In American Canyon’s melting pot, how are multilingual students navigating ACHS?
The voice of American Canyon comes in many different tongues.
According to the 2023 census, 43.3% of American Canyon households reported speaking a language other than English. One-fifth of all households reported that they primarily spoke Spanish, while 18% reported speaking a language from Asia or the Pacific Islands.
As different languages trickle into the classroom, American Canyon schools are even more diverse than the city itself. Every student faces the challenge of getting through high school, yet some must juggle an additional class: English Language Development (ELD).
That’s where Eric Ureña comes in. Ureña is entering his fifth year at ACHS as a Spanish teacher and lead coordinator for ELD, which is a program that helps teach students English, and provide teachers extra support with their multilingual students.
That support has to reach many different backgrounds. Ureña noted he’s had students who speak Spanish, Tagalog, Punjabi, Arabic, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Haitian Creole, just to name a few.
“It’s hard, trying to get students to learn a new language,” said Ureña, “I’ve encountered a lot of students who get discouraged right off the bat.”
That’s where Ureña and ELD step in. When students are coming from all sorts of different places and backgrounds, it’s hard for them to adapt to new faces and things, without someone stepping in to help.
Ureña can personally attest to the difficulty of learning English in school. His parents are both from the state of Jalisco in Mexico, and growing up, Spanish was his first language. It was hard for him to try and learn anything else.
“I love Spanish,” said Ureña. “Funny story, when I went into elementary school, I cried learning English, I told my parents I don’t want to learn English, Spanish is the only language I want to speak.”
That same sentiment is common amongst many of the students Ureña teaches, and he says that being able to relate to their experience personally is one of the most important things he can do.
“I’ve gone through these tests that these students take to get out of this program, so I know the struggle. That’s one of the biggest things that made me want to become a teacher,” said Ureña.
As a teacher, Ureña knows that a lot of these students might not have the support that they need to learn a new language and succeed, which makes establishing a community within the classroom the best way to make sure his students can thrive.
The foundation of success lies with the students. When they unite in the classroom, each student helps one another achieve the common goal, to learn English. Their greatest asset is each other.
