Migrant Education tutors help ESL students in...
Finding Translation
Story By Erin Hill
Photography by Casey Templeton
Kim McCray helps Yanahina Montoya sound out the word “isolation” from one of Montoya’s history books and then explains the meaning. Montoya sounds out every syllable in her thick Nicaraguan accent. As part of their weekly tutoring session, McCray helps Montoya go over her homework and then practice her English by making sentences with new words. A small smile creeps across Montoya’s face as she writes a sentence with the word “jazz.” McCray looks over her shoulder and reads the sentence: “I don’t like jazz music.” They both break into laughter.
Situated on a comfortable couch covered with a bright tapestry, these two young women couldn’t be more different but are laughing like old friends. Arroz con pollo, “chicken with rice,” is cooking on the stove, and the strong scent wafts under their noses. McCray and Montoya have a special relationship that transcends a very strong language barrier. A native of Nicaragua, Montoya is fluent in Spanish and is learning English — and JMU junior Kim McCray doesn’t speak any Spanish — yet the two find common ground.
McCray, a History major, contacted the Center for Service Learning as a sophomore to look into volunteering opportunities within the area. “I wanted to do something for the community,” she says. “I felt like everything I was doing was just for me. I realized I didn’t know anything about the community and I wanted to take advantage of it while I could.”
Originally from a small town outside of Roanoke, McCray was intrigued by the diversity of Harrisonburg and it motivated her to become a volunteer for the Shenandoah Valley Migrant Education Program.
“Working with Yanahina has had such a positive impact on me,” McCray says. “My hometown has no diversity at all, and I’ve always been interested in other cultures, mostly because I haven’t been exposed to them.”
McCray soon found that her relationship with Montoya had turned into a solid friendship. Even with the language barrier, the two communicate through laughter.
“Yanahina has such a great sense of humor,” McCray says. “She can make fun of herself and her mistakes with English just as I can with my Spanish. I think she likes that I don’t know Spanish so she can teach me something.”
According to migrant student advocate Anita Warner, tutors and students are matched by looking at their special interests and the enthusiasm and situation of a migrant student.
“We try to match similar personalities,” Warner says. “So if a tutor is very animated, we probably wouldn’t pair them with someone who was more quiet and shy.”
A strong relationship development between tutor and student is important to the SVMEP. “We want tutors to focus on academics, but at the same time we want a friendship to grow,” Warner adds. “Migrant students value that relationship and really want to connect to somebody.”
JMU senior Katie Young has tutored Montoya’s younger brother Allan through SVMEP for the past year and a half. They sit at the Montoya kitchen table as Young helps 9-year-old Allan work out a long- division math problem.
The Montoya family moved from Nicaragua to Harrisonburg in 2000. Because Allan was so young, he was able to absorb English much more quickly than was the rest of his family. Since Allan knows the most English, he often translates for his mother. “Sometimes I will translate important phone calls for her,” Allan says.
Young says, “Allan’s reading skills have improved drastically, and he has opened up to me a lot about his feelings and any concerns he has about his classes. My favorite part about working with Allan is when Allan finally understands something he has been struggling with. All of the sudden it just kind of clicks with him, and watching all his hard work pay off is extremely rewarding.”
“The key with Allan, and any young kid, is mixing work with fun activities,” Young adds. “Allan and I have a type of reward system going where we play games or do a fun activity after he has put in a lot of hard work. Because I have been tutoring Allan for so long we are very comfortable together and he knows what he can and can’t get away with.”
Yanahina also shares in the responsibility of providing translation for her family, especially when they go shopping. “When we get to the register I’ll usually translate what the cashier is saying,” Yanahina says.
The siblings also help each other. McCray gives Yanahina homework assignments requiring her to speak as much English as possible during the week, and Allan often helps her. My favorite show is Full House, and Allan will help me with words I don’t know,” Yanahina says.
Young says, “I think Allan does a great job of utilizing his English skills to help his family. It’s a lot of responsibility for somebody his age, but Allan is always willing to help.”
Those who want to become tutors apply through the program Web site or office, then interview with coordinators and attend a two-hour orientation about what to expect from the program and the students. For McCray and Young, their experience has been unique because they tutor together.
“I love tutoring with Kim,” Young says. “I think having both of us there is extremely helpful because we both have strengths and weaknesses. There have been times when we have helped each other explain things to Allan and Yanahina. Kim and I also talk to each other about our tutoring sessions, and it’s great to have somebody to run ideas by and share any frustrations.”
According to the SVMEP Web site, the program is one of 10 regional programs of the Virginia Migrant Education Program. It has seen many changes over the years. In 1966, the program was started and existed seasonally to assist apple harvesters who were passing through the area in the fall. Its scope increased dramatically in the early 1990s with the expansion of the local poultry industry, which offered year-round employment and enabled migrant families to stay in one place and raise a family. During the 2003-’04 school year, it tutored 677 students in the Shenandoah Valley region.
Warner says, “There is so much more of a Latino community now, and the schools have made great improvements in the way they educate English as a Second Language students.”
SVMEP empowers families and focuses on their smooth integrations, into the educational system while bringing people together who otherwise might never have been able to learn from one another.