School is where we spend most of our time. We sleep, eat, and sometimes do school work here at PAHS five days a week, from 7:30 am to 2:35 pm. Some would even say it’s a second home. Now, imagine walking into a new school, full of people you have never seen before. All the classes are different, and worse, no one speaks your language. For the ESL (English as a Second Language) students here at Phoenixville, they have to go through this and more every day.

Phoenixville may just be a small town school, but it houses students from around the world. Ms. Hindenach, Phoenixville’s ESL teacher for the past three years, is dedicated to helping these students succeed in school by teaching them English. After taking Latin and French in school, she understands their struggles to learn a new language. She teaches English to students in the high school and also at East Pikeland Elementary whose first language is Spanish, Gugarati, Kui, Russian, Korean, and Portuguese.

Learning a new language is always tough and Ms. Hindenach thinks that the hardest part for her students is that, “sometimes they are expected to be on level with their peers.” This is regardless of whether they speak English or not. Even if they don’t speak English, they are sometimes expected by their teachers to be able to do the same things as everyone else.

Another major obstacle that ESL students have to overcome is the differences between their old schools in Guatemala, Mexico, India, Africa, Russia, and here. For example, in India and Guatemala, the students don’t change classes like they do here. Instead, the teachers change classes. They also have to wear uniforms everyday to school. However, they have more freedom than we do because most schools get an hour off to go home during lunch or even just sit outside to eat because in some schools they don’t even have a cafeteria!

Another major difference between the schools is the school times. In Guatemala, they go to school from 7:30am to 12:30pm; however, their school year is longer. Also, they don’t have computers. So next time your computer is frozen, think about how much longer is would take to find the capital of Kazakhstan in a book.

Schools around the world are different from each other in many ways, which makes it hard for the students to come here and experience something completely different. One part of coming to a new school that is really hard is the different curriculums. Evon Dennis, from Africa, is a taking a different math class than what she used to take. She explained, “In 9th grade we took basic math and algebra in 10th grade.” All of the seniors in the ESL class agreed that Economics is the hardest class because they don’t have any of the background knowledge that we usually learn in middle school about the history of the United States. Instead, they learned about the history of their own country. However, Krista, from India, doesn’t mind math and science because it is the same, only easier here. Back in India, the classes were harder and, she said, “you have to pay for everything (books) at a good school.” Also, the teachers [in India] won’t stay after school to help, so you have to pay for a tutor.

Although we may not like all of the teachers here, they are all willing to help. However, you have to ask for help, which can be hard if you don’t understand what you’re asking about. But most people understand and do their best to help. Krista likes our school because, “people don’t make fun of you here, they correct and help you.” This makes it easier to make friends, but is still hard because of the language barrier and it is hard to overcome shyness.

High school is supposed to be one of the best parts of our lives, but learning a new language can make everything even harder. “I’d like to see everyone contribute to help these students achieve their goals and dreams” said Ms. Hindenach.

Posted by
Katherine Babinchak