When junior Zhuohao Zeng moved to Chapel Hill from China as a seventh grader, he knew only a few basic English phrases. For the next three years, Zeng steadily gained new vocabulary and syntax skills, building toward fluency while tackling a challenging course load. But the past year has taken a toll.
Remembering his experience before the pandemic, Zeng said, “You had to communicate—you learned to meet friends and talk about something of interest. But now in remote learning everybody’s muted. Nobody wants to talk, actually.”
Photo courtesy of Zhuohao Zeng
Enduring a year’s worth of social isolation has strained most students both mentally and emotionally, but for 90 East students who are learning English as part of the school’s English Language Learners (ELL) program, advancing remotely has proven to be even more difficult, considering that in-person interactions are key to language acquisition.
“What people don’t understand is that for an English learner, the entire school day is an English class,” said Beth Watson, one of East’s three ELL teachers. “All day they hear their teachers speaking English, their peers speaking English. Even outside of class, they are talking about class discussion, conversing in the hallway. Now, that’s all gone.”
With many students living in non-English speaking households, English learners rely on class time to build their language skills. But sparse time with teachers and other students has only exacerbated a difficult situation.
What students recall as the traditional school week—five seven-hour days—now consists of 45 minute classes scattered across four days. The result: Students have less than half of the class time that they did prior to the pandemic. What’s more, online class frequently means PowerPoint presentations, lectures or videos, with only occasional opportunities to converse with classmates.
“We’re looking at over a year of minimal instruction, and even when we do return it’s still going to be very limited class time,” said Gregory Cain, who teaches math for English learners. “They’re just not getting a chance to be the best versions of themselves.”
Alongside the immersive environment of in-person school, English learners depend heavily on non-verbal cues, such as body language and facial expressions. With many students’ cameras turned off, these connections are virtually impossible to foster online.
All of this adds up to what teachers say will be a significant, but not insurmountable, learning toll, with many students having to repeat courses.
“I think that if we can get back to some level of normalcy in September, English learners will catch up,” said Cain, who himself grew up in a dual language environment. “But it’s going to take some time to get back up to speed; there will definitely be a gap that will be noticed for quite some time.”
Cain’s outlook has been confirmed by several academic studies. A September 2020 review of recent literature by Julie Sugarman and Melissa Lazarin of the Migration Policy Institute notes that “English learners may face setbacks in their English language development after five or more months without consistent opportunities to listen, speak, write and read in English—especially the level of academic English that is foundational to educational success.” According to one estimate, students could lose “seven to 11 months of learning” as a result of the pandemic, and “those who do not participate at all may find themselves up to 14 months behind.”
To facilitate learning across different subject areas, ELL teachers have tried to simplify and condense class material to be more accessible for English learners, with a heavy emphasis on visual aids and suggestions for complementary online resources.
Senior Delmy Romero Rivera, who came to the U.S. from El Salvador at age 13, says that although much of her English has declined over the course of the pandemic, the extra effort put forth by East’s teachers has made a big difference.
“I create many, many videos for my students,” Cain said. “Every teacher feels a responsibility to get our students all the information they need. But with multiple platforms in use, it can at times be overwhelming for students.”
Sophomore Jhoana McBride, who was adopted from Colombia at age 14, sometimes struggles to make sense of the material presented in class. By the time she has formulated a response to her teacher’s question, the rest of the class has already moved on.
“I know what I would like to say in Spanish, but when I try to put it into English I get really stuck,” McBride said.
In normal times, teachers could intuit when students needed help.
“You could see the looks on their faces when they were confused,” Watson said. “Students could pop in during lunch for extra help.”
But now, while varying from month to month, the overall level of communication has slowed down considerably, and remains far below pre-pandemic levels.
“What we saw on our end [last spring] was a lot of students who just dropped off,” Watson said. “We couldn’t even locate them. No one would respond to us.”
The same lack of engagement teachers saw at the beginning of the pandemic started to creep up again as this school year progressed. While the effects of the pandemic have been ubiquitous, English learners and their families have been disproportionately impacted.
“At the end of the day, we’re just worried about them,” Watson said. “We don’t know if they’re okay, and if their families are okay, so it’s just been a very emotional time.”
Many English learners also have obligations outside of school that divert their attention away from schoolwork. Senior Andres Ruiz Sachica and his sister Karen Ruiz Sachica, a junior, help care for their younger sibling and face frequent distractions during remote learning.
“We have to decide who is going to wash the dishes, who is going to help with the meals, who is going to take care of the dog,” said Andres, who moved here with his sister two years ago from Colombia. “I’ve got a part-time job, so sometimes I have to go there. It keeps me busy.”
Andres continued, “You don’t feel 100-percent concentration like before at the school. We’re not used to this remote learning.”
Karen added, “It’s very hard to balance.”
Without the benefit of impromptu interactions in and out of the classroom, teachers often aren’t aware of all the challenges confronting students.
“When I conference with students and they do open up and they tell me things one-on-one, I had no clue,” Watson said. “Teachers are not mind readers; we don’t know what is happening beyond the computer screen.”
In the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school district, English learners comprise about 10 percent of the student population, or 1,300 students, among the largest concentrations in the state. Since the start of the pandemic, the district’s international center has bolstered resources for families of English learners, helping with technology issues and even extending assistance with housing and nutrition when needed.
“We really try to focus on the whole family, not just the student, because we realize that COVID-19 has impacted everyone,” said Helen Atkins, the district’s English Learner and Dual Language Program Coordinator. “Of course it impacts students, but students live at home with their families, and we have to make sure that there’s well-being there as well.”
With a team of translators speaking nine languages on hand, the center serves as a vital bridge between the school system and English learners and their families. Since October, the team has handled over 10,000 documents, phone calls and emails dealing with issues related to remote learning.
While the pandemic has presented unique challenges for English learner students and their families, “We are all in the same boat,” Atkins said. “Our students are very resilient—we will all come out of this on the other side.”
Feature image: Andres and Karen Ruiz Sachica work through an assignment during remote learning. Photo courtesy of Andres and Karen Ruiz Sachica
I loved reading this, it really explains the problems and struggles of the past year.