Feelings Matter: School Experiences of Latino Immigrant Children

Due to the rapid increase in immigration from Latin America over the last thirty years, California public schools are becoming more populated with foreign students who are not proficient in English. This research study examines how the affective experiences (i.e. feelings, emotions) of immigrant children are influenced in the school setting. This study took place in a Los Angeles public elementary school and focused on recent immigrant children from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru. The primary finding is that teachers, instructional aides and the curriculum are highly influential components that can potentially affect the motivation of these children.

The Latino foreign-born population in the United States has increased 700% in the last thirty years. due to migration. California held one-third of the nation's twenty million immigrants in 1995 (Rumbaut 17) and as of the year 2000, over fifty-five percent of the eight million foreigners in the state are Latino (Campbell). What is most significant regarding these figures is the youthfulness of the Latino population.

School districts across California are faced with the complexity of dealing with immigrant students — an issue compounded by the multiplicity of languages among new students. It is estimated that immigrants comprise close to one-fourth of the school population, and language minority students almost one-third (Suarez-Orozco 226). Spanish is overwhelmingly a language that is used among these immigrant children. These new student populations generate major challenges for California schools, among them the need for bilingual teachers. In 1996, the voters of California passed Proposition 227, which in effect abolished bilingual education across the state. The end of structured bilingual programs adds to the challenges facing immigrant students in California schools as more and more immigrant children are forced to negotiate with a predominantly English speaking culture in their schools.

This study will focus on the relationship between the emotions of Latino immigrant children through their academic experiences in one school in a Los Angeles, California community. The key question posed by this study is: How significant are the affective experiences of immigrant children in determining their level of adjustment and academic motivation?

Research discussing how immigrant children feel as new students is very limited. There are a number of factors that can affect the adjustment of student immigrants in schools, including economic, cultural and educational issues. Certain experts in the field (Valdés, McLaughlin, Noddings, Oakes, Kirova, Gutiérrez, Suarez-Orozco) provide insight explaining factors that determine an immigrant child’s academic progress.

In her educational ethnography, Guadalupe Valdés found that children perform best when they are treated with respect. Her study centered on parental interaction with school personnel. Valdés observed that parents perceived non-Spanish speakers as unapproachable. McLaughlin et al. states that it is imperative that educators “consider both the risk and success factors for new immigrant students and examine more closely the nature of communication between students, teachers and parents” (McLaughlin 225).

According to educational philosophist Nel Noddings (1984) and other scholars, an “ethic of care” in the classroom is vital to the well-being of students. Jeannie Oakes (2003) argues as well that a positive school culture is essential to facilitate the learning process of all children. According to Oakes, the key concepts that must exist for an effective school culture include pressing everyone toward learning and social justice; providing broad and deep access to learning; support of all teachers’ inquiry and activism; and the building of an environment of caring relationships (my emphasis) (Oakes 359). These ideas can be logically extended to immigrant students, especially given the unique needs of these children.

Anna Kirova studied loneliness among immigrant children in Canada (2001), finding that the children expressed feelings of loneliness in their new school. A. Lin Goodwin (2002) reinforces the significance of the affective domain for immigrant children who have a “profound sense of loss, disequilibrium, loneliness, confusion, and displacement, mixed with anticipation, excitement, and anxiety” (Goodwin 163). Goodwin stresses the importance of focusing on language learning and teacher preparation for immigrant students to succeed.

As this research study aims to convey the experiences of some Latino immigrant children, concepts such as the ethic of care (Noddings) and school culture (Oakes) are particularly relevant. Furthermore, previous interaction with immigrant children by Valdés and Kirova also provide context for this study.

The school site was selected after reviewing several factors including location, accessibility, and representation. The school was located near downtown Los Angeles where many Latino families reside. Out of 2,200 students, over eighty-five percent of the student population were English Language Learners (ELLs).

My subjects were recent immigrant children from Spanish-speaking America between the ages of 9 and 11. The vice principal recommended teachers and provided a list of students in the Emergency Immigrant Education Program (EIEP). This list identified immigrant students by grade level, language proficiency and birth country.

I made announcements discussing my research to the fourth and fifth grade classrooms with the most English Language Learners and handed out parental approval forms to those students interested in participating. Ten children were selected for this study. The six girls and four boys had all arrived in the U.S. within the last year. All of the subjects were recent immigrant children, primarily from Mexico. The immigrant child’s birth country is an important detail in understanding academic and/or emotional differences or similarities among students who come from the same country. See Figure 1 for a chart of my subjects.

Name	Male/Female	Grade	Birth Country
Anna	Female	5	México
Betsy	Female	5	México
Cynthia	Female	4	Guatemala
Daniel	Male	4	Honduras
Erica	Female	5	México
Francisca	Female	5	México
Elena	Female	5	México
Hector	Male	5	México
José	Male	5	México
Tony	Male	4	Perú

The fieldwork for this project occurred during June 2003. I attended the school about five hours a day, five days a week for four weeks—a total of 20 school days. Identifying students took one week, observations were conducted for two weeks and interviews happened at the end of the final week. Among the limitations I encountered were the short duration and time of year of this study. Since June was the end of the academic year, it is possible that teaching styles and student attitudes may have been slightly different than normal. In addition, I was unable to speak to all students and teachers because many of them were off-track (on vacation) due to the school’s year-round academic calendar.

The observed classes were two fourth grade and two fifth grade classrooms. Two of the four teachers were male and all of them were white. One male and one female teacher had taught for less than four years and the other two teachers had well over fifteen years of teaching experience. The classrooms each had one instructional aide for about one hour a day. The observations were conducted consecutively for thirteen school days. Each observation in the classroom lasted for one and half hours. My goal was to observe the students’ engagement with the lessons, their interaction with the teacher and other students, and their involvement with the activities taking place. I individually observed each student inside and outside of their classrooms. The observations outside of the classroom included socialization during recess, outside class time such as physical education, and extra-curricular classes such as chorus and orchestra. Frequently, conversations with students occurred in the cafeteria during lunch.

Interviews

The interviews took place after all the observations were completed. After three weeks of spending time with the researcher inside and outside their classrooms, the students were more open to speaking about their prior experiences. With the approval of their parents, each student was interviewed once during their lunchtime on school grounds. An interview guide was used that consisted of fifty questions pertaining to their prior school experiences in their birth country, their initial feelings when they left, and current thoughts and feelings about their new academic experiences. The duration of the interviews was typically around twenty-five minutes. All participants were asked the same questions and had the choice of not answering any particular question. The theoretical grounding for many of these interview questions can be attributed to the queries posed by Laurie Olsen in Crossing the Schoolhouse Border: Immigrant Students and the California Public Schools (Olsen, 1988). The following is a sample of just a few of the questions (Note: all questions were asked in Spanish):

Moreover, informal interviews were conducted with the four teachers of the immigrant students, exploring the child’s academic standing and their approach towards teaching them. While the teachers were not interviewed extensively, our conversations were beneficial because I could see the relationship between the teacher and the students from a teacher’s perspective.

Teachers

Bilingual teachers present in the school taught only in the lower primary grades. Of the four classroom teachers, the newer teachers had the highest number of (recent) immigrants in the classroom. The teachers with more experience had fewer immigrant children in their classrooms and in some cases none at all. One new teacher had as many as eight Spanish-speaking immigrant children. This young teacher could not speak Spanish, which caused him to have a more difficult time working with the children. The one teacher who knew some Spanish had the fewest Spanish-speaking immigrant students in her classroom. Thus, the placement seemed to defy logic.

Gutiérrez (2002) states that teachers with the least professional training are the ones who are assigned to the poorest classrooms (Gutiérrez 332). This could be one possible explanation for the placement of the students. The new teachers had the most demanding classes because many of their students could not adequately execute the assignments in English. Jeannie Oakes explains that a not-so-well-kept secret in many school cultures is that teachers are also tracked (Oakes 368). She argues that the most experienced teachers often receive the best students, and that “new teachers often end up with the classes that others don’t want — usually low ability classes” (368).

I noticed that the rapport between the teachers and the students suffered as a consequence of a lack of a language connection between students and teachers. There is no doubt that the teachers were cordial, yet it was evident that there was a lack of concern for the development of these immigrant children. For example, every child in this study sat towards the back of the classroom and infrequently interacted with the teacher. The immigrant children rarely raised their hands during lessons. The children relied heavily on their English proficient classmates to translate and to help them with the assignments. The classmates usually served as mediators between the non-Spanish speaking teachers and the immigrant students. This responsibility among the students was not always welcome. I observed students refer to the immigrant children as “the Spanish people” and make derogatory complaints regarding their differential treatment to which the teacher in this situation ineffectively reacted.

For example, Anna, a fifth grade girl, was having social problems with her female classmates. It seemed as if the girls disliked her and did not want to be her friend. The issue was brought to the teacher’s attention, but he simply stated that there was “nothing he could do.” As this situation reflects, there seemed to be an emotional gulf between the teachers and the students. Fortunately, there was a source of compensation — the instructional aides.

The relationship between the students and the aides appeared to be more effective, and perhaps more caring. The children felt much more comfortable with the aides than with their teachers because they worked together in small groups, had the opportunity to ask questions in Spanish and were able to have conversations aside from the class work at hand. The instructional aides were a crucial part of the children’s school culture because they provided to a large extent an “environment of caring relationships” (Oakes 359). The immigrant children would typically stay inside the classroom during their recess time (usually 20 minutes) and continue to work with the instructional aide with the English lesson. One day, as I was sitting in the classroom, one of the immigrant students said to the aide (in Spanish), “Oh Ms. Sanchez, Why can’t you be our teacher and Mrs. Smith be the assistant?” It was a telling comment: the students preferred the instructional aide instead of their teacher for their main source of learning because an at-ease and caring relationship existed.

I remember I cried on the very first day of school. I felt really nervous and strange in the beginning. Nobody talked to me and I even had lunch all by myself. Plus, I didn’t even like my teacher cause she seemed mean. But now, I’ve made a lot of friends and I’m not scared of my teacher so everything is much better. (Betsy, 5^th grade, Mexico).

Curriculum

Kris Gutiérrez (2002), speaks of reading programs such as Open Court as “reductive, narrowly defined, and are most often taught by teachers with little formal preparation or experience in teaching, especially ELLs” (Gutiérrez 329). The newer teachers avoided any deviation from the strict guidelines of the Open Court System. Open Court programs, are “highly scripted reading programs that mandate large blocks of time and strict fidelity to the scripted program” (Gutiérrez 331). On the other hand, the older teachers who felt more comfortable in the classroom were not as concerned with following the curriculum. As one teacher told me, “I am their teacher, I know what is best for my students. I will teach them what I feel is important.”

This demonstrates an inconsistent use of the curriculum. These programs are not ideal for immigrant students as argued by Gutiérrez. In fact, they may hurt and discourage students from learning. In addition, the inconsistency in the program may cause or generate confusion in the teaching of immigrant children. Gutiérrez states, “We have many more non-credentialed teachers teaching English Language Learners in California” (Gutiérrez 332). Having inexperienced/unqualified teachers is only part of the problem. If educational systems set goals to improve the immigrant experience, then the child will not only be in an environment that is warm and friendly, but also inclusive to learning.

Cynthia, a fourth grade student from Guatemala, occasionally yawned and in many cases was not focused and Daniel, from Honduras, was easily distracted. They seldom received attention from their teacher. During our interviews, Cynthia explained to me that she had already learned most of the work in her previous school in Guatemala. She did not feel challenged in the classroom and her focus lagged as a consequence.

Most of the children indicated their preference for mathematics. This was perhaps not surprising since math requires relatively fewer language skills in contrast to reading and writing. All of the students indicated they desired to speak in English fluently. For many students, learning English was their first priority. During the interviews, the children said that a major obstacle was the process of learning English. Yet, most of the students felt uncomfortable practicing English and spoke Spanish at every opportunity.

Many signs of discouragement became apparent when assignments were given that required the students to work independently. For example, in an assignment that required a persuasive essay to be written, such comments from students included “ayyy, yo no puedo hacer esto,” meaning “aww, I can’t do this!” Because of their low levels of English proficiency, students felt incapable of writing a persuasive essay that had to convince their “enslaved friend” to stay or leave the South during the Civil War. Teachers found it very difficult to assist the immigrant students with these types of assignments because of the embedded curriculum and strict reading program. The problem for the immigrant students was that the assignment had to be written in English and sound persuasive.

Three issues emerged during this study: teacher preparation, classroom environment and credentials, and the delegation of the students to the teachers. My observations reinforce the view that children could benefit from better teacher preparation — a finding consistent with the research of Suarez-Orozco, who states that most teachers “are not aware of the cultural and historical backgrounds of the immigrant students” (141).

According to Suarez Orozco, curricular materials relevant to the social and cultural experiences of children should be emphasized (147). Teachers can motivate students, engage their interests and generate enthusiasm simply by showing that they care. However, these tasks are difficult to attain in crowded, inadequately funded public schools such as this one. It is more difficult for these teachers to accomplish this goal because the larger system needs to become more supportive of teacher development and competency.

This study also observed the importance of instructional aides to the building of a positive relationship between school and the immigrant child. Yet, it is clear that there is room for improvement in the effectiveness of the instructional aides. My observations suggest that instructional aides need more professional development, especially in the training of English. Instructional aides need to have more consistent contact with immigrant students and greater coordination with the teachers.

I also observed that more could be done in the development of an orientation program between teachers and parents. As Suarez-Orozco has discussed, immigrant parents should feel empowered to be involved in the school, learn the educational requirements and overcome the fear of interacting with school personnel (150). Although the parents of the immigrant children were not interviewed for this study, it was apparent that the parents had minimal contact with the teachers. Orientation programs, what some educators call “Newcomer Programs,” could be an excellent way to inform parents of school information and as a means of communication regarding progress of their children.

The newcomer program could follow the children in every grade level to situate them on an academic path with a bright future. Ideally, the program should minimally guarantee that the immigrant child graduates from high school, but maximally have the resources to prepare for college. As Friedlander suggests, there should be three main goals to a good newcomer program: a well-structured orientation program, an emphasis on English language acquisition, and finally, academic support. This is especially important as “Latino students have by far the highest dropout rate of any major group in American schools and are experiencing declining access to college” (Orfield & Yun 22).

In only one case did I notice a positive and friendly teacher-student relationship. Tony, the Peruvian 4^th grade student, reflected this in the classroom — often speaking to the teacher in English and asking questions about his work. He had the most carefree feelings in the class compared with the other immigrant students I observed. It is important for the immigrant child to learn English; however, educating immigrant children should include a wide range of services, more than just simply helping them learn English (Rong 15). However, achieving a high level of service is especially difficult to attain in California due to the post-bilingual paradigm and current budget crisis. Socio-economic class, family income and personal background are all factors that can influence a child’s self-esteem. However, in relation to the school context, I have put an emphasis on teachers, instructional aides and curriculum as important factors to consider.

In this light, this research confirms the views of other researchers concerning the centrality of emotional well-being of children in the classroom. For California in particular, given the increase in its immigrant student population, further research is especially imperative. Emotional well-being is an important variable in the school environment. Although this research is a small-scale study, the findings are still relevant. Future studies should consider exploring comparisons between Latin American students’ birth countries, immigrants of different ethnic groups, different schools across the state and other contributing factors of an immigrant child’s experience such as family and environmental issues. Clearly, a child’s educational experiences before coming to the Unites States will have a profound influence on his or her transition to American schools (Suarez-Orozco 128). By acknowledging their emotions, we can better comprehend how to improve their academic development and assist these immigrant children to grow up into successful, confident, high-achieving, and fluent English speaking “citizens who contribute to the public good” (Suarez-Orozco 155).

Rumbaut, Ruben G. “The New Californians: Comparative Research Findings on the Educational Progress of Immigrant Children.” California’s Immigrant Children: Theory, Research, and Implications for Educational Policy, Ed. R.G. Rumbaut and W. Cornelius. La Jolla, CA: Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California, San Diego, 1995. 17-70.

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