taylor about growing up as a black girl in pre-World War II Mississippi. Rooney asks the students to compare racism and discrimination in the American South to examples in their own countries as a way to think about the United States in a more complex way.

As much as possible, Rooney also uses teaching methods similar to those in regular school classes, such as cooperative learning groups where students work in teams to solve problems and discuss issues.

“This class is very different from other ESL ones,” Khachiratch Vorabouth from Laos said. “In other classes, we had so many work sheets, but here, we read out loud, we have to write to each other, do a lot of things” that are more academic.

School Principal Mary McNaughton praises Rooney’s teaching style, calling him “one of (our) prize teachers.”

Students must keep a journal and once a month select a book to talk about to five or six classmates. “You can read a book about your own country in English or read a book about America by someone from your own country,” Rooney said, adding that one of the best books ever written about the United States was by 19th-Century French historian Alexis de Tocqueville.

“Tell us what you learned from the book--or what you didn’t learn from the book,” he tells students, eliciting laughter from several who pick up on Rooney’s little word play.

Although many of the students’ home countries do not happily coexist--Syria and Israel among the most obvious examples--Rooney has found little tension within the class. Indeed, last week Sawath from Syria and a student from Israel had lunch together.

“Last year we had students from Kuwait and from Iraq and, while we might think there would be problems, the students take a whole different angle and talk about the need to get along with people, about the need for peace,” Rooney said.

“One of the students from Israel lived in Haifa, which was being bombed, but there was no antagonism within the class.”

Outside class, Rooney watches the students week by week, gradually merging into the general school climate, slowly straying from their tight group of ESL friends, with whom they initially share a common bond.

“Those in athletics tend to make friends more quickly,” he said. “I’m sure it’s not always easy.”