Dakota County / Teachers See ‘Hola’ Open Doors: Spanish for School Staff Catching on in Suburban Districts

By Bao Ong, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Feb. 21–A SIMPLE HELLO — in Spanish — can go a long way in today’s classroom.

Pat Beaubien, an art teacher at Kaposia Education Center, experienced it firsthand a few weeks ago when a new kindergartner enrolled at the South St. Paul school.

The boy would run around and poke students during class. Beaubien couldn’t tell the student to behave in his native language but she knew enough words to make him feel welcome.

Beaubien said her attempts to speak Spanish “melted a barrier between us.” The boy now follows directions more readily when told to sit down or listen. He also calls Beaubien his special teacher — in English.

As the Hispanic community continues to grow in Dakota County, school districts are realizing that equipping the staff — from district administrators and principals to teachers and secretaries — with Spanish language skills is essential to educating a rapidly changing student population.

“It’s a global world,” Beaubien said. “It’s to their advantage to learn English and our advantage to learn Spanish.”

Hispanics, currently about 14 percent of the U.S. population, are the driving force behind the country’s growth, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Hispanic students make up about 17 percent of the 3,200 students attending South St. Paul schools this year.

Last year the South St. Paul school district held two sessions of “Spanish for Educators.” Beaubien and other Kaposia staff members formed a group to work on their language skills after school this year.

Teachers and other staff members are increasingly aware that a language barrier sometimes causes misunderstandings and makes communicating with parents a challenge.

The Lakeville and the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan school districts, while predominantly white, have seen the student population grow more diverse in recent years. Those districts also are holding Spanish classes for employees to better serve Hispanic students and their families.

Harold Torrence, a Dakota County Technical College teacher who leads the occupational Spanish sessions for the two districts, focuses on conversational skills through quizzes, role-playing activities and workbooks.

“When they come to class, they realize how difficult it is for anyone to acquire another language,” said Torrence, a native of Venezuela. “They learn to appreciate that process and can gain an understanding.”

Almost one-quarter of the 510 students attending Cedar Park Elementary in Apple Valley speak Spanish, and reaching out to those students can be difficult with a language gap, principal Marge Gruenes said.

“Our job is to meet every student need,” Gruenes said. “And that includes learning their language.”

When Gruenes started as Cedar Park principal 17 years ago, there was little diversity in the student body. Today it is common to find non-native English speakers in many classrooms, Gruenes said. To keep up with that demographic change, the district gives priority to teacher applicants with Spanish or other language skills.

Anna Cosio, a school psychologist and liaison to Hispanic families at Cedar Park, said her fluent Spanish skills are called upon frequently.

Cosio said that sometimes a student’s difficulty with English is seen as disruptive or diagnosed as a learning disability. A staff member who can speak a student’s native language can more accurately assess such situations, Cosio said.

Even simple terms such as “muy bien” (“very well”) and “escucha” (“listen”) can help staff members better work with students, teachers said.

Beatriz Gaona, a cultural liaison at Kaposia and a native Spanish speaker, said language acquisition — even if it is only basic phrases — can help employees also better understand a student’s culture.

At Kaposia, where about 20 percent of roughly 700 students speak Spanish, teachers who say “hola,” or hello, can help build a better relationship with Hispanic families, Gaona said.

She added, “It’s a welcoming feeling when someone speaks your language.”

Bao Ong can be reached at bong@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5435.

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Copyright (c) 2007, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

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