Newton's English Language Learners live between two cultures

This school system has more than 70 languages spoken by their students. The children are learning English and succeeding in school. Success stories abound in this school. DP

By Chrissie Long/Staff Writer

wickedlocal.com: Nan Pang arrived in Newton three years ago, armed only with the English he had learned in a classroom in Japan.

He was incredibly shy — his teachers remembered — caged by his inability to find the right words to communicate to his peers in this new country.

Three years after his arrival at Newton South High School, and now a junior, his teachers proudly boast that he’ll be part of the mainstream curriculum next year. He’s participating in tennis and just designed a mural in the stairwell of Newton South.

Success stories like Pang’s are springing up all over Newton schools: students overcoming a language barrier and sliding comfortably into a new culture — a task that some adults take a lifetime to achieve.

Pang is one of the 2,000 students in Newton who speaks another language at home.
A population that has been mushrooming over the past 20 years, English language learners have had a unique impact on Newton schools.

There are more than 70 languages being spoken in the school system, allowing students to experience globalization in their classroom.

“It’s a great celebration of linguistic diversity,” said Jody Klein, English Language coordinator for the Newton Public Schools. “In my own daughter’s class [in Newton], there’s a Hindi speaker, there’s a Hebrew speaker, there’s a Chinese speaker, there’s a Russian speaker … There is bilingualism in their life, and I think that is really exciting.”
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