By Bonnie Washuk,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – On a recent warm morning, four of Tracy Gendron’s third-graders gathered at the back of her Montello Elementary School classroom.

As 20 other students independently read their chapter books, Gendron helped three girls and one boy with a kindergarten picture book.

Gendron pointed to a ladybug and asked: “What is it?”

“A ladybug,” Markabo and Isha volunteered. They are among the latest wave of Somalis arriving in Lewiston over the past year. Many of the children attend Montello, the city school that had the largest increase of students who speak little or no English.

Of the 900 students – Montello is the largest K-6 school in Maine – 170 are so-called English language learners, representing about 20 percent of the student population. In September, the number of ELL students was 105.

“We had a bunch arrive in October, a bunch in November, some in December, January,” said Principal W. Gus LeBlanc. Most are Somali, and include a few Bantu, a rural Somali tribe whose members speak little or no English.

Diversity is apparent. Dozens of little girls wear flowing layers and hijabs, the Muslim head covering. Boys wear typical American clothing.

Their arrival has been a challenge and a blessing, Montello educators say. Much of the extra work has fallen on classroom teachers.

For example, in Kim Guay’s sixth-grade class, seven of the 24 students are Somali. On a recent day, she sat with them while the rest of the class worked on research papers.

The ELL students’ lesson was less sophisticated. Using a picture book that featured lists of words, Guay instructed them to write their own books.

“At the beginning of the year, putting words together was what we were working on,” Guay said. “So putting a book that makes sense together is a big step.”

ELL students need and receive one to two hours a day of one-on-one English tutoring.

“But the student also needs to be integrated into the mainstream,” said the principal, LeBlanc. “They need the benefit of instruction going on in regular classrooms, even though it may be modified. How do you set your school up for that? How do you prepare classroom teachers to deal with that? That’s been the big challenge.”

Teachers say they first try to understand what the students know, then build on that. They show them the alphabet and numbers to see if there’s recognition. Some students arrive knowing how to read. Others have never been in a classroom.

“A lot of children we’re getting come from war zones,” LeBlanc said. “They haven’t had an education. When you’re in a war zone you’re avoiding conflict. There aren’t schools to go to every day. Some of our children in the fifth and sixth grades have never been to school.”

That means some ELL students in the third grade are at the kindergarten level. Some in the sixth are at the second-grade level.

Such students will be “socially promoted,” moved to the next grade even if they aren’t at that level. They have to be treated differently, LeBlanc said. Putting a child who is 12 in the second grade would be emotionally devastating.

At the high school, social promotion doesn’t happen, he said. “You either earn the credits or you don’t.”

In addition to learning English, those who have never been to school have to be taught how to act. They learn they have to get in line, raise their hands to talk or ask to go to the bathroom.

“You’re not only trying to get your kids caught up academically, you also have a big socialization,” LeBlanc said.

Some Montello teachers have volunteered to coach English. “They’ll take them out on the playground and say, This is a slide. Bobby is sliding down the slide.’ Or, This is chocolate milk,'” LeBlanc said. “They begin to engage the kids in the use of English language. It brings the child’s language skills along.”

Teachers smiled when asked how their Somali students are doing. They’re making great progress, Gendron said. They’re eager to learn. Teaching them in a regular classroom is “challenging, but it can be fun.”

All Montello students’

Montello students have accepted the newcomers and are helping them to learn, teachers say.

“When they first arrived, some kids said, My dad said I didn’t have to sit beside a Somali child in the cafeteria,'” LeBlanc said. “I said, You’re going to sit where we tell you to sit.’ I’d call the parents and say they’re entitled to their views at home, but now that they’re here, they’re all Montello students.”

Having so many who don’t know English is tough, LeBlanc said. The city is hiring additional teachers. LeBlanc has worried about Montello meeting its “adequately yearly progress,” test scores that show overall students are learning at appropriate levels. So far, Montello has met that expectation.

Most educators would not wish for so many students who need to learn English, LeBlanc acknowledged. But he’s glad they’re here.

“They have brought a culture we didn’t have exposure to before. They’ve have made us a better school.”

LeBlanc said he’s watched friendships between Somali and white students develop.

“The lesson for our children is: We’re all the same.”

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