Catholic Schools Week Supplement

Welcoming newcomers: Hispanic outreach program serves needs of families

St. Philip Neri School students pose for an informal class picture on their way to lunch on Jan. 10 at the Indianapolis East Deanery grade school. Campus minister Mary McCoy stands in the hallway behind them. This year, 93 percent of St. Philip Neri’s students are Hispanic. Five years ago, that figure was about 70 percent. English as a New Language programs and bilingual teachers are helping tino students and their families acclimate to a new language and culture. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Mary Ann Wyand

Educating Hispanic children also means helping their Spanish-speaking parents and other family members with English as a New Language (ENL) instruction.

Margarita Solis Deal, program coordinator of Hispanic outreach for the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Education, has created a series of bilingual classes to help Latino adults acclimate themselves to a new language and culture.

These evening classes held at Catholic schools with a large number of Hispanic students involve the parents in their children’s learning environment and help build community among Latino adults who are newcomers in the parish.

“They want to learn English,” Solis Deal said. “Although there are other [English language] courses available throughout the city, they feel much more comfortable coming to the school to get that resource.”

This family support is especially important for student performance. Many Spanish-speaking parents express concern about not being able to help their children with homework assignments.

Terri Rodriquez, the principal at St. Philip Neri School in Indianapolis, said the school’s ISTEP (Indiana Standard Testing for Educational Progress) test results last year indicated that students who did not achieve Level Four or Level Five in English proficiency on the Woodcock-Muñoz language scale also did not pass the ISTEP test.

Elizabeth Berkshire, the Catholic Charities Indianapolis social worker assigned to St. Philip Neri School, also works with Latino parents to help them understand the benefits of computers and dangers of the Internet as well as other cultural issues of concern to any parent with school-age children.

Solis Deal began her bilingual ministry five years ago at center city grade schools in Indianapolis—which are now called the Mother Theodore Catholic Academies—with initial program funding through Project EXCEED.

At the time, she coordinated English as a New Language instruction for Latino students in the schools.

Now that many archdiocesan schools with a significant number of Hispanic students have added an ENL teacher to their staff as well as bilingual teachers, Solis Deal has been able to network more with school staff members throughout the archdiocese as an administrative resource.

“That was the time in which we were getting more and more Hispanic families into the Catholic schools,” she explained, “so the archdiocese started this position to look at how we respond to the needs of the families. That essentially was my task.”

Five years ago, she said, St. Philip Neri School’s enrollment was about 25 percent Hispanic and St. Anthony School’s enrollment was about 17 percent Hispanic.

“Currently, those school enrollments have exploded in terms of the percentage of Hispanic families,” Solis Deal said. “St. Philip Neri School is now 93 percent Hispanic and St. Anthony School is now about 70 percent Hispanic.”

Recently, Solis Deal worked with staff members at Holy Name School in Beech Grove, St. Ambrose School in Seymour and St. Louis School in Batesville to help them with educational services for Hispanic students. She also talked with the principal at St. Lawrence School in Indianapolis about specific needs there.

Solis Deal presents a teacher orientation session titled “Welcoming the Latino Student into Your School: Things to Consider.”

“I will go out and do workshops and training sessions,” she said, “or work with the principals to see how they are getting their schools ready to support the Latino families.

“We’re finding that the size of religious education programs increases tremendously in terms of working with the Hispanic population,” Solis Deal said, “but many of the schools are still very limited [in resources]. The center city schools [in Indianapolis] receive financial support, but many schools in other areas [of the archdiocese] are challenged by the needs of Hispanic families.”

The former English as a Second Language program was renamed a few years ago, she said, to reflect the fact that many newcomers who immigrate to the U.S. already speak two or more languages.

“Someone from Guatemala speaks Spanish and may also know their Mayan dialect, their native language,” she said. “Now they are learning a third language here.”

It’s also important to recognize cultural differences among Latinos who are English language learners, Solis Deal said. “We have people moving here from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. All these different people bring their own cultural traditions, and we need to be cognizant of that. We also work with the teachers on cultural awareness.”

Last year, she developed six workshops for administrators and educators about teaching strategies for English language learners that also address cultural issues experienced by Latino families.

She said Hispanic parents who know very little English struggle with the language barrier when raising their bilingual children and that creates stress in the home. Many parents also are working two jobs and have very little time to participate in English classes.

“That’s a struggle that many [Latino] families face, especially when families come into the country with older students,” Solis Deal said. “Sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students come here and fit into their new culture quickly. They pick up the language and other new ways, and their parents don’t understand how they do that.”

Families who immigrate to the U.S. do so to seek better opportunities, she said. “They’re coming here to make a living and support their kids to give them a better life. They want to put food on the table.”

Because Latino cultures are very family-oriented, Solis Deal said, “when you accept an Hispanic student you also accept their family. It’s really important to connect with the parents so they feel included in their children’s education.” †