Kids interview new immigrants

What a great idea! These third and fourth graders are interviewing immigrants, learning what they did to get here and to understand their lives. This is a rare chance for them to ask and get answers to their questions. DP

By CORI URBAN

masslive.com: GREENFIELD - "I got here by the airplane," Soeun Vomg, a Buddhist monk from Cambodia, told two Greenfield Center School students who were interviewing him as part of their study of immigration.

Elijah R. Mishkind, 9, a fourth-grader at the school, and 9-year-old Sasha A. Richard, a third-grader, asked Vomg a dozen questions their 20-member class prepared for eight visitors from the English for Speakers of Other Languages program at the Center for New Americans here recently. They wanted to know why their visitors emigrated to the United States, how they got here, what life was like in their native countries and what languages they speak.

The new Americans' class include people who hail from Kosovo, Moldova, China, Guatemala, Cambodia, Tibet and the Dominican Republic. As they learn English, they appreciate opportunities to practice their new language.

"I am very happy (to visit Greenfield Center School) because I want to know about the English language," said Vomg who now lives in Leverett. "I stay here. I must know English language."

Polina I. Donceva, of Greenfield, came from Moldova. She enjoyed her visit to the school because she likes children. "I like to meet with other people, and, when I speak with other people, my English become better," she added.

Diane K. Worth, the teacher of the English class, said her 10 students thought it was a "wonderful idea" to visit the school and be interviewed by the children because it would "be great for their English" and for the children to learn about immigrants.

Fourth-graders Jack H. Samuels and Rory R. Braun, both 9, agreed that it's better to learn by talking to people who have emigrated than only to read about immigration. "It's interesting to talk to people," Rory said. "It's easier," Jack added.

After reading a newspaper article about the English class, the children in the third- and fourth-grade class taught by Emily T. Cross and Annie R. Winkler invited the older students to visit their children and talk about their experiences as immigrants. "They were super excited to ask them questions about immigration," Winkler said.

"We wanted to interview them and learn what their experience was coming from wherever they came from," explained fourth-grader Vivian S. Brock, 10. "They're real people, and they can express their feelings more than books can."

Vivian said it was good for the immigrants to visit the school "to know somebody here and to know that other people know they exist."

Cross said the Center School teachers seek ways to give students exposure to thinking from different perspectives. "Thinking about immigration from different points of view and meeting people they wouldn't meet in their everyday lives and hearing about their experiences" enriches the students, she said.

As a follow-up to the interviews, the children will make thank yous to the person they interviewed. That thank you will "take any form meaningful to their conversation," Winkler said - perhaps art inspired by what the immigrant described.