The language of learning

Imagine sitting in a classroom where the teacher is speaking a different language.

How would you learn or understand? Would you be scared?

Cathy Lehmer, 60, of Sedalia, helps students who speak other languages learn English, empowering them to make the most of their education.

Lehmer has taught English to young Spanish-speaking and Ukrainian students for about five years. She spent four years at Parkview Elementary School as an English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) instructor. She is working this year at Washington Elementary School as a long-term substitute since the regular ESOL teacher is on maternity leave.

Lehmer collected her first round of students, four kindergartners, from their classrooms one day last month. She commented on the earrings of one student and asked another about how he got to school that day.

Once in the classroom, the children sat in bean bag chairs as Lehmer asked who knows the month and day of the week. A morning announcement interrupted the lesson for a moment, and the children hopped up to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.

Lehmer refocused the children on the calendar.

“Yesterday was...,” she said.

“Sunday,” the children answered in unison.

“Today is...,” Lehmer said.

“Monday,” the children again answered.

Next, Lehmer used a pointer to review the letters and sounds of the alphabet. Lehmer then told the children on this day she had a surprise.
The children gathered around Lehmer as she slowly pulled a book from a paper bag, revealing a portion of the cover at a time and asking the youngsters questions about what they saw.

Lehmer read “The New Baby Calf,” pointing out new words and asking the children questions throughout the story.

Lehmer repeats similar classes throughout each day with eight groups of three to five students. Each lesson, which takes a half hour to 45 minutes, is adjusted for the students’ ages and sometimes includes math.

“I try to identify what (subject) they are weak in, and that’s what we go with,” Lehmer said.

Some students know little or no English at the time they are enrolled in school. Older students tend to struggle more, Lehmer said.

“Definitely if they come in at the kindergarten age they make ground a lot easier,” she said.

Students often go home to parents to speak English and another language and others have parents who are unable to speak English at all.
“A lot of them go home and teach their parents,” Lehmer said.

The teacher also helps English-speaking students who have low reading levels. Rosy Contreras said Lehmer helped her son, Alex, turn his F grades into A’s in a year.

“My child was having a terrible time in school, and she went out of her way to help him out,” she said.

Alex, 10, was Lehmer’s student last year when he was in third grade at Parkview. He struggled with speech and reading and was bashful about asking for help. Alex failed to pay attention and class because he didn’t understand, his mother said.

“When Cathy got involved, everything changed,” she said. “I truly believe because of her he has straight A’s.”

Lehmer was patient and often met with Alex after class to help.

“She took the time ... to work with him at his own pace,” Contreras said.

Alex, who is now in the fourth grade, no longer needs the extra help and has an increased self-esteem, Contreras said.

For non-English speakers, Lehmer starts with the basics. She teaches them words for table, chair and other items, and make flash cards.

“We walk through the building and name things,” Lehmer said. “It’s the very basics. Even with the upper grades, we have to start with the very basics.”

Lehmer doesn’t speak Spanish or Ukrainian. Other students act as interpreters when needed.

Lehmer’s experience in the classroom extends beyond her work as an ESOL instructor. She taught second and third grade for 31 years in the Sedalia School District. Lehmer retired for two years, “and I kind of wanted to work part time,” she said.

A friend told Lehmer that Parkview Elementary was looking for an ESOL instructor, and she was hired there to work part time.

“I didn’t plan to do it, I just fell into it,” she said. “It was just good luck.”

The job is different then when she taught second and third grade.

“Most of (the children in the classroom) have a lot broader background when we read books,” Lehmer said. “Things we take for granted (the ESOL students) don’t always know, and we have to build that with them.”

snail@sedaliademocrat.com