Maryville City Schools celebrates 'super power' of English learners

Maryville City Schools celebrates 'super power' of English learners

Story By: Amy Beth Miller

Published in the Maryville Daily Times on 9/1/22

No matter whether their first language was Spanish, Japanese, Ukrainian or something else, the students on stage at Coulter Grove Intermediate School and family members in the audience understood the significance of the celebration Tuesday, Aug. 30, marking the children’s success in learning English. 

Maryville City Schools celebrated 25 students from across the district who have proven they can read, write, speak and understand spoken English, which was not their first language. 

The English as a second language graduation is a bittersweet event. “I’m really sad that I’m graduating ESL, but I’m happy that I speak two languages now,” fourth-grader Angie Pol-DeLeon told the audience when it was time for her speech. She’s from Guatemala and also speaks Spanish. 

 
Although the ESL graduates will continue to receive support for two years, leaving the regular class is a separation from classmates and teachers they have counted on. Even when ESL students don’t speak the same language, they watch out for each other throughout the school day, making sure they don’t miss the bus and aren’t sitting alone in the cafeteria. “They are a community, regardless of language,” ESL teacher Betty Thomason explained after the ceremony. 

Nelson Ramirez Rojas explained in an interview that when he was in first grade and didn’t speak any English, it was classmate Noah Gomez-Hernandez who translated for him. By second grade Nelson understood a lot but still had to pass the writing test. Learning English, he said, was like a marathon. 

Multiple journeys 

The first student to speak on stage, second grader Miharu Sano from John Sevier Elementary, shared her memories of the ESL classes, thanked her teachers and ended with, “Thank you Mom and Dad for helping me with my homework,” an appreciation others shared too. 

Matthew Zavada, a Coulter Grove student, was born in Ukraine and arrived in Maryville when he was 8, in October 2020. While he had learned a bit of English in Ukraine, Matthew said, “I really started learning English in third grade at Sam Houston Elementary.” 

Some students have mastered English well enough to make jokes, including Nelson, just 10 years old and a student at Montgomery Ridge Intermediate School. He gave a nod to the popular “I Survived” books in writing his speech. 

“I survived the ice age, and it was cold. I survived the dinosaurs, and it was scary. I survived the end of the world. But the most surprising thing, I survived ESL,” Nelson said to laughter. For those wondering how he had survived so long since the age of the dinosaurs, he explained, “I am bilingual, which gives you the power of immortality.” 

Nelson also gave parents a “pro tip,” telling them, “Put your kids in ESL. It’s really fun, and it could help them a lot.” Then he concluded with a bow. 

Minase Taniguchi came from Japan just a year and a half ago, and the Maryville High School sophomore said he learned more than English in ESL class. “I learned about cultures and history of countries I had never known before, such as countries in Central America.” 

Another MHS student, Bethany Jimenez, explained that she was born in Maryville, moved to Mexico when she was 5, and returned at age 11. “I was not speaking any English,” she said, and after two years here she returned to Mexico for three years. After a year and a half in ESL, she said, “Thanks to my ESL teachers I am able to write, read and speak, not 100%, but enough to maintain a conversation.” 

No barrier 

The last student speaker, Gabby Monge, came to the United States from Honduras about four years ago. One of her favorite memories from ESL class was meeting students from other countries and comparing words they thought were the same, but they weren’t. 

Whenever people say they want to learn Spanish, Gabby said, she asks, “Which one?” 

“’Cause I’m telling you, the language they use in Mexico, you can only use it in Mexico. In Puerto Rico, you can only use it in Puerto Rico,” the high school student observed. 

“We’ve already learned two languages, guys,” Gabby said to her fellow graduates. “Don’t let a language be a barrier for your dreams, or anything that you do.”