DE Assistant Features Editor

In broken English, Xiaoyu Zou repeats a story about a mountain that he read in class. Seven months ago, Zou, a first grader at Unity Point School, could not speak a word of English.

Zou, 6, came to Carbondale from mainland China so his parents could attend SIUC, but he also is receiving an education.

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Unity Point, 5234 S. U.S. Highway 51, is a public school for children from kindergarten to eight grade in Carbondale and surrounding communities. Of the 676 students enrolled at the school, 37 countries are represented.

Because of SIUC’s large international population, the school’s faculty, staff and curriculum have to service the needs of a huge multicultural child population, Mary Jo Diamond, curriculum director, said.

We are not a normal bilingual school, she said. We don’t just have English and Spanish. We have over 16 different languages represented here. We’re like a mini-United Nations.

The students not only have to adjust to new surroundings, they also must adapt to a different language to understand their class work.

Dorlores Koster, coordinator of transitional programs, said the success in educating the students comes from their rigorous language programs.

She said that when students first come to the school, they are taught basic survival English.

If they understand basic phrases like open your books’ or write your name,’ they can more or less follow along, she said. The students need a basic orientation in English before they can develop accurate reading and writing skills.

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Koster said teaching the children English becomes simpler with visual aides and computers.

We utilize our computers everyday to aid us visually, she said. The children can then see a picture, listen to the sound of the word and see the letters all at the same time.

Koster said an international student can pick up a firm understanding of English in about two years. She said once the children pick up the alphabet, they can usually learn basic vocabulary.

Once we feel they can function in a classroom, they do not need tutoring, she said. Most students are already educated in their own country. We try to keep their knowledge growing while expanding their English.

Koster said language assistants are available for students in the afternoon. They help translate homework assignments and test questions for the international children.

Even though there are only three language translators, the entire school community helps the children, Koster said.

Koster said older students are asked to assist in translating for some students, and children are assigned buddies in the classrooms.

Language adjustment is not the only concern, she said. Social adjustment is also important. They are assigned buddies who help them in class with any questions.

Jennifer Fields, a first-grade teacher at Unity Point, said her students watch out for the international students. She said she barely needs to assign buddies.

Kids already in the class will look out for them, she said. The kids help the international students pick out the right book, find the right pages and everything else. There is no fear of intimidation among the students.

Koster said many of the students are only in the school for a few years, so the instructors need to pay special attention to the children’s education.

What they remember here will make an impact in their future education, she said. We know we won’t be teaching these children for a long time, but they will be dealing with our culture for the rest of their lives.

Fields said international students in her class are not intimidated by their new surroundings, and they want to participate.

International families have a high value in education, she said. Their positive attitude is reflected right down into their children.