MPS works to ease transition for refugees
‘Now the education of the children is everything’
Erin Sivek’s students are prepping for the big show. They’ve been drafted to perform “The Great Race,” the mythic account of the creation of the Chinese zodiac, as part of their school’s annual Chinese New Year celebration.
So, on this day, she’s running them through their paces.
The emperor, she explains, has announced a great race for all the animals, the winners of which will be featured on the zodiac. And one by one, the students step forward, scripts in hand, and read their parts.
This could be any classroom in any school in Milwaukee. But listen closely to the chatter of the children as they wait their turns and it’s clear it is not. Interspersed with their halting English, they speak Rohingya, Burmese and Kiswahili to name a few.
Sivek’s students attend the International Newcomer Center, a small Milwaukee Public Schools program aimed at easing the transition for mostly refugee children whose families have come to the city from around the world.
Housed inside MPS’ Milwaukee Academy of Chinese
Language, or MACL, the program marries subject content material — math, reading, science — with English as a second language in small classes taught by teachers certified in both.
The idea is to kick-start the acquisition of language, academic content and social and cultural acumen for students who are new to America, speak little or no English and whose formal education in many cases has been limited or interrupted.
“Students here get more one-on-one or one-on-two attention,” said Sivek, one of four ESL teachers at the center. “We really try to give them as much content, while simultaneously teaching the English language, before they get to high school where everything gets more intensive.”
Gateway to a better life
Milwaukee Public Schools, much like the city itself, has historically welcomed refugee families fleeing violence and persecution around the world.
Since 2000, more than 16,000 refugees have resettled in the state — most of them in Milwaukee — from places like Myanmar, Laos, the Congo, Iraq and Syria. In recent years, many of the Milwaukee refugees have been Rohingya, a stateless people considered among the most persecuted in the world.
And while the Trump administration has dramatically curtailed the entry of refugees since 2016, MPS continues to serve a substantial number of refugee children.
Today, there are about 9,400 English language learners in the district, about 1,800 of them refugees who have been in the country less than five years.
Many of the refugee parents, and some of the children, have endured or witnessed unspeakable horrors. And many have languished in refugee camps, with limited access to food, water and formal schooling.
Parents see the schools as their children’s gateway into a life better and easier than their own.
“Education is a lifeline for these people,” said Kalyani Rai, an associate professor of urban community development at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee who works on refugee issues. “They’ve lost everything. And now the education of the children is everything.”
That is the case for the family of Fatuma Mohamed, who fled the civil war in Somalia in 2006 and spent a decade in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya before arriving in Milwaukee in 2016.
Fatuma, 13, is among the center’s more advanced students. She struggles in math, she said, but is doing better in reading. She wants to be a teacher one day.
“My mom, she likes us all to go to college. We want to go to college or university to help our family,” said her older sister, Fartun Mohamed.
ESL teachers in short supply
Refugee children attend schools throughout MPS. But there are large concentrations in several schools, including MACL, Bethune, Story, Victory and Garland, where they represent 25% or more of the student population.
In most schools, newcomers learn in the regular classroom with their peers, supported by ESL teachers who work with them in and outside of class and, in some rare cases, co-plan and co-teach classes alongside the subject matter teacher.
But ESL teachers are often in short supply; MPS has about one full-timeequivalent teacher for every 100 English language learners. And because refugee students are often quiet, they can “fly under the radar” and fall behind, said Lynn Sedivy, a lecturer in ESL and early childhood education at UW-Milwaukee. She works closely with several of the schools and created a series of picture books aimed at helping newcomers navigate their school buildings.
ESL programs, particularly in large urban centers where there are higher concentrations of refugees, are generally understaffed, she said. “So students aren’t necessarily getting the linguistic support they need . ... That’s why the Newcomer Center is so awesome.”
The center takes a more intensive approach, which it can do in part because of its staffing. It targets students who would normally be in grades four to eight. The kids are grouped by language ability rather than age and rotate through the four classrooms for math, language arts, socials studies and other core subjects.
Because the subject matter teachers are also trained in ESL, there’s more of an emphasis on those principles — for example using imagery or gestures to illustrate a concept — in the creation of the lesson plans.
“It’s much more sheltered. There are more images, more listening, more videos that really help them structure what they’re learning,” said Sivek.
Beyond the academics, teachers also work with the kids on the basics of being a student — things as simple as how to behave in the hallways, how to use a locker, even holding a pencil or scissors because some may not have developed the fine motor skills needed to master it.
“These are things American kids have grown up with. But they’re not part of the experiences they’ve had,” Sivek said.
All of the students learn to play musical instruments and trek twice a week to Milwaukee High School of the Arts for an orchestra class, a program added in part because of the research suggesting music can aid in language development, said MACL Principal James Sayavong.
“It’s amazing how music can speak in all languages,” said Sayavong, himself a refugee who came to Milwaukee with his family from Laos in 1983.
Newcomer students can stay up to two years, after which they move into MACL’s regular classrooms — where they get additional support from three other ESL teachers — or on to high school.
Many endured hardship, beatings
For most of the students, the center is nothing like the schools they left behind — if they were lucky enough to attend at all.
“In America, everything is easy,” said 14-year-old Eric Nkurunziza, who came with his mother and three sisters from Rwanda about a year ago.
There, he recalls, his mother scavenged for food in the woods near their small home. He walked a long distance to school where, he said, students were routinely beaten for minor infractions.
“They take a stick like (and) if you late little bit, they be beating you on booty or here,” he says in his beginner’s English, turning his hand to show his palm.
“If you’re late, they beating you. If you’re not taking notes, they beating you.”
Though the Newcomer Center students are often behind their peers academically, many show tremendous growth in a short time, especially in reading and language acquisition, said Amitha Gone, who teaches ESL and science.
“It’s tremendously quick,” she said pulling out the latest results on the Star testing, which showed several students making significant strides since the beginning of the school year.
“They’re all below target, yes. But they have all grown,” she said. “It’s nice to teach these kids because they show a sprout. It just rockets. Within a year, a very silent kid starts talking, starts reading . ... It’s a very satisfying experience.”
‘A special part of your heart’
Their successes come despite significant challenges. Like the majority of their MPS classmates, refugees are more likely to live in poverty and often bring with them the trauma of their life experiences or those of their parents. Social workers and psychologists work with children who exhibit signs of trauma.
Parent engagement can be especially difficult. Refugee parents often speak little or no English and struggle to navigate the American educational system. That can be particularly challenging for the Rohingya, who have no written language.
MPS teachers and administrators use a language translation service to communicate with parents. The district translates notices to parents into multiple languages, even for the Rohingya using a phonetic-based script developed by a refugee in England known as “Rohingyalish.”
“But I’ve not met a single Rohingya parent who can read it,” said Sedivy, the UWM lecturer.
Several schools, including MACL, offer regular programs aimed at helping refugee families access resources in and outside of school and to advocate for their children’s education. And they work with outside organizations, including refugee resettlement agencies and ethnic organizations to help support the families.
“Parents can be a bit intimidated by the schools at times,” said Rai, of UWM. “They value education tremendously. And they help their students wherever they can . ... But their own involvement can sometimes be difficult because of transportation and those kinds of things.”
At the same time, there can be friction with other students in the school. Last year, a newcomer student was badly beaten on a school bus for defending his sister, who’d had a water bottle thrown at her.
Sivek said the tensions often center around cultural norms, like hygiene or dress, and can be exacerbated by the language barriers. Something as simple as a glance or comment between two students who don’t understand each other could erupt into fireworks.
“I’ve had to have a few conversations with our African American and African girls” around those kinds of issues, Sivek said.
Despite the challenges, students tend to be highly motivated, said Sayavong.
“They’re hard-working kids. Their attendance is, like, 97%. They come to school rain or snow; even if they’re sick, they’re here,” he said.
It’s a humbling experience for the teachers, who often come to know well the struggles of the families and step in as advocates for the students.
“It’s amazing how resilient they are,” said Sivek. “Especially knowing some of the stories and seeing what their families have been through.”
“You hope they get to achieve everything they want to do,” she said. “They just get a special part of your heart.”