For the Spanish version of this article, click here/Lee aquí la traducción de Jackie
Denver Public Schools announced in February the district has welcomed over 3,200 new-to-country students from July 2023 to January 2024. Denver has received more new arrival students per capita than any other large non-border U.S. city as the mass exodus from Venezuela continues.
“It has really enriched our community and our kids in being able to connect with other kids who come from a different place and who’ve been through really intense experiences.” said Valdez Elementary School principal, Jessica Buckley. “It has been a real celebration.”
Since the beginning of the 2023 school year, DPS has welcomed 200-250 new-to-country students each week. The district has made an effort to hire more bilingual classroom aids by hosting job fairs each month since January to support the influx of new students. However, schools like Valdez Elementary already have systems in place to support English learners including a majority bilingual staff and student body.
“When [the new students] ask me to help, I always tell them what we are doing and if they have any questions, I’ll answer,” said Valdez Elementary fifth-grader, Victoria, who speaks Spanish at home, but more English at school. “They’ll ask me, ‘What is this word in Spanish?’ and I try to help them in how to pronounce it in English and what it is.”
DPS supports new students by enrolling them into schools with dual language programs, which offer instruction in two languages. Valdez Elementary is considered a hotspot, not only for its dual language instruction but also because it’s close to a city-run shelter where many migrant families are living.
“Our goal is that all kids leave our school bilingual and bi-literate in both Spanish and English. We try to start with 50% native Spanish speakers and 50% native English speakers,” Buckley said. “We are actually a great program for our new students since most of them are monolingual Spanish speakers and so we are really able to support them here because all of our teachers are bilingual and because we have Spanish in our program.”
As the students progress in grade levels, instruction is split 50-50 between Spanish and English. This can be a struggle for newcomers who predominantly speak Spanish, and teachers have to give a bit more support. Luckily, the bilingual students in their classes offer a helping hand and assist teachers and staff.
“I feel good when I help my classmates because I’m helping someone,” Victoria said.
Victor, also in the fifth-grade, shared that his peers help him as he navigates through the new school routines and culture of the U.S. As worlds collide at Valdez Elementary, Victor reflects on his former school and how it differs from schools in the U.S.
“Here, Kindergarten is in the same building and here there is a cafeteria room and over there [in Venezuela] we would eat outside,” Victor said. The student also shared that the Spanish spoken in the U.S. is different from the one from his home country. “They speak everything so fast.”
Buckley also noticed some cultural differences. She said the new students are more used to sitting in rows in their classrooms and working more independently. That clashes with the learning style at Valdez, where work is more collaborative and conversational with students working together to receive feedback.
“There’s definitely been a learning curve and that’s part of the process, right? We’re still a great school for them to be in as they learn these basic skills and we have all the Spanish-speaking pieces, so it’s great.”
Victor shared that he enjoys recess and plays soccer with his classmates. He attributes the friendships he has made to simply just talking.
“It’s great to see kids who’ve been here a while and who are second-language Spanish speakers. They’ve really had to step up and really had to use their own Spanish to be able to connect with kids and interact and talk and play,” Buckley said. “Before, English was the default language and it’s almost like all kids spoke English, but now you have kids who don’t truly know much English yet and so our other kids have to interact in Spanish so it’s fun to see. It’s a natural way for them to use their language.”